Valerie KeoghRezensionen

Neither addictive nor unputdownable, but quite readable.

Few books carry me along as successfully as this did, and even fewer am I willing to give five stars. I enjoy a good mystery, but it needs to be clever and out of the ordinary - enough to pull me in, telling a story that seems so impossible that I'm willing to believe it might just happen. And yet there really are stories almost like this in the news. Well, almost. The final twist is excellent, and most unexpected. I can almost guarantee you will not see it coming.

The Queen of Mystery is back with a bang.............

The Housekeeper by Valerie Keogh brings to you a fast paced psychological thriller with an immersive plot and equally interesting characters. The plot at once draws your attention with its mysterious tone. With each page tension and secrets start rising in the atmosphere. The plot transcends an aura of thrill inside you. Indeed, Valerie Keogh is a master story teller. In fact, her writing style is quite interesting where she chooses each word carefully making the narrative as simple as possible.

The plot sparks interest with every page and I can assure you that every incident will come as a surprise for you. Also, the tertiary characters have an equal footing with the main character. Cassie's character is very mysterious where readers interact not only with her present but with her shady past also. And, then you hit the climax like a fast speed car giving you an adrenaline rush. For me the book was awesome and exciting. Thanks to Boldwood Books and Netgalley for providing me with an opportunity to read and review the book.

4.5 stars

Another awesome psychological thriller by Valerie. This author is another of my favorites.

This story follows Cassie Macreddin, a woman in mourning who moves to the historic Hindon House in the hopes of starting a new chapter in her life. However, it quickly becomes apparent that there are secrets lurking within the walls of the old house, and someone seems determined to drive Cassie away. Who wants Cassie gone from Hindon House?

Valerie does an excellent job of building tension and keeping the reader guessing throughout the book. The characters are well-developed and the plot is full of twists and turns that will keep you hooked until the very end. Cassie is a relatable and sympathetic protagonist, and it’s easy to root for her as she fights to uncover the truth about what is happening at Hindon House.

Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good thriller. It’s a well-crafted and engaging read that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for allowing me to read and review this ARC.

I did not like this book at the beginning, but I became engrossed with the mysterious attacks on the main character.

A captivating tale of darkness......................

The Nurse by Valerie Keogh is another psychological thriller by the author whcih enchants you till the end. The plot is so interesting that you would not be able to take your eyes off. The best thing of the plot is that all the characters have a special narration. They feel alive and real. And, with each page the mystery deepens. You can literally feel the thrill while reading it. I really enjoyed a lot.

Definitely 5 stars for the book. Thanks to Boldwood Books and Rachel's Random Resources for providing me with an opportunity to be a part of the blog tour.

Leigh Simon takes in a lodger called Gina into her home feeling sorry for her. Things Gina did start annoying Leigh immediately but, she said nothing. Then just a short while after Leigh has to go to a clinic for a week and when she returns Gina is gone, with just a note left saying sorry.
Leigh is now left wondering what happened to Gina, and why did she leave so abruptly. With that added to strange things happening in her home and with her partner, she is left with a lot of questions.
This was a good book to read, I was invested because I wanted to know what happened with Gina and there were some good plot twists which I did not see coming. I had a feeling about what was going to happen at the end but it did not affect my enjoyment.
The story flowed well and was fast-paced. This is the second book I have read by Valerie Keogh, and I look forward to reading more.

Get ready for the thrill...............

Valerie Keogh's books never disappoint. The Librarian brings to you a new world of psychological thriller. With a medium paced and gripping plot, the story enthralls and creates an air of mystery around us. And the most wonderful thing about the plot is that it has only a few characters as the center of interest. Ava's character is wonderful and right from the start she grips us in her aura. But you need to have a little bit of patience as nearly halfway through the book nothing much happens. But after that it was a captivating read.

Definitely, 5 stars for the book. Thanks to Boldwood Books and Rachel's Random Resources for providing me with an opportunity to be a part of the blog tour.

Brilliant and Twisty...............

Amazing characters, amazing plot and amazing climax, these are the super ingredients of the book. The story will grab your attention right from the beginning and you would not be able to take your eyes off it. Till the climax it was a ride full of twists and turns. But, the final twist is the cherry on the top. Superbly narrated and Valerie Keogh is just awesome. I think the book is going to be one of the best for this year. About characters, Jake Mitchell is the star. Is he a villain or a victim, it is for the reader to ascertain. But words are less to write about this book.

Definitely, grand 5 stars for the book. Thanks to Boldwood Books for giving me an opportunity to read and review this amazing book.

Brilliantly Amazing...................

Valerie Keogh with her new book The Widow hits the right mark for the mystery lovers. The readers are going to just keep guessing what happens next, but the author has something else in her mind. With just five characters in the whole story, the plot is spun like a web. And the characters come across each other's lives brilliantly. As a reader, you are going to enjoy a rollercoaster ride with these characters. The twists and turns are utterly brilliant, keeping you in awe. But, truly my words fall short for the praise.

Definitely 5 stars for the book, although it looks too less. Thanks to Netgalley and Rachel's Random Resources for providing me an opportunity to read and review the book.

My head is still buzzing with the climax.............

It is the first time I am reading something from Valerie Keogh. A wonderful psychological thriller and I am still thinking about it. Strong plot with a deep mystery is going to blow your mind. Leigh's character is one of the amazing characters. Each and every character has a different voice. All the twists and turns with every few pages would not let you put the book down. And, now if I say too much it would be a spoiler. All I can mention is the book is a perfect recipe for a beach read.

Definitely, 5 stars to the book. Thanks to Netgalley, Rachel's Random Resources and Boldwood Books for providing me an opportunity to read and review the book.

Detective Garda Sergeant Mike West is called out to view a dead body found in Foxrock village churchyard, found by local Edel Johnson, who's husband had disappeared several months previously. The next day she disappears. A straightforward case suddenly becomes complicated.
Irritated by the cliche attraction between Edel and West. Also as the story continued it became more farfetched and Edel actions annoying.

Guessed the ending well before half way so a little disappointing.

To all appearances Molly has the perfect life, she’s happily married to Jack, has two children just starting university, has a good job and is comfortably off. When she decides to have a weekend away with friends without Jack, it all starts to turn disastrously wrong, leading eventually to murder. One morning whilst out for a run, she meets a mysterious man who will have a big impact on her so called perfect life.

I found this story a little slow to start with. It gradually picked up pace and became more intriguing, but mostly it peaked and ‘troughed’ for me. The plot was a little implausible and Molly was quite unbelievably stupid at times. I just wanted to shake her! However, although some of it was predictable, there was a good twist at the end which was what I was hoping for and made it ultimately a worthwhile read.

Thanks to Pigeonhole for the opportunity to read this book.

DNF

Ooh, that blurb really drew me in and made me want to read this book. I was so intrigued by the letters, what was in them and why they needed to be burned after reading. But I have to say that the story itself is about so much more than the letters and the real importance of them only becomes clear as the story progresses.

Ellie and Will are living happily together. They're hoping to have a baby although that's proving harder than high-flyer Ellie anticipated. She has a twin sister, Tia, who is 'differently abled' and after many years apart, the sisters find themselves thrown together again. Ellie finds this hard - being identical twins, she feels like she is losing her own identity all over again.

Now, I don't want to go into any more of the story as it's very clever and I don't want to spoil it for new readers. What I will say is that I kept putting my hand over my mouth as I was reading, as a dawning sense of horror at what was happening came over me.

The fact that I saw the major plot twists coming a mile off didn't make any difference to me. I wanted, no needed, to know what was going to happen to the three of them and was what I thought right. Was that really what was happening here? That's what I needed to find out.

I found Secrets Between Us to be a real page turner. I felt a growing sense of unease along with at least one of the characters and was gripped by the story. I felt like an onlooker, peeping through the curtains into this domestic noir, thrilled by the three characters and the dynamic between them. A great read from start to finish.

Serial killers who begin their careers at five years old are rare. It is probably an item best left off a resume. Even though it was only dogs, cats, and fish that Nicola killed, there was bound to be disapproval. Not from mom. Nicola’s single parent was creative in the ways she beat and punished Nicola, so she couldn’t say she hadn’t received any education from mom. At age of ten Nicola graduated to a higher class of subjects by poisoning one of her classmates. At twelve she killed a homeless man for practice. At fourteen she killed a pedophile. It seemed only natural that she become a nurse. What a beginning!

Nicola was not malevolent in her killing; it is just that she felt better after a kill; a certain pressure disappeared, anxiety evaporated. Failing to make regular kills made Nicola feel bad. But Nicola had a plan. Through trial-and-error she had found that if she killed three people every six months her criminal metabolism hummed along at an equilibrium. Miss the goal and she would suffer painful consequences. Nursing was absolutely the best solution for her, especially senior citizen care. Patients were at risk anyway, deaths would be unsuspicious, and the homes offered her a drug supply. Nicola was not an addict but pharmaceutical procedures and rules dictated that the medications dispensed to patients had to be discarded after the patient died. Nicola discarded medicine to her home stash, to be shared with other patients Nicola selected for an early exit.

There was a chance that deaths in even a senior citizen home would be investigated. Too many deaths in one geographic area would eventually raise suspicions. No problem, Nicola simply moved every six months; nursing shortages guaranteed employment. Her minimalist lifestyle allowed for a build-up of a financial nest egg that financed her frequent address and job changes. Everything was going fine until she met Gary Marshall. He had come to the home where Nicola worked to see his father, Sam. Nicola felt a bond with Sam when she attended to him, but it was not a good one. When she looked in his eyes or touched him, she felt the presence of Evil. This was a problem; Nicola solved problems, she killed Sam. When Gary came to the home to thank Nicola for the excellent care, the two embraced and both felt the shock and presence of Evil. Gary ran away as if escaping; Nicola went home. Nicola’s nightmares began. She would wake up screaming from a nightmare in which she was watching the killing and sexual torture of a woman. The day following the nightmare, she would see a picture in the newspaper that matched the images she had seen in her dream. She could not identify the killer.

She had a nightmare about a second girl tortured and killed, news later published also matched the identity of the girl in her second dream. Realizing that she was seeing women tortured and killed in her dreams before the event, she decided to go to the police. This is the first weak point in the story. Why would a serial killer who had no intention to stop killing go to the police and try to expose the identity of a rival serial killer? Who in a rational state of mind would believe police would believe her? At this point we have to suspend logic and just go with a well told piece of fiction.

Then we examine the police role in the novel. The rest of the novel deals with police politics. Questions will be discussed that will be familiar to anyone who follows Law and Order, CSI, or Criminal Minds. Who is in charge of the investigation? Who is responsible for failure to come to a quick resolution of the crime through timely identification of the suspect? How far can the law be procedurally bent so police hero Matt can use evidence obtained not in a strictly legal way? How can Nicola convince Matt that her dreams are accurate predictions of future crimes?

There are cops like Matt who drink too much and have to work through the alcoholic blur. That is also true of Nicola, but as a serial killer she is not bound by rules of sobriety. Jane, an ambitious female cop detests Matt, leader of the designated task force (DTF) with a mission to find the male serial killer of the women who appeared in Nicola’s dreams. Because of a lack of leads, Matt spends most of his time cataloguing the weakness of team members; he feels their weaknesses will show him to be weak and lead to his dismissal.

There is a question about the existence of Evil as a vague sentient being that may be independent of Nicola. Evil might be the thing that gives Nicola anxiety and pressure, the things that compel Nicola to kill. The same Evil might compel the killer in Nicola’s dreams to kill. This question will not be answered in this novel. However, this novel is one in a series.

For such a dark topic, there is little violence and almost no sex. The mystery is nicely developed. The reader might guess the identity of the man in Nicola’s dreams before the end, but there are a couple of surprises to follow, so don’t close the book early.