Richard Parker (12)Rezensionen

"Keep Her Safe" was a quick, easy read that was action-packed, fast-paced and full of tension. I liked how the story was told from both Holly's and Maggie's perspectives as it showed the lengths the two women would go to protect their babies.

The first-half of the book was compelling as Maggie and Holly struggled for dominance. I found it difficult to decide whose side I was on. They were both intelligent, determined women and the mistrust between them was palpable. The second-half was more about the two mothers joining forces to beat the Babysitter and save Holly's baby, Abigail. There lives were in constant danger and I was on the edge of me seat the whole way through.

Although I found parts a bit repetitive and the last few chapters over the top, overall, "Keep Her Safe" was a gripping, entertaining read.

I received a copy of this book free from the publisher via netgalley.com in exchange for honest review.

DNF. Great concept, just not for me. A bit too slowly paced. I skimmed the majority through to the end.

I am amazed how some authors have such twisted imagination to pen gory, creepy thrillers that slowly draw its readers deep into a fictional world and leave them speechless because passing time with them is such a thrill…yes this one is that good

“When did you last Google yourself”. Aren’t you a bit curious?

This is the story of a wealthy businessman, Will Frost, who after being woken up in the middle of the night by a mysterious caller goes online to find a site in his name showing photos inside his home along with six other houses he has never seen before. A murder was committed in the first house and then he is told his daughter has been kidnapped and to save her he needed to visit each of the houses before the police shows up. Given tidbits of information Will is then on a wild chase around the world and founds himself running the deserted streets and smack into violence and murder…..is it scary…maybe…maybe not…

What a read. This psychological thriller has kept my full attention throughout. This story is so full of tension and intrigue I simple had to push on to see what would happen next. There is so much action and so many unexpected twists and turns to keep us on our toes, I had little chance to get off. It is such a very hard story to put down. Vividly said, the images described are imprinted in my mind. I definitely wouldn’t want to be in Will shoes.

Mr. Parker’s background as a TV script writer shines in this story and shows how skilled he is in portraying action and his characters’ emotion with the right words. Ok, I admit this story is far-fetched borders implausible but it makes for a very entertaining read. I love how the suspense exceeds the last words….Maybe a sequel….hope so..

I received “Scare Me” as a complimentary book from Lume Books with no obligations to write a review.

Thanks to NetGalley for the chance to read this in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed reading this unique thriller and found it very interesting. I recommend it for people who enjoy a good serial killer thriller.
This is essentially about a serial killer who picks their victims from a Twitter feed for @BeMyKiller. The victims are then murdered in the way they suggested online.

There has been several people murdered by stabbing across London. The victims seem to have nothing in common - they represent different genders, ages, occupations. If it weren’t for the particularly gruesome signature the killer leaves behind, the murders would likely not have been connected. But DI Tom Fabian is convinced there has to be something linking these people, something that probably makes sense only to the killer. When he finally sees the connection, he knows that they have little time left to find the killer because, although the police know how the victims are connected, they still don’t know why or who, only that the killer is not finished. And the time between killings is narrowing.

Never Say Goodbye by author Robert Parker is a fast-paced thriller with plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader guessing. There were times that the story seemed to get bogged down especially in the questioning of suspects. However, the use of short chapters and paragraphs keeps the story moving along at such a clip that even this doesn’t really affect the pacing. Overall, a quick, enjoyable read.

3.5

Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review½

When I finished this book I got to thinking about the way that in some mysteries the bad guy is someone known to the principals and sometimes they are not and the ways a good narrative makes either of these scenarios work. I'll try to develop this theme in this review without giving anything away about the plot of this particular book.

It's pretty common for the murderer to be someone that is part of the murder squad or police administration or the community or a person of interest. Here the key is to introduce the character without drawing undue attention to the individual. This works best with a fast-paced narrative with many red herrings. The reveal works when the reader can cast back over the course of the story and understand the deception and enjoy how well the author pulled it off. This fails when the villain is obvious from early on, or when the guilty party is so far outside the radar that the murder makes no sense. These two errors can be avoided if the author has a good set of readers who are able to give good advice.

The opposite scenario – that of an unknown murderer who is caught through the excellent detective work of our heroes – can also work beautifully – think "Silence of the Lamb" for example. It fails when the murderer is obvious to everyone but the detectives or when the murderer is too obscure – the barista from Chapter 1 or something. These errors too can be avoided if the author has a good set of readers.

I think this book fails in its logic and execution and that a good set of readers would have helped Mr. Parker immensely. Let's see how he does with the next one.

I received a review copy of "Never Say Goodbye: Detective Tom Fabian Book 1" by Richard Parker
(Bookouture) through NetGalley.com.

What would you do if your child's life was in danger? Would you kill another human being to keep your child safe from harm? How far would a mother go to protect her child?

Maggie knew all to well the answers to these questions as she was faced with them once before. So when she hears a noise late in the evening, she knows why the intruder is breaking into her home. Maggie grabs her daughter and locks herself in her bedroom. The intruder, Holly, is a mother just like herself and someone is pulling her strings forcing her to do things in order to get her baby back. Maggie knows she is running out of time, but what would it take to convince Holly that there might be another way to put an end to the horror they both face.

I really enjoyed the intensity at the beginning of the story. Someone breaking into your home while you are alone with your child would surely scare the life out of me. I am not a mother, so I can only imagine the heart pounding fear one would feel if placed in a situation like this. Maggie was fierce while protecting her child and herself at all cost. It almost made you feel sorry for Holly and the situation she was in. While Maggie did have empathy for Holly, she sure was not going to go down without a fight. I felt that Maggie was definitely the mentally stronger character between the two, but on the other hand Holly seemed to have more of a heart as she questioned if she could really go through with the task at hand in order to save her child.

While the first part of KEEP HER SAFE felt like more of a psychological thriller to me, the second half felt like more of a mystery and definitely gave off a completely different vibe. At this point though, I was really emotionally invested in both Maggie and Holly's story and really needed to see it through to the end. While I liked the second half of the book it was definitely different than the first half. It was still really good, but it didn't hold the same "keep you on the edge of your seat heart stopping action" as the beginning of the story until it reached closer to the end and then the action was back in full force. Although the shift felt quite different they both worked really well together as a whole and I was far from disappointed at the turn of events.

I needed to know who the bad guy was and what turned him into such a sinister manipulator. One thing I would have really enjoyed was getting inside the head of the bad guy and reading his POV inter-weaved through the story. What can I say, I am a sucker for evil characters and love reading their thoughts.

I would highly recommend picking up a copy of KEEP HER SAFE, the action was intense and really had me thinking what I would do if faced with same situation. The author, Richard Jay Parker, really knows how to grab your attention and his writing is top of the line. He grabs your attention right from the beginning and doesn't let go until you are on the very last page. I will be searching out his other books and adding them to my TBR.

Scare Me is a standalone thriller that had quite an intriguing premise. Will, a successful businessman, has to go on a scavenger-type hunt across several countries in order to save his pregnant daughter, Libby, who is being held hostage. He's having to visit seven different houses, all of them horrific crime scenes. Poppy, the person behind it all, is known to the reader from the beginning. But who exactly is she, why did she target Will and his family, and what is her ultimate goal?
Scare Me has been optioned for a movie and I can see why. To be honest, I think it might work better on screen than it did reading/listening to this. It's fast-paced and quite entertaining; that is provided you don't start to pick it apart for its plausibility.
I enjoyed it in the way you can enjoy an action-packed movie that doesn't require any thinking or emotional involvement, but I didn't love it. The main shortcoming for me was the characters, who remained rather one-dimensional, which stopped me from really connecting with any of them. The story is told from several perspectives including Will's, his wife's, Libby's and Poppy's as well as a seven-year-old boy's and a reporter's. I felt the inclusion of the latter two didn't really serve any purpose as regards the storyline.
The audiobook narration by Rupert Holliday-Evans was pretty decent. He had a very pleasant voice.
Overall, this was pretty much average, 3 stars.

I wanted this to be so much better than it was. The writing was sound and confident. The very kernel of the book - the logline of "have you ever Googled yourself?" - was the high water mark.

The rest of the book never lives up to the promise of its premise. Very fiddly as a page turner. The characters are all wafer-thin and don't act like people would act (even in the rarified stylized air of "serial killer beach book") and only serve the overcranked plot like checkers on a checkerboard. The irradiated doses of exposition were delivered in huge, skimmable chunks - violating Elmore Leonard's rule of writing to "leave out the parts that readers skip."

The plot point machinations were heavy on their feet and the entire exercise is a very shaggy dog of a tale, piling preposterous atop the already preposterous starting point. Which doesn't help because one is immediately criticizing every move the characters make. This serial killer is Rube Goldbergian, setting out a trail of bread crumbs that rely on so much complicated planning for no reason, and over-reliance on luck and timing for any of it to work. Complete with the killer's "before I kill you, Mr. Bond" manifesto at the end that explains the entire 380 pages that came before.

This would be better as a movie script (and reads like there's already a treatment or script in turnaround somewhere).

Thomas Harris' SILENCE OF THE LAMBS casts a long shadow over literate and well-done serial killer thrillers, especially when something inferior comes along. Which is 99% of everything else. This one is in the lower percentile ranges of that 99% for me.

i recieved a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for in honest review of the book

Stalk Me by Richard Parker
Published by Exhibit A , Published on February 25, 2014
Genre: Mystery
Length: 325 Pages in e ARC format
Source: NetGalley
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Mary and her husband are involved in a terrible car crash. With her husband lying terribly injured beside her, Mary watches a set of feet emerge from behind the car they crashed into and walk over to where she is sprawled. One of the feet kicks her in the jaw and she blacks out.

When she wakes, she is still at the crash site but on a stretcher. Her husband is on a stretcher beside her and, despite his injuries, is trying to tell her something. A large crowd has gathered and a number of people are recording the event with their phones. She goes ballistic and attacks them.

When she comes round in hospital, she is informed that her husband died of his injuries. Worse still, the most traumatic event of her life has become a YouTube sensation with footage of her attack on the onlookers being viewed all over the world.

Mary learns that the man driving the car in front vanished from the scene. The car was registered under a false name. She must contact every person she attacked who recorded the event and ask for their help.

But somebody is murdering the people who used their hand held devices and is removing their recordings. Mary must try to reach them before the digital fragments of the event disappear altogether.

As Mary moves closer to the truth. she realizes the crash conceals a secret someone will do anything to conceal

MY THOUGHTS
A very interesting story, a main character in which it's easy to identify yourself, a never ending irritating suspense that you blows you away.

I did not like the many point of views of the story which does make you dizzy at times and hard to follow between everyone, especially the flashbacks of Mary and her husband.

What I liked about this book is how it brings out society today and how there is always someone there to record your terrible moment, i.e. car accident and are so quick to upload it to the internet for everyone to see. I really did like the plot twist at the end, it was very clearly handled!

3 stars.

I couldn't put this down. I haven't read any of Parker's work; but I will be now. One of the best books I have read this year. I enjoyed this book. The leisurely pacing let me get to know the characters, so when the action started I cared about how they would react. The settings were interesting, and I liked the way there were little mysteries dropped in along the way that all came together eventually. Several of the plot developments surprised me, which is always good. I found the conclusion pretty satisfying.

Parker you're fantastic at getting the reader involved with the characters in the book.

Great storyline kept me on edge full of action good characters. Parker does a great job of pulling you into the story and keeps you guessing until the end. It's a page-turner with the usual unexpected twist at the end and I recommend it to everyone.

The main story line of this book is very good. The plot revolves around Will trying to find his kidnapped daughter. Will is sent on a scavenger hunt set up through an internet website by the kidnapper. Will is sent all over the world and finds many grizzly murder scenes in his wake as he collects what he thinks are personal effects of his daughter. Like I said, this part of the story is very good.

I did not care for the additional storylines that kept popping up in the book. The 6-year-old Tam did nothing to enhance the story. The crab metaphor was not well written. The reporter storyline could have been a good addition if the reporters had done anything significant to change the story, but they did not.

I wanted to give the book a higher rating, but there were so many distractions to the main storyline that did nothing to enhance the story.