The Hermitage #Review #DCIRyan #Book9

The Hermitage 

About the Book

He thought he was invincible, but he was wrong…

When an old man is found dead inside the ancient hermitage at Warkworth Castle, Northumbria CID are called in to investigate. With no apparent motive, it’s their job to unravel why he was murdered – and this time they’re forced to do it without their star detective…

DCI Ryan is thousands of miles away. He’s tracked a killer across Europe and has sworn not to return until he has his man in custody. Nathan Armstrong is a dangerous psychopath but there’s just one problem – he’s also an international celebrity; a world-famous thriller writer with money and connections.

Ryan is a stranger in a foreign land, but he knows one thing – he’ll never give up.

Murder and mystery are peppered with romance and humour in this fast-paced crime whodunnit set amidst the spectacular landscapes of Northumberland and Tuscany.

My Review

This is book 9 in the DCI Ryan series and this one is set around Warkworth Castle, and the ancient hermitage where a man is found deceased.

DIC Ryan and his team are called upon to investigate the death and sort out the mystery surrounding the death.  However, despite it being Ryan’s team that are investigating they are without their esteemed team leader DCI Ryan.  

Ryan is miles away, quite a few miles away, thousands of miles away in Italy, where both Ryan and Anna (logically) are searching for a killer!!

It was nice to see two stories flowing in this book, Ryan’s mission and the investigation run by Phillips and McKenzie.  We know that despite the team being separated that they are all working together one way or another and all have the same mission in play. 

I found this book to be a bit different to the usual LJ Ross books, with Ryan and Anna being in Italy, leaving McKenzie and Phillips investigating the Hermitage murder, but this didn’t spoil the book for me at all.  I found it really intriguing that we got to see more of Phillips personality and the way he runs an investigation and not as Ryan’s sidekick even though LJ Ross’s readers know that they are all a team and work well together and get along brilliantly. 

This was a fantastic book by LJ Ross as usual and as all of her books do, this had me hooked and riveted from the first chapter!!!

About the Author

LJ Ross is the author of the #1 international bestselling series of DCI Ryan mystery novels and her books have sold more than three million copies since 2015. She has released ten full-length novels, seven of which have reached number one in the Amazon UK Kindle best-sellers chart. They are available to purchase in e-book, print and audiobook narration on the Amazon store.

Her eleventh novel, 'The Infirmary', is a prequel story which will be available in e-book and print on 10th February 2019. It is already available as a major Audible Originals drama starring Tom Bateman, Kevin Whately, Hermione Norris and Alun Armstrong.

Louise was born in Northumberland, England. She studied undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Law at King's College London and studied abroad in Paris and Florence. She spent much of her working life in London, where she was a regulatory lawyer for a number of years before taking the decision to change career and pursue her dream to write.

Now, she writes full time and lives with her husband and son in Northumberland. She enjoys reading all manner of books, travelling and spending time with family and friends.

List of DCI Ryan books

 
1. Holy Island (2014)
2. Sycamore Gap (2015)
3. Heavenfield (2016)
4. Angel (2016)
5. High Force (2017)
6. Cragside (2017)
7. Dark Skies (2017)
8. Seven Bridges (2018)
9. The Hermitage (2018)
10. Longstone (2018)
11. The Infirmary (2019)
12. The Moor (2019)

Turn The Other Way - Stuart James #BlogTour #GuestPost

Turn The Other Way

Today I am pleased to be able to participate in the blog tour for Turn The Other Way by Stuart James.  My thanks go to Sarah Hardy for inviting me to participate in the blog tour.  

About the Book

Sometimes revenge is the deadliest game of all.

A derelict farmhouse in the Essex countryside.

A deranged family.

Innocent victims being picked at random.

If you're chosen, Turn The Other Way.

Simon Bairstow is a top London Surgeon. He's performed dozens of life-saving operations. But something goes horribly wrong. The machine Eve Johnson is attached to flatlines, and suddenly her parent's world has collapsed.

They're hell bent on revenge, someone to answer for the horrific error that's been made.

Noah and Jess are driving on a busy dual carriageway and get stuck in traffic. They hear thumping coming from the back doors of the transit van in front of them. When Noah steps out onto the road, he hears muffled screams. He opens the back doors and what he sees shocks him to the core.

The van pulls off, spilling Noah onto the road.

Ignoring his wife's plea to leave it, he hits the accelerator in pursuit of the van.

Chloe's parents are missing. She hasn't seen them since they left the party in Hampstead on Friday night. She needs answers, deciding to take matters into her own hands.

A serial killer is stalking the streets of Islington in North London late at night leaving his victims in a horrific way.

The press have dubbed him The Angel Attacker.

A terrifying tale of revenge with a twist that will hit you like a sledgehammer.

Guest Post

Today on my blog I have a lovely post from the author on how his day starts and then a little insight into Turn The Other Way.  My thanks to Stuart James for this.  I found this really interesting and cannot wait to ready your book. 

Thank you to Sarah Hardy for all your hard work in bringing this blog tour together.

Also, to the amazing bloggers who are taking part.

I can't thank you all enough.

My writing day usually starts at around 5.30 AM.

I get up, shower and then get going with my ideas.

I have a couple of hours before the school run and find that early morning is the best time to write.

So, onto my thriller and a brief look at the main characters, Jake and Kate.
They have a great relationship, love banter and winding each other up and are extremely close.
While driving home early Saturday morning, they're stuck in traffic behind an old transit van.
They hear thumping coming from the back doors, and although Kate feels uneasy about it, Jake gets out to take a look. Big mistake. What he sees, chills him to the bone.

The van pulls away, spilling him onto the road. They have no phones, and Jake wants to help.

This is the central part of the story.

When I came up with the idea, I wanted to create a situation that is out of the ordinary, a scene in which you would struggle to walk away from and what could happen if you take matters into your own hands.

We also go to the past, where we meet Simon Bairstow, a top London surgeon who's made a dreadful mistake while operating on a young woman.

Her parents are hell-bent on revenge, someone to answer for the terrible blunder.
In the present day, we also meet Chloe. She hasn't heard from her parents since they left her twenty-first party and she's growing ever more concerned. 

She's impatient, waiting for the police to give her answers and decides to take matters into her own hands.

I wanted to make her character strong, bolshy, someone who takes no prisoners, pulls no punches and gets things done.

My vision when I started was to write a terrifying chiller. Something you read that makes the hairs stand on the back of your neck, checking under the bed and leaving the lights on.
I also wanted a twist that leaves you gasping, something that makes you think, way after the story is finished.

I hope that's what I've achieved and that readers enjoy my story.
I love nothing more than when readers message me on social media and tell me how much they enjoy my story and how frightened it made them.

I know then that I have achieved what I set out to do.

Thanks for much for reading a little insight into my day and my new thriller, Turn The Other Way. 

Check out the rest of the blog tour with these fabulous blogs: 

My thanks to Stuart James for joining me on my blog today and SarahHardy @ Book on the Bright Side for my spot on the blog tour.