Sinead Crowley

A multi timeframe story set in Ireland. It starts in 1825 where we meet Deidre FitzMahon, daughter of the owner of Hollowpark House. In 2007 Grace, who is a nanny, moves from Greece to Ireland to look after three year old Skye FitzMahon. Events come to light about the disappearance of a teenager in 1973. Grace starts to see faces at windows of Hollowpark and mysterious ghostly figures. Can it all be connected?

I very much enjoyed this intriguing tale. I hadn’t realised it had a supernatural element when I started reading it but as the spectral side of it emerged, I was gripped and I thought it was very well done. I loved the thought of the maze and the tower, they put me in mind of the Minotaur and Rapunzel! It’s evocatively written with some vivid descriptions and some great characters. I liked how the three timelines interconnected. It was all pulled together wonderfully. The ending is maybe a little too neatly tied up but don’t let this detract from the enjoyment of this book. It’s fiction at the end of the day where anything goes. An engaging, atmospheric and compelling ghost story about secrets and about how the past can catch up with you. Hollowpark looks after its own.… (lisätietoja)

Bought this on impulse on the way through Dutyfree for a short holiday in Spain and finished a good chunk of it on the plane. I hadn't heard of this author before, but bought it just because of the on cover reviews, which sounded like a page turner – something that could be read while lying in the sun, on a lounger with the book in one hand and a G&T in the other.

And so it proved. The drinks ice melted to water often during the few days in the sun, G&T forgotten and it was only hunger pangs that brought me back from Southern Ireland (where the story is set) to Andalusia, for some tapas and to refresh the gin.

I liked the 'Oirish' phrases that are scattered through the book “Jaysus, you eejit!” and “...he got on the bus to be sure, I'm only after remembering that now.” to give example from each extreme. This syntax had me thinking all the narrative passages in an Irish accent.

A detective, psychological, murder thriller, easy to read and hard to put down. It soon becomes apparent that this is a secound book in what might be a series, now I must get the prequel.… (lisätietoja)

Are You Watching Me? A Creepy Irish Thriller

Are You Watching Me? Is the latest crime thriller from Irish writer Sinead Crawley, and another outing for Sergeant Clare Boyle. Sinead Crawley has given us an excellent female detective who is trying to balance motherhood, marriage and a high pressured career, like many of the readers.

The premise may seem simple, a couple of murders all connected to a drop-in-centre in Dublin that is the only connection. At the same time there is a suggestion of abuse from thirty years prior, between teacher and pupil and that pupil is at the heart of the story. The problem is it would be easy to solve the crime if there were no twists, or trips back to a sleep Irish town in the middle of nowhere, where everyone knows your business.

Boyle and her colleague Flynn have to work through are the clues and there does not seem to be many of them in any of the murders. Liz, the centre worker, seems to be at the centre of what is happening and they think she is hiding something, but cannot prove it. Liz is also gaining a lot of publicity for her drop in centre and is trying to overcome crippling anxiety and is the media face of the charity.

The writing is great and what is better is seeing a female cop not reverting to the usual stereotype of being a loner a defective detective. Clare Boyle is the sort of woman we all know trying to get on in life while balancing many things at once including a child and a husband.

A great book, a pacey thriller, with a few twists and turns and a very clear female hero who we will all love. I cannot wait until her next outing.… (lisätietoja)

Disclosure: I received a review copy from the publisher.

I've been trying out quite a few new-to-me authors who are female in the past year, and I've specifically taken on old and new writers who write domestic suspense. I liked this book particularly because I liked the lead detective, Guard Claire Boyle, who is quite pregnant during the course of the novel.

Can Anybody Help Me? is a book about a series of murders committed against fellow members of an online parenting and pregnancy support group site netmammy. This particular brand of domestic suspense is quite claustrophobic or laced with a touch of post-partum depression with a number of characters navigating the world of new parenthood. I found the book to be a brisk read: the parenting forums are quite familiar and feel real, there are a reasonable number of plot twists, and though I had a short list of suspects, it was still an enjoyable read.

Other reviews appear in Reviewing the Evidence and Crime Thriller Girl.… (lisätietoja)