Whips And Chains by Elle Thorpe

February 9, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Whips And Chains by Elle Thorpe
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Contemporary, Erotic Romance, LGBTQ, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Three…Two…One… The game has just begun.

Shadows crawl across the walls of an abandoned warehouse.
A knife waits on the table. A clock bleeds away the seconds.
Someone isn’t leaving alive.

My only chance of survival lies with the three men searching for me in the dark.

I let my guard down with X, the funny psychopath who has been following me for weeks, claiming I’m his future wife…Until he put his fingers around my throat and the laughter died away. Now he’s convinced he’s going to kill me and I’m not entirely sure he’s wrong.

Whip is the sin I paid for. He was supposed to be a transaction—one night only. Instead, he took my firsts and left me craving seconds neither of us should want.

And Levi… the ex-prisoner who wrote me letters that stole my heart. But love doesn’t protect us from a killer who knows all our secrets.

As sins are exposed and lies unravel, one thing becomes apparent.

The game isn’t over.
And the rules are written in blood.

Violet had been lured into a warehouse where a crazed killer is determined she and the others captured within won’t leave alive. With her three lovers searching for her Violet is understandably terrified. Can her life ever return back to normal?

Readers should be aware that this book continues on immediately from the ending of the previous book (X’s and O’s – book 1) and this book should be read only after the first. A reader picking this up without the previous one might not easily understand what’s going on. That said since the previous book ended on a cliff hanger, it was a relief that the author immediately jumped back into the main events.

I also enjoyed that there was quite a bit of character progression in this middle story. The three main male characters as well as Violet (as the main female character) all had a lot on their plate and seeing them grow and handle it was really good. There was also a lot of development in their foursome relationship – and of course a ton of steamy sex as well. The author had a good balance here between romantic progression and movement in the mystery plot, but the level of spice might not suit everyone’s taste. Also, similar to the first book, I did find some of the conflict a little frustrating due to poor communication and characters getting annoyed or frustrated with each other and acting on impulse instead of sitting and thinking – or talking things through. Violet and the male main characters appear to me to have a tendency to read between the lines and get upset – instead of clearly communicating or discussing stuff they find hurtful. While the conflict this produces and plot movement is understandable it rather annoyed me as a reader.

Readers should be aware that the M/M aspects between Levi and Whip absolutely progress and while there’s still some tension and conflict between them, their arc – along with the foursome arc and Violet’s individual relationship with X, Levi and Whip all have some solid movement for this second book. I greatly enjoyed the same humorous tone this book had – similar to book 1 – and while it wasn’t as front and center as the first book, I did appreciate how the more humorous moments really helped make some of the darker themes more palatable and less heavy. I really enjoyed this. The mystery/killer plotline ramped up in this book and so this wasn’t as lighthearted as the first book, but for a “dark, spicy romance”, this wasn’t bleak or too negative.

There is absolutely a mystery part to the plot and while it definitely takes a back seat to the Whip/Levi/X/Violet relationship, it was well written and strong enough to really help carry the story. I was pleased the plot helped keep the book feeling like it was moving forward and not being clogged up with the foursome relationship. Readers should know that the three male characters tend to fight with each other. I do find this mostly understandable – particularly with the foursome not fully formed and with there still being questions as they all settle into the relationship, but I’m not sure I’ll be as open to the ongoing feuding, arguments and frustrations in the third and final book. I’m kinda hoping this gets sorted out pretty quickly – but they’re absolutely not there yet which is a little disappointing. Also – exactly the same as the first book this one also finishes on a massive cliff hanger and while I was mostly expecting this given the first book’s ending, I was annoyed by this – but fully prepared and had already purchased the third and final book. So, I could move immediately on to it the second I finished the final page of this book. I strongly recommend readers who hate cliff hangers treat this trilogy as one book split into three sections and only begin the first when they’re prepared to binge all three.

This is a well-written and mostly humorous polyamorous spicy romance novel. There are definitely dark themes but with the lighter tone and banter between the characters, this an enjoyable book within this trilogy.

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The Killing Place by Kate Ellis

February 5, 2026 By Leave a Comment


The Killing Place by Kate Ellis
Publisher: Piatkus
Genre: Contemporary, Historical, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

November. With the tourist season over in South Devon, Detective Inspector Wesley Peterson is looking forward to a quieter month in the CID. But when a man is shot dead on Bonfire Night, he finds he has a complex murder case on his hands.

The body of Patrick North was found in woodland connected to Nesbaraton Hall, a grand estate dating back to the eighteenth century. The Smithson family, who own the estate, are away on holiday. However, when an anonymous letter threatening to abduct the Smithson son is uncovered, Wesley fears North’s death might have been collateral damage in a sinister kidnap plot.

Meanwhile, archaeologist Dr Neil Watson discovers a hidden grotto in a developer’s field – land that was once part of the Nesbaraton estate. Evidence of past rituals and the discovery of a skeleton buried next to the grotto raise questions about strange occurrences, past and present, on the estate.

Then, just when Wesley’s team seem to be making progress in their investigation, a resident of the nearby village is killed in a near identical shooting. A race is on to find a ruthless killer, before they strike again . . .

DI Wesley Peterson and his team are called in to investigate when the body of a local boy’s tutor is found in woodland connected to the estate he was living at. With conflicting tales from the locals and the family away and incommunicado on a holiday it takes Wesley some time to begin to piece everything together. But when another body is found soon afterwards it quickly becomes apparent that there’s a lot more to this than they first suspected.

I have enjoyed this series and in particular the way in which so often the past is merged into the present-day murder mystery. With Wesley and his old college friend both interested in Archaeology the old and new is often sewn together. I found this story was a little lighter with the past and with more sub-plots related to the present day, yet I really didn’t feel the story lacked too much for this. Neil was still present – albeit far more in the background than usual – and with a small grotto playing a fairly pivotal role I personally wasn’t upset by the heavier hand this book gives the present day.

I thought the author did a good job keeping a few different plot threads ticking along nicely – and I was even surprised by a few of the twists towards the end. While I do think readers might find that some of the storyline is a little easy to guess, there were definitely a few aspects that slipped my notice, so I enjoyed the fact there were still some surprises for me.

This is a solidly written British police procedural style of mystery, and a series as a whole I have really enjoyed from the beginning. While much of the secondary cast – the police team and Wesley’s family in particular – might resonate stronger with readers who have enjoyed at least some of the previous books in this series, I absolutely feel the mystery is very well encapsulated in this story and can easily be read just by picking this book up alone. Readers shouldn’t be shy about picking this up and if you do enjoy the prose and style then there’s a huge backlog that you can read and enjoy as well.

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Twisted Lies by Ana Huang

February 4, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Twisted Lies by Ana Huang
Publisher: Piatkus
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Charming, deadly, and smart enough to hide it, Christian Harper is a monster dressed in the perfectly tailored suits of a gentleman.

He has little use for morals and even less use for love, but he can’t deny the strange pull he feels toward the woman living just one floor below him.

She’s the object of his darkest desires, the only puzzle he can’t solve. And when the opportunity to get closer to her arises, he breaks his own rules to offer her a deal she can’t refuse.

Every monster has their weakness. She’s his.

His obsession.

His addiction.

His only exception.

***

Sweet, shy, and introverted despite her social media fame, Stella Alonso is a romantic who keeps her heart in a cage.

Between her two jobs, she has little time or desire for a relationship.

But when a threat from her past drives her into the arms―and house―of the most dangerous man she’s ever met, she’s tempted to let herself feel something for the first time in a long time.

Because despite Christian’s cold nature, he makes her feel everything when she’s with him.

Passionate.

Protected.

Truly wanted.

Theirs is a love twisted with secrets and tainted by lies…and when the truths are finally revealed, they could shatter everything.

Morally grey CEO Christian Harper doesn’t believe in love – but he can’t explain the pull Stella Alonso has had on him since they first met at her friend’s wedding. Agreeing to a mutually convenient, contractual fake relationship, each are determined to find out where their attraction stems from. But when a threat from Stella’s past creeps into her life – and into the supposedly secure apartment complex Christian owns – they come together far more than either had ever expected. Can they uncover their truths without shattering their world?

I picked this book up on a whim, having never read anything previously by this author. I’m not exactly sure of how the author managed to hook me, but with two deeply layered and complicated main characters, a writing style that I thoroughly enjoyed from the first page and a few interesting plot hooks I was absolutely on board from the first chapter or so.

This is absolutely a slow burn romance novel. There is virtually no spice or steam until the middle of this 550+ page paperback so readers expecting a fast paced or spice-heavy style of book will not enjoy the pacing of this book. I, however, coming in blind with zero expectations really enjoyed the slow build up. I realized fairly early into this book that it was part of a series (apparently book 4 I later learned) but I can absolutely state having read nothing previously by this author I easily picked it up and dived right in. I feel the author did an excellent job to explain this plot set up and these two characters for me and while it was strongly alluded to three other books (Stella’s three bffs) I could easily grasp everything without having read a page of it. There is also a fairly obvious hook to (what a quick search showed me was) one of Christan’s associates who appears to be book 1 of a spin off series.

Suffice to say this author appears to have plenty of other books and series out there, but I definitely feel this book stands well on it’s own.

I thoroughly enjoyed Stella and Christian, their interactions felt real and I was invested in them. While the “billionaire CEO” trope never feels very realistic to me I admit it’s a great romance plotline and Christian was different enough – and morally grey enough – that I thoroughly enjoyed him. Stella also was a deeply layered and complicated woman and I adored her. I also really enjoyed the fact there were a number of sub-plots all ticking along and revolving around each other, so the book didn’t feel too bloated or heavy to me, despite its length. I feel readers who enjoy a character-driven romance story should really give this book a go and I was really pleased I’d picked it up.

Readers who enjoy a slower burn to their romance, and a book with a good plot and complicated characters should give this book a try.

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X’s And O’s by Elle Thorpe

January 30, 2026 By Leave a Comment


X’s And O’s by Elle Thorpe
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

One minute I’m cleaning toilets for minimum wage.
The next, I’m waking up from a drug-induced nap with a monster staring down at me.

Kidnapped and seconds from death, I think I’m done for…
Until masked men burst in, murder my attacker, and turn my world upside down.

They call themselves Murder Squad.

A secret brotherhood of broken men who only kill the worst of the worst.

And one of them thinks I’m his wife.

X is unhinged, obsessed, and deadly. A psychopath who hides behind bad jokes and bloodstained fingers.

Whip’s older, grumpy, and used to women paying him to worship them. But when he finds out I’m a virgin, he can’t keep his hands off my plus-size curves.

And Levi? One year of handwritten letters was all it took to fall in love with a man I’d never met. My prison pen pal turned killer, fighting his darkness for a second chance.

But they aren’t the only psychopaths in Saint View.

Someone’s playing a twisted game, leaving rhyming threats and promising to end us all if we don’t stop them first.

With every lie we uncover, every secret we expose, the danger mounts.
Until there’s only one thing we know for sure.

There’s a killer out there.
And this time, he’s hunting us.

Violet is a cleaner going about her regular life, when she is drugged by a new client and wakes up to find herself in a terrifying situation that turns her life upside down. In under a week, she goes from being a curvy, shy normal virgin to a woman who finds herself with three vastly different men all determined to protect and ravish her. The fact one of the men is apparently a jovial psychopath and the other is her newly released prison pen pal just makes the entire situation even more confusing. Will
Violet’s life ever go back to the way it once was?

I picked up this book on a whim after seeing some advertisements for it and it was absolutely not what I was expecting. I believe this is the first official “dark romance” book that I’ve ever read – and certainly it’s the first thing I’ve ever seen by this author or anywhere near this book plot-wise. I’d never heard of the genre “dark rom com” before but I have to say that sums this up fairly well. There are absolutely some dark themes in this book (murder, capture, threatened rape etc) but I have to say that I feel like the tone and voice this book is written in is definitely humorous and almost the kind of lightness you do find in a regular romcom movie. With antics and banter and a lightness to the whole tone – and thankfully none of the darker themes were dwelled upon or heavy-handed – so at no stage did I feel weighted down or like the darker aspects were uncomfortable or really wallowed in. Don’t get me wrong, the darker themes were present, but I certainly felt they were more as “part of the whole” rather than front and center.

Readers should also be really clear that there are three main male characters along with Violet as the main female character. And all three men have seriously romantic/sexual feelings for Violet. I also definitely feel two of the men have a growing attraction between them and I thought there was some definite chemistry between them on top of their strong attraction to Violet. For most of the book the “romance” was fairly complicated and probably not the sort of thing you’re going to want people reading over your shoulder on the train to work in the mornings. There is quite a bit of spice in this book – but I have to admit I didn’t feel there was the same level of bedroom antics that a lot of erotica books have. I felt there was quite a bit of progress and plot outside the bedroom to go along with the spice. I thought this was really well balanced in this book.

Overall, I found this book to be very well written, lighthearted and at time hilarious. I did grow frustrated with the repeated miscommunication/misunderstandings between Levi and Violet. Having exchanged more than a hundred letters in a year – most of them deeply personal – I strongly feel their crossed wires should not have occurred when Levi was released and they met up in real life. A part of me wonders if the author simply wanted Violet to have time and emotional room to fall for both Whip and X so their attachments and the foursome would make sense. I got quite annoyed though, so I really do feel the Violet/Levi thing could have been handled far better and not been so frustrating. I also didn’t fully see the whole Whip/Violet appeal but am willing to roll with that for now. I didn’t feel as convinced by their attraction and chemistry as I did with Violet/Levi and Violet/X. That said, there was a lot happening in this book and it’s the first of a trilogy, so I’m happy to hold judgement on whether Violet/Whip makes sense or feels right to me, at least for now.

X, however, definitely stood out to me as a fairly unique character. Extremely funny and an utter psychopath, yet somehow extremely loveable at the same time. He’s quite perplexing and I’ll be glad to read more about him in the next book. Readers should absolutely be warned that this book ends on a cliffhanger. I admit I immediately went out to purchase the second book which almost certainly was the whole point of ending the book in the manner that the author did it. Generally speaking, though I hate cliffhangers and I checked that the third (and, I believe, final book) was already released before I got even more invested than I already am.

Readers who might be looking to dip a toe into the whole Dark Romance genre to see what all the talk and fuss is about might want to start here. There are definitely dark themes and spicy sex – but I do feel that the humourous tone to the book as a whole and the lighter aspects make this a less daunting prospect to see if it’s your cup of tea or not.

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The Murder Book by Mark Billingham

January 29, 2026 By Leave a Comment


The Murder Book by Mark Billingham
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Tom Thorne finally has it all.

In Nicola Tanner and Phil Hendricks, Thorne has good friends by his side. His love life is newly reformed by a promising relationship and he is happy in the job he has devoted his life to.

As he sets off hunting the woman responsible for a series of grisly murders, Thorne has no way of knowing that he will be plunged into a nightmare from which he may never wake. A nightmare that has a name. Thorne’s past threatens to catch up with him and a ruinous secret is about to be revealed. If he wants to save himself and his friends, he will have to do the unthinkable.

Tom Thorne finally has a lot to lose.

DI Tom Thorne and Nicola Tanner are drawn into a strange case involving a female serial killer who leaves particularly gruesome scenes behind her. With his private life finally seeming settled and two solid, close friends Thorne has no idea that this case is going to draw them all into the darkness they manage to avoid every day. What price will Tom have to pay to keep his life intact?

I found this to be an interesting and excellent addition to this long running series. The ongoing feud between Thorne and the true villain in this series has been bubbling away quietly in the background of the previous few books. I was pretty excited therefore when I found this one brought that conflict back onto center stage once again.

I thought the author did a really good job of balancing out the plot and wove a few different threads together slowly building the tension and the obvious conflict that would mark the apex of this case. Thorne – having been comprehensively thwarted during their last exchange – this time had a lot of pent-up anger and fear but equally held a good amount of sense and caution which I thought showed remarkable growth and maturity. Characteristics which Thorne doesn’t always portray very well.

There were a few solid twists in the plot – some of which were a delightful surprise and some I was proud that I guessed before they were unveiled. I absolutely feel this is a well written and solidly plotted British police procedural mystery novel. While there is a fair chunk of history between the villain and most of the main characters everything is quite briefly – and very clearly – explained so I do feel readers can pick this book up as a standalone. That said this is a really well written series and I do believe the emotional connection I felt was at least in part because I had read the previous books in this series and knew just how high the stakes were for everyone involved.

I was particularly pleased that Thorne reached out to Dave Holland. While I love Hendricks and Nicola Tanner, I have missed Dave and I really hope we see more of him now Thorne and he have reconnected once again.

An interesting and well plotted mystery, I found this to be a good addition to the series.

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Ruthless Creatures by J.T. Geissinger

January 27, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Ruthless Creatures by J.T. Geissinger
Publisher: Tor Publishing Group/Pan Macmillan
Genre: Contemporary, Erotic Romance
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Fern

Five years ago, my fiancé disappeared. He left me with a wedding dress I’d never wear. Left me with the kind of scars that can’t be healed. The man I built my future on vanished like a ghost. All that remained were my broken heart and a million unanswered questions.

Until a mysterious stranger arrives in town.

Tall, dark, and dangerous, Kage is as full of secrets as he is sex appeal. Though I know he’s hiding something, I’m drawn to him like a moth to flame. Heat crackles between us with every look, desire flares into passion, and I fall hard, helpless to resist.

But then I discover he’s been sent to collect on an unpaid debt from my missing fiancé….

And that debt is me.

Nat is struggling in the limbo her life has become. Her fiancé had disappeared without a trace just before their wedding rehearsal dinner and Nat has a million questions along with her broken heart. It might have been five years, but she still can’t seem to reconnect with the world and move on. Then Kage moves in next door. Tall, dark and dangerous Nat knows she shouldn’t be intrigued, but they’re drawn together like a moth to the flame. Then she learns he’s here to collect her fiancé’s debt – and payment will be herself.

This is the first mafia romance/darker romance story I’ve read since the genre exploded in recent years and I have to say this was a good book. In many ways it felt similar to me as the many (many, MANY) erotic romance stories I’ve read over the years, though I’ve usually stayed away from the mafia element. I admit the mafia aspect to this story was fairly light – Kage is the right hand man and member of this particular mafia family but he’s away from home, collecting the debt and “making a point” and I do feel that since he’s out of his home city, away from the rest of the family this really tones down the mafia element of the story. It was perfect for me and I felt it was a really good way to dip my toe into the genre.

The story itself was really quite good. I enjoyed both Nat and Kage’s characters, the plotline of her disappeared fiancé (ex-fiancé, I suppose, since it’s been five years and legally, he was deemed dead) and in particular the emotional fall out Nat has been dealing with over the situation was an emotional and excellent read. I do feel that Kage almost instantly fell in love with Nat – which I thought was strong for the plot and storyline but was never really thoroughly explained or discussed. Much of the book is from Nat’s perspective and so we can see why Kage and his honesty about not being a good person and not being a “regular” kind of man doesn’t turn Nat off. I found Nat’s perspective and attachment a lot better explained and much easier to connect with. I did enjoy Kage and his character truly appealed to me, but I wished a little there were a few more chapters from his perspective so I could have more easily understood some of his thought process. With some difficult themes both characters were going through a bit more balance between their perspectives would have helped me with this, I think.

The paperback copy of this book I purchased and read had a bonus chapter – from Kage’s perspective – at the end and this did fill some of that gap for me. The chapter was after the end of the book, and apparently an addition to the paperback copy only. I thought it was an excellent addition – though obviously I didn’t reach it until I had finished the book itself.

This book has plenty of spice and erotic readers should find it very satisfying. I thought the balance of spice and plot was very well written and I thoroughly enjoyed Sloan – Nat’s BFF and a fun and interesting secondary character. The final chapter fairly clearly outlines that the second book will be Sloan’s story and set up a cliffhanger style intro/prequel into the second book so readers who dislike that kind of ending/lead up to the sequel should probably not read the final chapter from Sloane’s perspective.

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From The Ashes by Damien Boyd

January 26, 2026 By Leave a Comment


From The Ashes by Damien Boyd
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Long lives are being cut short in this thriller from the bestselling DI Nick Dixon crime series.

A retired teacher is found dead in her Somerset home on a cold January night. At first glance, it is a routine unexplained death and a simple referral to the coroner, until a neighbour reports an unscheduled visit from an occupational therapist an hour before the body was discovered.

Detective Chief Inspector Nick Dixon is convinced the elderly woman has been strangled—a cause of death confirmed by the pathologist—and a murder investigation is launched.

More victims are soon found—a second retired teacher who died in eerily similar circumstances in Devon. Then a possible third victim is exhumed in Dorset.

Leading a regional task force, Dixon must find the connection between the victims. As the coincidences mount, he begins to fear he has stumbled on something premeditated and deeply sinister—a serial killer targeting the elderly in their own homes.

When a sharp-eyed rural police officer notices similarities between the seemingly sudden death of an elderly lady with a similarly sudden death recently of an elderly man, DI Nick Dixon is called in to review the crime scene. The similarities are striking – and soon the forensic details also match in ways that are unlikely to be faked. DI Dixon and his team soon uncover a much larger issue and the case grows even more complicated.

I have found this to be a really good and reliable series. I strongly feel this new addition is an excellent book – one of the best recently in the series. I thoroughly enjoyed how the plot slowly grew both more intense and more complicated. By half way through the book is was a far deeper and more complicated case than a few elderly people dying in their sleep could ever have appeared. I also really enjoyed the methodical way the facts came together without too many red herrings or lost time.

I have high hopes for the newly minted officer who first spotted the similarities – I hope we see her character again more in future books. I also really enjoyed the personal and relationship progress between Jane and Nick and find their interactions really grounding and satisfying to read. It adds a good reality to the story, and I think the books are better for it.

I found this book good and am enjoying this interesting and well written British police procedural mystery series.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Beer Truck by Emily Carrington

January 22, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Beer Truck by Emily Carrington
Publisher: Changeling Press
Genre: Contemporary, Erotic Romance, LGBTQ
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

When TJ, a famous country star, finds out he has cancer, he retreats to his hometown to heal away from the paparazzi. Uncomfortable living with his parents, he gets a job as a beer truck driver.

Harvey is the owner of a local bar. He’s been following TJ’s career because the two of them used to be lovers. But TJ insisted on being in the closet. Now that Harvey’s older, he can’t imagine burying himself like that ever again.

But when TJ walks into his bar, both men are shocked by the attraction that still blossoms between them. But neither will budge in their beliefs. How can they possibly find happiness in each other’s arms?

Famous country star TJ’s life is turned upside down when he gets a cancer diagnosis. Retreating back to his hometown, all is wants is to escape and try to heal. Getting a job as a beer truck driver, TJ is shocked when he walks into a bar and hinds his secret ex-lover, Harvey still in town and the owner. Can these two stubborn men find their happily ever after?

I found this to be an emotional read – TJ’s fight against his cancer runs fairly smoothly but the depth of emotion and worry he feels runs deep and is quite powerful to read. Readers who aren’t comfortable with cancer as a main plot device should be cautious with this book.

Normally I find books where one (or both) partners are in the closet fairly difficult and annoying to read. I was fairly impressed though with how the author handled it in this story. TJ had two very strong reasons to be so firmly closeted – his strictly religious, homophobic parents but also his music career. That, coupled with Harvey’s refusal to go back into the closet made this a strongly conflicted romance plot and I feel this gave quite a bit of meat to the story. I felt deeply connected to both characters and the emotion all but dripped from the page for me.

Readers looking for well written and stubborn characters, a solid romance plotline and a lot of emotion should find this to be an excellent story. I do feel this might be a difficult read for some people, but I equally feel the story is well with the discomfort. A charged and emotional read, this was a story I’m not likely to forget any time soon.

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Their Little Secret by Mark Billingham

January 21, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Their Little Secret by Mark Billingham
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

When DI Tom Thorne is called to the site of a suicide, he expects to be in and out in no time. But when he arrives at the Underground station where a woman named Philippa Goodwin threw herself in front of a train, he inexplicably senses something awry and feels compelled to dig deeper. He soon discovers that she was the victim of a callous con man who preys on vulnerable women—and whose deception plunged Philippa to her end.

Thorne enlists DI Nicola Tanner to help him track down the swindler and bring him to justice. But the detective duo gets more than they bargained for when a young man’s bludgeoned body turns up on the shore of a nearby seaside town and the two cases come together in a way that neither of the detectives could have foreseen . . .

Tom Thorne is called out to an apparent suicide and while he’s fairly sure that this is what it seems – the reason behind the suicide is something he struggles to let go of. When eventually he and his partner Nicola Tanner do hand the case to the fraud squad no one is more surprised than Thorne when he’s contacted by another division – the DNA sample turning up in a recent murder case. Suddenly his interest doubles and the case once again becomes theirs. Can Thorne and Tanner sort out what’s going on?

I found this to be an enjoyable British police procedural murder mystery book. Both Thorne and Tanner have worked a few cases before, so they seem to have found a good rhythm together now which I really enjoyed. While there are some developments in each of their respective personal lives, I was pleased this didn’t take too much time away from the main plot.

I really enjoyed how this case grew and almost spiraled as the main characters wove together and the case grew as the villain’s relationship did too. While I definitely found parts of the plot easy to guess and foresee, there were still enough twists to keep me guessing and surprised. I feel this book should absolutely appeal to mystery readers of all kinds. I particularly liked how while the villains were clearly villains, they both had quite different issues and in many respects, they worked wonderfully together it was equally clear they were also going to cause serious issues for one another. I thought their relationship – both growing and disintegrating – was an extremely complicated and intriguing dynamic and I feel this really made the plot as gripping as it was. I can’t recall reading a story like this previously and to some extent the two villains even outshone Tanner and Thorne for me- which is a highly unusual position for me as a reader to find myself in.

With a steadily growing plot and plenty of realism I found this to be a good read and a nice addition to a great series.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

The Killing Habit by Mark Billingham

January 19, 2026 By Leave a Comment


The Killing Habit by Mark Billingham
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Fern

While Tanner investigates the deadly spread of a dangerous new drug, Thorne is handed a case that he doesn’t take too seriously—until a spate of animal killings points to the work of a serial murderer. When the two cases come together unexpectedly, both Thorne and Tanner must risk everything to catch two very different killers.

DI Tom Thorne and Nicola Tanner both return in this book and I feel readers are in for quite a ride with this. While this is a good number of books into the series I was pleased to find it quite fresh and still able to grip me by the throat.

I enjoyed the fact that this book – unlike most of the others in this series – had a few different moving parts to the plot. And while I was fairly sure from the beginning that they were all linked somehow it wasn’t clear at the start how they were linked – or even if they were connected at all. That kept a lot of my attention on the book in a different way that I’m used to with this series. I also thought the way things came together in the end (both linked and not) shows exceptional writing on the authors behalf and I have to admit there were a number of points I wasn’t even close to guessing correctly.

I was pleased Nicola Tanner was back, while her character is fairly new, I enjoy her strong presence, and I feel she adds a good counterpart to Thorne. I definitely feel these two work well together and I’m glad the author has continued along these lines. I also really enjoy how while these two characters are vastly different, there are a few key aspects to which they are really quite eerily the same when push comes to shove. I am very eager to read more of these two continuing to work together.

While I usually find the plots quite uneasy and uncomfortable reading I feel a few of the above points helped me with this book. And while Thorne is initially hunting an animal killer, which is obviously not lighthearted or fun as a major plot line, I did feel this book remained gritty but not the same level of discomfort I usually associate with a DI Thorne novel. I had to pause at numerous times to breath and regroup – there are still quite a few fairly hard aspects to these plots, but overall, this book was well worth the effort and was a strongly plotted and well written read.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,
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