A.A. Abbott

GREAT CRIME STORY WRITER

suspense thriller

Book Review – The Locksmith, by Jo Ullah

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A good read in the gothic tradition

Book Review of The Locksmith Suspense Thriller by Jo Ullah a good read and a page turnerThe Locksmith is a good read for the summer holidays – not just because it’s about a mother taking her children to stay on a farm during the long vacation, but because the light evenings are less conducive to book-induced nightmares. While the book is written in a deceptively simple style, it’s a suspense thriller in the gothic tradition. An air of menace pervades the pages, mounting as twists unfold. Like the boobytraps placed around the farm, it’s evident that tragedy will strike, but it’s only at the last minute that we find out how and when.

Scars of the past

Artist Jude has escaped a violent marriage and found contentment with a new lover, Spider. Together, they have a young baby as well as Jude’s two children from her first marriage. Family life in Bristol’s Bohemian Montpelier district seems idyllic, but cracks are beginning to show. Middle child Immy displays unsettling signs of a sixth sense. Adolescent Ben chafes at the restrictions imposed on him and resents his stepfather’s authority. Spider bears the scars of an unhappy childhood, but refuses to talk about it. Jude decides the answer for her is more physical and mental space. When Spider’s mother invites her to bring the children to stay on the family farm for the summer, the offer is too tempting to ignore.

Page turner awash with surprises

Despite deepening unease, the story abounds with gentle humour, especially in the clash of urban and rural mores. The children discover that nature is red in tooth and claw. There is also a priceless trip to a snobby town near the farm. Jo Ullah strikes the perfect balance between entertainment and edge-of-the-seat fear, creating a page turner awash with surprises to keep you guessing.

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Read it and sleep – if you dare…

Do you like sinister stories with a Bristol edge? If so, try “A Dark Imagined Bristol”, a collection of short tales that are just that. Although I’m a crime thriller writer, I turned my hand to a disturbing supernatural story, “First Blood”, especially for a “A Dark Imagined Bristol”. Read it, and sleep – if you dare…

Thriller of the Month – Flowers for the Dead, by Barbara Copperthwaite

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After taking time out to finish my latest crime thriller, The Vodka Trail, I’m reading lots of fabulous fiction again, and Thriller of the Month is back! Barbara Copperthwaite’s Flowers for the Dead is a psychological thriller on a par with Ruth Rendell’s darker works – an all too believable story of the harvest reaped from a dysfunctional childhood.

Anti-hero Adam is rich, young, athletic and alone in the world. He’s also painfully shy and can’t communicate easily with women. Although he knows the meaning of different flowers, having taught himself from an old book, even his hand-tied bouquets are misunderstood by the girls he fancies.

Orphaned in his late teens (and we learn more about that as the tale unfolds), Adam lives in a Victorian mansion in a swanky area of Birmingham. He travels far and wide in pursuit of young women – London, Colchester, Reading and inverness. It takes years for the police to realise they’re looking for a serial killer. Segueing between past and present to show us how a killer was made rather than born, Barbara Copperthwaite draws us skilfully into the minds of Adam, his victims and the policeman who’s racing against time to rescue the latest object of the killer’s fixation.

There’s just enough police procedural detail in the book to satisfy crime fiction fans, but this novel is all about the serial killer’s psychology, the warped logic that allows Adam to justify his acts to himself. Emotionally, nothing is black and white. It is possible to pity Adam, while still being repulsed by his crimes and rooting for DS Mike Bishop to save the day. The final suspense-filled finish is a real nail-biter.

This is journalist Barbara Copperthwaite’s second book and a third is expected soon – definitely one to watch!

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I’m a British thriller writer who’s just released The Vodka Trail – a suspense thriller. Just like Flowers for the Dead, the conflicts in the story have their roots in the past…