First a quick explanation!
Due to some severe health issues over the last few years, and a lingering chronic condition, my planned review schedule went right out of the window and I have been scrabbling ever since to get it back on track.
In an attempt to try to regain some lost ground, I have been scrunching some of my (overdue) reviews together into one or two posts each week: shorter reviews, but still covering all of the points I intended to.
That’s the plan anyway, so let’s see if any of my latest reads take your fancy for a sunny summer read!
Title: Lie Like the Devil
Author: Birgitte Märgen
Publisher: Independently published
Blurb: WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU LIED?
The first lie: MONSTERS DON’T EXIST.
When the body of a man is discovered in the Boston Common, Martina finds herself entering a horrific nightmare. She discovers evidence of the unimaginable: the resurgence of ancient methods of persecution being carried out by a Puritan-indoctrinated serial killer who believes the devil walks among us.
The second lie: YOU WOULD KNOW A MONSTER IF YOU SAW ONE.
After the first victim is dismissed as gang-related, Martina fears there is more to the murder than meets the eye. Her instincts are soon proven correct when another victim is found, her body displayed in the same gruesome manner. But Boston has dark secrets of its own. Now, the threads of the past are unraveling once again as history repeats the sins of our fathers. A time when religion reigned and the word of God was the ultimate persecutor.
The third lie: YOU CAN SAVE EVERYONE.
Just as Martina and her partner, Neil, discover the dark rituals have a link to the past, the tables are turned, and they are pitted against time to stop the “Wingmaker” before he strikes again. Martina’s faith will be tested as she fights her own demons and more bodies continue to mount. Can she stop the killer, or has the next victim already taken flight?
Review: Lie Like the Devil is a serial killer vs. detective duo thriller set in Boston, following the viewpoints of Detectives Marti Zucco and Neil Cavanagh – and to a lesser extent, the killer – through the investigation of a series of grisly murders.
And when I say ‘grisly’, I mean trigger warnings for mutilations and body horror, including missing eyes and tongues, skin peeled and pinned to form ‘wings’ and more. It’s pretty gruesome and some of the imagery – those wings! *shudders* – might stay with you (in my case, new nightmare unlocked!).
The story is told mostly in the present day but includes a timeline that flashes back to executions and trials (included witch trials) in the 1600s. These past vignettes seem unconnected to each other but all seem strangely linked to the present day deaths, and the intrigue as to how that was possible kept me reading to find out.
As the title hints, there are undercurrents of religious mania, Puritanism, witch-trial zealotry and features quotes from the Geneva Bible as part of the investigations. And other than brief forays into the viewpoints of the killer or other ‘disposable’ or transitory characters like the victims, vignette players or witnesses, there are no real side characters in the story – the focus stays firmly with Marti and Neil and the plot is a straightforward cat and mouse chase between detectives and villain.
Interesting and thrilling, and a little grotesque, this story was very easy to read and is ideal for anyone needing a little dark crime entertainment.
Purchase Link: Lie Like the Devil on Amazon
Title: Strange Concentrate
Author: Mike Russell
Publisher: StrangeBooks
Blurb: Strange Concentrate: a collection of very short stories.
Each story is short enough to be read on an elevator ride to the top of a very low building, yet powerful enough to stay with you long after the building has fallen down.
Highly imaginative, highly entertaining, highly strange. Strange Concentrate contains forty very short stories plus one extra free. Just add water.
Mike Russell’s books have been described as strange fiction, weird fiction, surrealism, magic realism, fantasy fiction… but he just likes to call them Strange Books.
Review: Just as described in the blurb, these are VERY short stories – some less than a page long. But you do get forty of them.
Words I would use to describe this collection as a whole: surreal; abstract; philosophical; dreamlike; symbolic; deeply meaningful; often satirical.
Some of the stories here are lightly humorous in tone, and others are dark and/or sombre, but all inspire thought. I felt compelled to stop after each story to think, contemplate and process before moving forward.
And dipping in and out like that, one a day, like a literary palate cleanser, is a great way to read these stories as they are all completely separate and stand-alone.
The only connecting thread is that, as always from Mike Russell, every story is strange in some way. It’s right there in the title, after all.
Purchase Link: Strange Concentrate on Amazon
Title: Sword of Vengeance
Author: Chris Adams
Publisher: Independently published
Blurb: Haunted by his past and hunted by demons, a young knight must face Adrian Zartun, the immortal tyrant who murdered his family—before he can sacrifice a captive prince to bring the world under his control.
Raised by the Guardian Knights, Gerald has sworn to protect the innocent. Now, he leads a desperate mission to save a fallen empire’s last heir, facing dark magic, deadly enemies, and impossible choices.
Joined by warriors, wizards, and a mysterious assassin, Gerald races against time to cross Zartun’s dark domain. Sacrifices will be demanded. Secrets will be revealed. Not all heroes will survive.
Perfect for fans of Robin Hobb, Brandon Sanderson, and The Witcher with echoes of classic fantasy inspired by Margaret Weis, Mercedes Lackey, and Dungeons & Dragons.
Review: This is classic, traditional high/epic fantasy, following the journey of a young knight seeking personal vengeance for the loss of his family and discovering that he is the Chosen One and his new-found magical abilities might be the only thing that can save the world from the evil sorcerer and his demonic associates.
I did find it a little hard to get into the story at first, which wasn’t helped by the author choosing to use more mundane character names than the usual fantasy fare – I’m not sure I’ve ever read an epic battle between good and evil where the villain is Adrian and the hero is Gerald – or not one with such a serious tone, anyway!
There is some really interesting worldbuilding here. I really like the magic system and he unique way that magic towers can be ‘keyed’ to the mage who conquers their trials. There are also some surprising twists to the plot that I didn’t expect at all and left me wondering how the characters could possibly resolve the seemingly insurmountable problems facing them.
As this is more old-school fantasy, with the focus on plot and world more so than character, I felt that the side characters somewhat blended into a blur of names and roles for me, with only Adrian and Gerald feeling like fully fleshed-out characters. Combined with the cinematic narrative point of view, where the reader is seeing the action from above rather than through the characters, this left me feeling disconnected from the story and struggling to invest emotionally in the characters and their outcomes.
I do think this book would suit many traditional fantasy readers, however, who might be looking for something full of action and excitement rather than something more emotive and/or character-led.
Purchase Link: Sword of Vengeance on Amazon
Title: An Alias or Two
Author: Virginia King
Publisher: Independently published
Blurb: A mysterious postcard
A church with secrets
More than one suspicious death …
When mystery author Tiggy Jones is looking for ideas for her next book, she dives into a filing cabinet full of old case notes given to her by a former forensic scientist. But many of the cases are too well-known or too technical to turn into fiction and just as Tiggy is about to give up, she notices a folder so thin she almost missed it.
Surely it’s empty.
It isn’t.
And the postcard it contains leads Tiggy and her sleuth-dog Raider to investigate the heated happenings in a local village church.
But as Tiggy considers adding a murder to liven up her fictional version of the mystery, real events start to show that under the surface something else is going on.
An anonymous tip-off leads police to a crime scene and a pillar of the community is arrested. Tiggy and her PI friend Baxter suddenly find themselves involved in the investigations. But as the evidence mounts, they realise their loyalties are torn.
Are their enquiries supporting the victim or the culprit?
Join Tiggy, Baxter and Raider and a cast of quirky characters as they try to untangle a twisted and complex mystery lurking in a picturesque English village.
Review: Another brilliantly twisty outing for Tiggy, Baxter and Raider in this sixth instalment in the Devon-based mystery series.
And in this book, I finally get what I’ve been hoping for since the first, as Tiggy and Raider get to ‘officially’ join Baxter’s Spotted! detective agency, even if only as associates or consultants! Not that you need to have read the first book, or any of the others, to appreciate this story, as each of the book plots stands alone perfectly well and contains any background information you need. However, I will give my usual mantra here, which is that you should read them all anyway because of how good they are!
There is more than one mystery to solve here, as Baxter is dealing with a misposted parcel and Tiggy is on the trail of a penitent postcard writer to help with her latest plot, until she stumbles across another real-life plot and can’t resist the lure of more ‘ground-truthing’. All the threads weave neatly in and out of each other, encompassing troubled teens, dog-breeding (and Raider getting to be an exemplary Dalmador breed ambassador!) and a few re-wilded beavers among other subjects.
It is always a pleasure to read a well-crafted, immersive and intriguing mystery story and this one fits the bill from beginning to end. I would recommend the Tiggy Jones mysteries to anyone looking for traditional-but-modern British mystery stories, deftly incorporating folklore and local legends, but rooted in very real characters that start to feel like family.
Purchase Link: An Alias or Two on Amazon
Title: Aiden
Author: Pat Murray
Publisher: Expected publication September 30, 2026
Blurb: Wealthy businessman, Peter Wilshaw, will, quite literally, go to the ends of the earth to get what he wants. En route, he makes friends and enemies, whilst he grabs people off the streets to join him on his quest to create a bright new future for those he imprisons. His first captive is Aiden, who is, for some reason, Peter’s special one. The motivation for Peter’s sinister plan lies in his heart and in his reaction to a past event of great personal tragedy. It’s down to Aiden to discover the meaning of Peter’s quest and to unravel the story that increasingly seems to be about him.
Review: As with previous books I have read by Pat Murray (Mike’s Mourners, The Trips), this book explores main characters who are dark and disturbed, and often use and abuse others, so this won’t be to everyone’s taste.
Aiden is a disturbing thriller that could be compared to something like American Psycho in tone and content. At times I thought the story was building up to a full horror/sci-fi climax but the author keeps us firmly rooted in the real horrors that people can perpetrate on each other, even with well-meaning intentions, when they believe that they know best what others need.
I found the titular character surprisingly young-minded for his given age, showing a lot of naive innocence to his situation and to the motives of others, but that could perhaps be explained by his conditioning and the constraints of the situation he finds himself in. He shares main character credits with Peter, his own personal dictator, and both are interesting, complex characters. In contrast, I found the female characters in the story all rather similar and shallow – all beautiful, promiscuous and untrustworthy, with little empathy, morality or skill set beyond using their looks and sex-appeal to manipulate. But again, this could be attributed to the reader seeing these women through the unreliable lenses of Peter and Aiden, one of whom knows nothing about women and the other who seems to view everyone as puppets in his own private show.
And while I found the characters unlikable, this isn’t a deal-breaker for me, and I feel that readers who enjoy delving into the dark side of the human psyche will likely enjoy this book and find the writing style makes for easy reading, even if the content doesn’t make it a light read!
Expected publication September 30, 2026 – link to follow
Dark thrillers, short strange stories, epic fantasy and a British mystery in my indie mixed bag this time.
Remember, if you grab any of the books I recommend here, pop back and let me know what you thought of them! And also, remember to support independent authors by leaving a review.
Keep shining, happy reading and I’ll see you on the other side of my hiatus for more booklove! 🙂
