The Chair by G.B.Williams

 

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You can buy The Chair...Here

You can follow GB Williams...Here

The blurb....

On a snowbound Cadair Idris, death comes stalking. Cobb retreated to Cadair Idris for a solitary life of peace and quiet, and to escape his dangerous past. Though that illusion starts to crumble after he and Branwen Jones, the local vet, find a mysterious RTA victim and shelter him in Cobb's home.

When elements of London's criminal underbelly reach Wales, and their presence throws the close knit community into stark relief, the chance to settle old scores could prove too tempting.

With no choice but to try and hide the RTA victim from people who want to kill him, Cobb's not sure he is ready to rejoin the world he's running from, when that means putting another woman in the firing line. Meanwhile Branwen's not sure she can face the relevation of her darkest secret.

But as they face the final showdown, a race over the snowed-in mountain, will anyone survive unscathed.

My Review...

On a  foreboding Welsh mountainside a man is hiding from the grief of his wife being murdered. He is also trying not to fall in love with the local vet and fellow mountain rescuer. A lad on the run crashes on the mountain and they conspire to aid him medically and hide him from his pursuers and the rozzers. And that's just the start.

As the hitmen roll into the village the tension ramps up. Branwen (the vet) is torn between her old flame and the enigmatic new guy, but he blows hot and cold. He thinks she doesn't want him and she thinks he doesn't want her and it's all a bit Jane Austin. 

She has a guilty secret herself, which is weighing heavily on her shoulders and her relationship with her dad is fragile at best. 

So there are numerous subplots to pique your interest. The main thread though is the Welsh high noon/Cliffhanger type ending that the whole book is leading to.

The book is a lot more racy than I thought it would be 😯! With a slight whiff of sadism/masochism.

You do have to suspend belief a little when the connections between the protagonists/antagonists begin to appear. Also when the vet explains that half the village wont talk to her because her dad was illegitimate! I'm a Welshman from a small village and if that were true the whole valley would be as silent as the grave. Still even the greatest plots suspend belief a little. I remember reading a tale of two cities and thinking "well, what are the chances of that happening." If you wanted ultra realism, well then you wouldn't be reading a book, would you.

The setting is a bonus.You can feel the hypothermia and exposure crawling through your bones. In addition in the "local village for local people" the sense of detachment from the hub bub of more populated parts is palpable.

A little cheesy in parts, but in a good way. Everyone needs a little cheesy moment now and again. I found myself cheering along with the "I'm Spartacus" moment in the pub. 

The actual hero isn't the enigmatic stranger (played in my head by James Purefoy) but our strong independent female vet (Nicole Kidman with black hair 🤷‍♂️.)

All in all an enjoyably tense countdown/ pursuit thriller in a great mountain backdrop and  with a local village setting. A cracking read.

Selected Quotes...

"He had made it his business to find out everything he could about the big hitters, and most of them stood quietly away from the microphone and the press."

"There wasn't a law against dislike, if there were Johnston would have to arrest half the village - and caution the other half."

"One tall and blonde, one shorter and dark haired? Gym muscle? Her father nodded, like many who lived and worked with people muscled by the activity of life he easily saw when someone was more pumped by static weightlifting than activity."

"Better to be at the left hand of the devil than in his path."

About the author...

G.B. Williams has finally left the world of nine to five and offices behind, swapping system design for writing and freelance editing. She writes crime fiction as G.B. William's, and has written novels, shorts and flash fiction. She  has also had some success with steam punk (writing as Abi Barden), paranormal prose and poetry. She was born in Kent grew up in Tonbridge  met and married a Welshman, and now lives in Swansea.