Wicked Game by Matt Johnson

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

You can buy Wicked Game.....Here

You can follow Matt's blog....Here

The Blurb...

2001. Age is catching up with Robert Finlay, a police officer on the Royalty Protection team based in London. He's looking forward to returning to uniform policing and a less stressful life with his new family. But fate has other plans. Finlay's deeply traumatic, carefully concealed past is about to return to haunt him.

A policeman is killed by a bomb blast, and a second is gunned down in his own driveway. Both of the murdered men were former Army colleagues from Finlay's own SAS regiment, and in a series of explosive events, it becomes clear that he is not the ordinary man that his colleagues, friends and new family think he is.

And so begins a game of cat and mouse a wicked game, in which Finlay is the target, forced to test his long-buried skills in a fight against a determined and unidentified enemy.

Wicked Game is a taut, action-packed, emotive thriller about a man who might be your neighbour, a man who is forced to confront his past in order to face a threat that may wipe out his future, a man who is willing to do anything to protect the people he loves.

But is it too late?

My Review..

This week in work I would be driving a giant forklift in an enclosed, air conditioned cab. I would not be able to read but could listen an audio book. I had resolved read more Crime Cymru authors so I went for one of the big dogs and downloaded Wicked Game by Matt Johnson. Wicked Game was released in 2016 so I am not exactly up to date but boy what an intense, stress inducing white knuckle ride.

Robert Finley ex SAS ex Royal Protection Squad is winding down as an ordinary copper in a suburban police station. That is until Met colleagues who have also been in the SAS are being targeted. One is bombed, one is gunned down. Finley finds out from his old CO that there is an assassination squad at work and that he is on the hit list. His old CO wants to drag him back into a Black Op. Soon Finley is trapped between his wife (who knows nothing about his SAS past,)  the Terrorists, his old CO and the anti terrorist squad. There is only a small, grey space between them all, and it is shrinking all the time. Finley must defend himself and his family while at the same time trying to find out who the terrorists are and where the leak about his new life after the SAS came from. His only ally is his old mate from the SAS who is also on the kill list. Who can he trust? That list is short. Who wants him dead? That list is long.

As I said earlier, I listened to the audiobook (which was very good.)

The only quibble I had, being a Welshman from the valleys, was with the accent of the character of Kevin Jones. Kevin Jones was supposed to be from the valleys but sounded to me more "Gog" than valleys. I imagine voice over artists must dread doing accents that are not their own. For example to those outside Wales I would imagine there is only one Welsh accent but to those of us that live here, there are many. As I say it is only a minor quibble and did not detract from my enjoyment of this terrific book.

Just when you think Finley's cracked it another curveball comes his way again and again. The author does a stirling job of keeping the tension on. No plot point or action is left unexamined. Every scene is minutely observed. There is no respite for Finley or us. Nerves are shredded, and there is mental tactical chess to go alongside the life or death violence. In reality I have no idea if a plot like this could be real but when you read the author's background, you gain a whole new respect for the narrative.

Think "Line of Duty" but with Special Branch, terrorists and the murky world of MI5. It's LeCarre if LeCarre was in the gutter and gritty. 

Wicked Game is the first in a three book series. It is followed by Deadly Game and End Game.  

Selected Quotes...

"I sensed a degree of discomfort in the room when my real name wasn’t provided. Not everyone agreed with soldiers being allowed such a concession."

"he mentioned there had been a lot of reports in the press about contacts between the security forces and the terrorist factions that were resulting in fatalities. Journalists were starting to claim that both the police and the army were operating a shoot-to-kill policy."

"I could trust him with my life. If he’d had something against me, I’d know about it. He wouldn’t do anything so elaborate as set me up to be arrested. That wasn’t his style. But then …"

"Was that just an awful coincidence? Einstein believed that coincidence was God’s way of remaining anonymous."

About the author...

Matt Johnson served as a soldier and Metropolitan Police officer for 25 years. Blown off his feet at the London Baltic Exchange bombing in 1993, and one of the first police officers on the scene of the 1982 Regent’s Park bombing, Matt was also at the Libyan People’s Bureau shooting in 1984 where he escorted his mortally wounded friend and colleague, Yvonne Fletcher, to hospital. Hidden wounds took their toll. In 1999, Matt was discharged from the police with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. While undergoing treatment, he was encouraged by his counsellor to write about his career and his experience of murders, shootings and terrorism. One evening, Matt sat at his computer and started to weave these notes into a work of fiction that he described as having a tremendously cathartic effect on his own condition.  His bestselling thriller, Wicked Game, which was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey Dagger, was the result. 

Kerwall Town by S Reed

 

You can buy Kerwall Town.......Here

You can follow S.Reed's blog ..........Here

You can follow S.Reed on Twitter........Here

The Blurb...

After two strangers appear in the dilapidated 70s' town of Kerwall, the lives of every resident change. Members of the community are forced together as the number of bodies and secrets increase with every passing moment. As tensions rise and the inhabitants reach breaking point the question is raised: is it Kerwall’s newcomers draining its inhabitants or are they simply slipping through the cracks which have existed all along. With knowledge as their only tool against the world’s deadliest predator, the hunt for power commences. Kerwall’s hope rests on the shoulders of its youngest residents, forcing them into the depths of the earth, questioning everything they’ve ever known.
Will Kerwall ever be safe, or is the whole town trapped in the grasp of these outsiders?

My Review...

Always willing to broaden my horizons, Kerwall Town is the first horror book that I have read since I was a youngster in the 80s, voraciously reading Stephen King novels. Two dark clad strangers, one male and one female, come to the post industrial Kerwall and rapidly become Mayor and Mayoress and basically owners of the town.

 Yet nothing is as it seems, either with the mysterious strangers or indeed the town itself. The visitors have a strange persuasive, hypnotic power on most, but not all of the inhabitants. A couple of old wrinklies, the librarian, the town drunk and the mikshake shop owner don't fall under the spell. Also the young guns return to the town from Uni and they too are unaffected. Together they, with a few others band together to form a resistance. But other dark, more human, forces also abound in the town.

 

The town too is distinctly off kilter. It is a strangely semi isolated, semi mythological, new town. It is, at the same time,  part of the UK but also apart  from it. I don't know what the horror equivalent of "cosy crime" is maybe "happy horror" but this is it. I would describe it as "Shaun of the dead" but with vampires instead of zombies set in "Royston Vasey" from the "League of Gentlemen" ( "This is a local place for local people!") but set in the 70s. 

It also has a nod to "Scooby Doo" a wink to "The Adams Family" and a great big salute to "Salem's Lot." That is not too say that it isn't very dark and gruesome in places. There are a couple of murders that are particularly ych i fi.

There were some really good characters. I thought both vicars were especially interesting and memorable.

All in all a scary bonkers, creepy adventure.

Selected Quotes...

"The face staring back at her was impossibly beautiful, with flawless pale white skin and a dark green highlight in her infinitely black hair."

“I do hope we’ll see you in our church one day, and extinguish the demons of the past for you.” Victoria laughed. “I like my demons. They keep me company.”

"Kerwall residents go as far as to say that they often feel watched… not by other people, but by the town itself."

"the country had forgotten Kerwall, and that both parties wanted it that way."

“Don’t shit on my ice cream and call it sprinkles.”

About the Author...

My name is S. Reed, and I like to tell you stories from varying genres. Think of it as having different flavors of ice-cream. One day, you might read about some of my friends in a Young Adult or Contemporary genre and other days you may stroll down a dark and foreboding forest. If that happens, you’ll know that you have stumbled into one of my Horror/Thriller sections. They’re all perfectly safe though, promise, I’ll hold your hand every step of the way, guiding you to a safe and satisfying ending. However, I can’t look after you when the book closes and the lights go out…

I have over 25 years in the mental health and schooling sectors, which is why a lot of my books have a common theme at their core. My characters are real world centric too, so unless it absolutely calls for it, you won’t be reading them saying ‘fancy’ words. Most of them are working-class, and proud of it. They’re quite partial to a few profanities every now and then as a result.

I’ve dabbled in the film and theatre industry too, which is another section I like to include in my novels.

I do hope that you’ll enjoy your time in my company. I’ll show you some of my most trusted friends, and some of my most despised enemies.
Hold on tight, it’s going to a fun ride.
Are you ready?..

Fish Town by John Gerard Fagan

 

⭐⭐⭐⭐

You can buy Fishtown.....Here

The blurb...

"For years my life had been a string of temporary work in factories and call centres or unemployed. Approaching 30 and disillusioned with life in Glasgow, I sold everything I had and left for a new life in a remote fishing village in Japan. I knew nothing of the language or the strange new land that I would call home for the next seven years. Fish Town is an eye-opening true story that paints the reality of living in Japan as an outsider."

My Review...

I was discussing epistemology stories with an author the other day and this is a great example. Essentially a short autobiographical novella, based on  a diary format but without dates. The entries were written on a phone. I don't know whether this is a planned literary sleight of hand or just happened that way, either way it works with this content. This leads to very minimalist, writing style that packs a punch in a straightforward manner. Unlike a lot of autobiographical books there is no embellishment or purple prose.

 The narrative is stripped back to its soul, which reflects the author's experience of being a stranger, in a strange land. Not a word is wasted but you really feel the emotion behind the limited narrative.

Feeling a little lost in his native Scotland, the author sells up and decides to "go on an adventure!". He ends up as a TEFL teacher in a decaying fish-town in Japan However, unlike The Hobbit, there was no magical, thrilling escapade. The author endured, and I think endured is the correct word loneliness, isolation, mental ill health and an increasing drinking issue in a country that looks down on foreigners. You are in his shoes and it is a fascinating insight into an culture most of  us will never see. A culture that holds "respect" and "honour" in high regard but can be extremely cruel. 

Heart-breaking at times, sometimes funny, often surreal but never self pitying, you find yourself rooting for him and hoping that every turn of the page will see him turn the corner and find a place where he is happy. If you have a friend or relative who is considering moving lock, stock and barrel to a foreign culture with a foreign language, do them a huge favour and buy them this book. It is an eye opener.

 I'm not going to tell whether our hero finds a place/person where his soul is happy and content. You'll have to read it for yourself and it is very, quick, easy read well worth it, whether or not you are thinking of travelling to the land of the rising sun.

Selected quotes..

"foreign wounds don’t heal in a place like Japan they only get worse, fester, and bleed out."

"Earthquake drill....they all practised at the school with yellow helmets and hiding under the desk no helmet for the foreigner though again I was to sit in the locked staffroom"

"we went to a spa town in the mountains outside Tokyo so they could experience a traditional Japanese hotel the food was served in the room by an old woman who stared to make sure you ate it whole fish on sticks raw fish Japanese eggs octopus balls my mum tried but couldn’t eat anything but the rice and vegetables they had a hard time sleeping on the tatami floor but got a good idea of the life out there opened both their eyes to a new world to what was far beyond the outskirts of Glasgow."

About the Author...

John Gerard Fagan is a writer from Scotland who has returned home after living in Japan for the last seven years. He has interests in Japanese literature and Noir. He is a university lecturer. He is also a musicain and and artist. He painted the cover of fish town. Find his blog Here