The F-Word Reality Show by Chris Westlake

 

289 pages

You can buy The F-Word Reality Show...Here

You can find out more about Chris Westlake...Here

• The Blurb...

Andrew Macintosh is one of fifty seemingly random individuals offered the opportunity to appear in a reality show, to be aired to millions of viewers across the world. There is only one catch: the contestants must not – under any circumstances – tell anyone where they are going.

Before entering the show, each contestant chooses their F-Word reward for winning: Fame, Fortune or Freedom. Transported to a giant glass hall in the middle of nowhere, guards patrol the hall and cameras watch their every move. There is nowhere to hide.

As the days pass and the events unfold, Andrew discovers that not only is he fighting for his freedom, but he is fighting to stay alive. The choice is brutally straightforward... Andrew must kill, or be killed.

The F-Word Reality Show is a compelling thriller that will leave you wondering whether the cameras watching your every move are your best friend, or your worst enemy.

• Our Review...

In the F-Word Reality show. Andrew is a man socially adrift and a little lost. He is offered the chance to take part in a reality game show, where he can win fame, fortune or freedom. There is one condition nobody must know he has agreed to take part.

So far, so good. Andrew jumps at the chance of something, anything happening in his life. But be careful what you wish for.  Andrew is housed with 49 other "contestants" who simultaneously discover they  must battle to the death, completing various themed rounds over the next seven days. Only the last contestant left alive wins. Literally death or glory!

I don't know where to put this book on my shelves. Is it science fiction? Well probably not. There isnt any science in it as such. Is it just general fiction then? Yes but only just. Game shows are getting more and more extreme in an effort to capture an audience who have become dulled to contestants breaking legs in TV game show ski jumps, extreme physical beastings as in SAS training and so on. Life is cheap and given where we are as a society it would not surprise if the scenario of the F-Word Reality Show became a real game show during my children's lifetime. 

While writing the review for this book I did some research about extreme game shows. Have a read of this website, it will blow your swede...Here

There will be obvious comparisons with this book and the recent Korean TV world wide hit Squid Game. Indeed you can see the narrative is heavily influenced by the show. However the book is very British in it's persona. The TV show was bright colours, symbols and quirky. This novel is introverted, gritty and post-industrial. It's like Squid Game has been written by George Orwell and Andrew is our Winston Smith. 

What elevates the simple story is the way the author encapsulates two things about society.

Firstly the seemingly relentless, monotonous daily grind at the bottom of society including the isolation and lonliness of a society that is well on its way down the slippery slope of losing its soul and sense of camradarie. 

Secondly he displays a keen eye for the depravity and lack of moral standards intrinsic to the upper reaches of society. I would be surprised if both these themes were not honed during the pandemic lockdown when scandals of PPE and parties were at their height. I think the pandemic cleared the mist of rhetoric, the scales fell from our eyes and  many people saw what society was really like and not the myth they had been sold. I think the author has really taken this on board.

If you enjoyed Squid Game read this book. If you didn't see or enjoy Squid Game still read this book. It'll make you fear and cheer for the protagonist and it'll make you weep for society.

• Selected Quotes..

Sometimes as I walk the soulless, deserted streets I imagine that I’m living in an apocalypse.

I’m haunted by yesterday’s words, the most brutal of them all. What exactly do you have to lose, Andrew?

“And now I live in a bleak, one bedroom flat on my own. Sure, I get to see the kids every so often. But you know what? You know what really gets me? I get the distinct impression that they don’t want to see me. Not really.”

Do you really think those people out there are living? Or do you think they are dying slowly?”

We said that viewers could pay to watch fifty suicidal contestants fight to stay alive for seven days. The irony of it all never fails to make me chuckle.”

• If You Liked This Then You May Like...

The Duel by Stephen Havard. review...Here

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

The Running Man by Stephen King.

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancy.

• About The Author...

Chris’s page-turning novels will make you doubt what happens next, but leave you in no doubt that you sure as hell want to find out. His thrillers toy with your mind and play with your emotions.

Chris has published five novels, including three thrillers. His latest novel, THE F-WORD REALITY SHOW, is a compelling thriller which will leave you wondering whether the cameras that follow your every move are your best friend or your worst enemy.

30 DAYS IN JUNE is a serial killer thriller, and I AM HERE TO KILL YOU is a psychological thriller, with a key focus on cults, the power of manipulation, and brainwashing.

After completing a Creative Writing course in 2010, Chris Westlake's short story, Welsh Lessons, was awarded 1st place in the Global Short Story Award (not bad for the first writing competition he had entered). He followed this up with 1st place in the Stringybark Erotic Fiction Award and 2nd place in the HASSRA Literary Award.

Chris is determined to write many, many more novels - his main regret is that he didn't start writing earlier. He is always looking to make his next novel even better than the last. He is continuously experimenting with different styles, different genres.

The Last Line by Stephen Ronson

 

341 pages

This book is not due out untill 2nd November 2023. 

You can pre order The Last Line...Here

• The Blurb...

May 1940.

With Nazi forces sweeping across France, invasion seems imminent. The English Channel has never felt so narrow.

In rural Sussex, war veteran John Cook has been tasked with preparing the resistance effort, should the worst happen.

But even as the foreign threat looms, it's rumours of a missing child that are troubling Cook. A twelve-year-old girl was evacuated from London and never seen again, and she's just the tip of the iceberg - countless evacuees haven't made it to their host families.

As Cook investigates, he uncovers a dark conspiracy that reaches to the highest ranks of society. He will do whatever it takes to make the culprits pay. There are some lines you just don't cross.

• Our Review...

John Cook, Sussex landowner and veteran of WW1 and Afghanistan tries to re-enlist for the new war. However given his history he is instead recruited to form a resistance cell, which is to become active after the Germans have invaded in a few weeks.

On his return from London a young girl is found murdered on his property. John is implicated and he begins his own investigations. What he finds horrifies him and he resovlves to fix the problem his way. All the while with one eye on the coast and recruiting a diverse band of feisty fighters.

Having recently read the excellent Paris Requiem by Chris Llloyd and the equally good Embassy Murders by Mark Ellis, I thought I was in for more of the same. Police procedural set in wartime europe. This book sort of started out like that but by the end it had pivoted at least twice into WW2 James Bond territoty and again into WW2 Jack Reacher territory. And what a belting idea to set Reacher in a WW2 setting. I even wrote in my notes (WW2 Reacher?) When I later checked other reviews, I saw others had been thinking along the same lines. Nice to know it's not just me going off on a tangent then. 

So it's a bit of a hybrid then. Much like a hybrid bike or car, the concept may seem odd until you get one yourself and then you realise the was a slot in the market for it all along, This was a very entertaining book in all aspects. The violence was well written ala Lee Child. However the bits I liked the most were the historic setting parts as can probably be seen by my choice of quotes (see below.) 

The auxillary (resistance) unit that Cook is asked to develop in his home area was a real thing. Having read the authors notes for Resisitance by Owen Sheers, I discovered that it also inspired that book. 

With the war in Ukraine it makes you stop and think what would I do? Would I fight? Would I just shrug my shoulders and instead of paying  tax  to HMRC it would go to Berlin (as one character in the book puts it). 

I thought the opening scene was paticularly well thought out and a bit different from the norm. In addition I like the rugged character of John Cook. I think I am roughly the same age as the author and grew up in 70s. There were some hard, quiet men in the village who were forged in the war. The like of which we dont see today. I dont know if thats a good thing or not. On the plus side it means we haven't needed men like that, men who can kill en mass for a long time because there hasn't been a major war since.

 I digress, back to the book. Although the high body count without police involvement means it as more of a step away from historical accuracy than the police procedurals that I have been reading, I found this to be an enjoyable adventure. It sort sits like Where Eagles Dare sits next to A Bridge Too Far. One is fantasy one is history but if you didn't know that both are equally enjoyable.

Look out Reacher.. John Cook is coming 

• Selected Quotes..

Uncle Nob didn’t do well in the last war. The Great War: always capitalised, always thick with meaning.

 ‘She’s grown up fast,’ he said, watching her. I knew what he meant. She was like one of those pictures they painted on the bombers in the newsreels, all curves and smiles and rosy cheeks.

‘You drink in these huge pubs where they bring you gallons of the stuff. You just sit there at your table while birds with their tits falling out of their shirts keep topping up your glass.’ He looked around at his own pub. No birds with tits falling out of their shirts. No revelry. I almost felt sorry for him. ‘Maybe the birds with the tits will follow behind the tanks,’

Let them come, I thought. Let them roll through my farm and my town. I’d surrender, and I’d say my ‘Heil Hitler’ along with everyone else. I’d survive and I’d make sure my family survived. And then, when their generals had gone back to Bavaria to plan the invasion of Russia, I’d be ready. Ready to do my bit. Ready to get the job done.

• If You Liked This Then You May Like..

Resistance by Owen Sheers

Fatherland by Richard Harris

SSGB by Len Deighton

The Embassy Murders by Mark Ellis

• About The Author...

Stephen Ronson grew up in Sussex, and spent a large part of his childhood exploring the woods and fields around Uckfield, many of which were still dotted with reminders of WW2 - pill boxes, tank traps, nissen huts, and graffiti left by soldiers awaiting D-Day. He is a passionate student of local history, and when he learnt about Auxiliary Units - groups of men who were instructed to lay low during the predicted nazi invasion and lead the fight back, he knew he had to write about a Sussex farmer, one with a love of the land, and a natural desire and ability to get the job done. Many of the locations and characters in the John Cook series are inspired by real places and real people. In particular, Stephen was inspired by his grandparents, Eric, Bessie, Peter and Vera, each of whom did their bit on the home front.

Nowadays, Stephen divides his time between Vermont, USA, and Uckfield, East Sussex. When he's not writing, he can be found renovating his house, or walking the woods and the fields.

The Embassy Murders by Mark Ellis

 

This book was formerly entitled Princes Gate

354 pages

You can buy The Embassey Murders...Here

You can follow Mark Ellis...Here

• The Blurb...

When a brilliant emigré scientist is killed by a hit-and-run driver and the body of an American embassy employee is washed up in the Thames, DCI Frank Merlin and his team are called to investigate.

Merlin's investigations soon ruffle feathers at the Foreign Office - the American ambassador, Joseph Kennedy, is a well-known supporter of appeasement, and has gained many powerful and influential friends in the pursuit of a negotiated peace settlement with Hitler.

The death of yet another embassy employee leads Merlin deep into the seedier quarters of wartime London, until his investigations are hampered by interfering superiors fearful of disrupting international relations. As Merlin is drawn into a web of secrets, what will the truth cost him - and Britain?

• Our Review...

The Embassy Murders is dark political crime drama that is set in the now long distant historical era of the second world war. Sadly the questions that this book asks are the same ones that we should be asking today. Indeed they are probably the same questions that should have been asked through out all history.

Namely, why do we treat people with power differently to those without power, especially when it comes to enforcing the law. Same as it ever was then. And during the early years of the Second World War the American ambassador to London had power and influence aplenty. 

Two lowly British employees of the American Embassy are murdered. Is it politically or  criminally motivated? The answers are not what you think they are. Is it irrelevant enough to sweep under the carpet? If it is hidden for the benefit of our betters, are they really our betters?

What is more important, the lives of a couple of nobodies or getting the most powerful nation in the world to fight on your side in the war? If you turn a blind eye, will it work out in the end? or could you live with the injustice. Is it a black and white issue or is it a grey area balancing act. 

The author weaves these themes wonderfully throughout his narrative. We cheer our hero Merlin on through the jungle of political interference and bureaucracy not to mention gangs of thugs, pimps and pornographers.  Merlin is a veteran of the Great War with Spanish heritage. He knows when you fight for the little people you fight for what is right. What is the point of winning a war if in doing so you lose the soul of a country.

The author does a bang up job of placing the reader in war torn London of blackouts and violent crime. For what better time to commit crime than in a blacked out city, with the best part of the police called up for active service and a population who are more concerned with bombing raids than burglaries. It's a perfect storm for the Capital's felonry. In addition the backdrop of the developing political situation is set out at a perfect pitch. There are little clues in the background of the ongoing Chamberlain/Churchill, appeasement/fight duel going on in society. Also setting the scene are a number of cameos of personalities and locations synonymous with that period. All in all the author creates a fitting landscape into which his characters and the plot is set. 

Merlin puts together, as best he can, a motley crew to chase down leads and bang on doors. He follows the twist and turns through the dark alleyways of London, while at the same time doggedly pursuing leads in the gilded halls of the rich and powerful.

If you enjoy your history, especially WW2 and you enjoy your murder mysteries, this is a very good book that will keep you entertained and questioning from begining to end.

• Selected Quotes...

People need beer to lubricate their dreams and drown their fears.

Merlin had met Mrs Gatehouse several times. A formidable lady in a formidable body.

However unlikely it may be, we don’t want the murder of an insignificant girl to queer the pitch in any way, do we?” Merlin could not help visibly bridling at this. “‘Insignificant’, sir? Are you saying you don’t want me properly to investigate the murders of ‘insignificant’ people while the war’s on?”

He still found it hard to believe that business life continued almost normally with the spectre of war, death and destruction looming larger every day, but it did. The Stock Market was as active as ever, while cargoes of oil, minerals, rubber and tea, moving largely without interference as yet over the oceans of the world, were traded freely in the commodity markets of the City. The factories of the Midlands continued to manufacture everything from cars to pots and pans. Cinemas, having been briefly closed at the outbreak of war, had reopened. Tea and cakes were still freely available at Lyons Corner Houses and cafés everywhere. People were dying natural deaths and being buried, marriages were being celebrated and, with or without benefit of the latter, babies were still being conceived. And, as he knew well, ordinary people continued to commit ordinary crimes, regardless of the latest news from Poland or France.

• If You Liked This Then You May Like...

The Unwanted Dead by Chris Lloyd

Enigma by Robert Harris

Resistance by Owen Sheers

• About The Author...

Mark Ellis is a thriller writer from Swansea and a former barrister and entrepreneur.

He is the creator of DCI Frank Merlin, an Anglo-Spanish police detective operating in World War 2 London. His books treat the reader to a vivid portrait of London during the war skilfully blended with gripping plots, political intrigue and a charismatic protagonist. 

Mark grew up under the shadow of his parents’ experience of the Second World War. His father served in the wartime navy and died a young man. His mother told him stories of watching the heavy bombardment of Swansea from the safe vantage point of a hill in Llanelli, and of attending tea dances in wartime London under the bombs and doodlebugs.

In consequence Mark has always been fascinated by WW2 and in particular the Home Front and the fact that while the nation was engaged in a heroic endeavour, crime flourished. Murder, robbery, theft and rape were rife and the Blitz provided scope for widespread looting.

This was an intriguing, harsh and cruel world. This is the world of DCI Frank Merlin.

Mark Ellis’ books regularly appear in the Kindle bestseller charts.

He is published by Headline Accent, an imprint of Headline.

He is a member of Crime Cymru, the Welsh crime writing collective, and of the Crime Writers Association (CWA).

His third book, Merlin at War, was on the CWA Historical Dagger Longlist in 2018.