Category: Fiona Barton

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Local Gone Missing by Fiona Barton – Blog Tour Review.

About The Book

Everyone watches their neighbours.

Elise King moves into the sleepy seaside town of Ebbing. Illness has thrown her career as a successful detective into doubt, but no matter how hard she tries to relax and recuperate, she knows that something isn’t right.

Everyone lies about their friends.

Tensions are running high beneath the surface of this idyllic community: the weekenders in their fancy clothes, renovating old bungalows into luxury homes, and the locals resentful of the changes. A town divided, with the threat of violence only a heartbeat away.

Everyone knows a secret.

This peaceful world is shattered when two teenagers end up in hospital and a local man vanishes without trace. Elise starts digging for answers, but the community closes ranks, and the truth begins to slip through her fingers. Because in a small town like this, the locals are good at keeping secrets…

Everyone’s a suspect when a local goes missing.

With thanks to the publisher for the copy received. I have read all of Fiona Barton’s books and this is my favourite so far. I really enjoyed getting to meet all the different characters and seeing the way they interacted with each other.

My Review

Elise is the lead detective, coming towards the end of sick leave after a cancer diagnosis and looking forward to getting back to work. She does have misgivings, chemo brain is a concern but Caro her colleague is a big help without being patronising. She has another assistant, her friend Ronnie, who isn’t a police officer but sees herself as another Miss Marple. This friendship was one of my favourite parts of the novel.

There are quite a lot of other characters, some whose link you couldn’t see at first. The victim, Charlie, was obviously a crook from the start and it could have been any one of the people he duped who was responsible for his death. Some of them I had a lot of sympathy for, especially his daughter who was the only one who couldn’t have been responsible.

The murder isn’t the only crime, a festival where drugs nearly caused fatalities has also had a big impact on the area. The suspicion, gossip and mistrust affected many and added to the hardships already suffered. But both cases aren’t as gritty and hard hitting as most crime novels I read. Instead the novel seems to focus on personalities and rather than the crimes committed.

I would love to meet Elise and Caro again, I can definitely see this novel as part of a series.

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The Suspect by Fiona Barton – Blog Tour Review.

About The Book

When two eighteen-year-old girls go missing in Thailand, their families are thrust into the international spotlight: desperate, bereft, and frantic with worry. What were the girls up to before they disappeared? 

Journalist Kate Waters always does everything she can to be first to the story, first with the exclusive, first to discover the truth–and this time is no exception. But she can’t help but think of her own son, whom she hasn’t seen in two years, since he left home to go travelling. 

As the case of the missing girls unfolds, they will all find that even this far away, danger can lie closer to home than you might think…

My Review

With thanks to the publisher for the copy received. The Suspect is the third book in the series that features DI Bob Sparkes and journalist Kate Waters. Bob appears a lot less in this book, he has other things to concentrate on. But Kate features heavily. Whilst the mystery of the two missing girls is a big story she also has a personal connection. 

There are various narratives. The Detective, the Reporter, the Mother and Alex who is one of the missing girls. Because the reader is aware of some of Alex’s story it was pretty upsetting. How the excitement of backpacking is short lived and nothing like she expected it to be. But, her account was the most fascinating.

I have to admit, I do have a problem with the type of journalists who feature in this novel. The ones who stand on a doorstep desperate for a story, ignoring the heartache that a loved one will be going through. Kate admits that she has been one of them in the past but her personal connection shows her exactly how it feels to be on the other side of the door and she soon realises how hard it is. 

Whilst I did have a good idea what had happened I wasn’t correct about everything, there were a few surprises. This is the type of fiction that the author does so well. Always keeping something back, and it’s always something that gives you plenty to think about.

The Suspect is my favourite in the series so far, and I am really intrigued about what might happen next.


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The Child by Fiona Barton – Review.

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About the Book

When a paragraph in an evening newspaper reveals a decades-old tragedy, most readers barely give it a glance. But for three strangers it’s impossible to ignore.

For one woman, it’s a reminder of the worst thing that ever happened to her.

For another, it reveals the dangerous possibility that her darkest secret is about to be discovered.

And for the third, a journalist, it’s the first clue in a hunt to uncover the truth.

The Child’s story will be told.

My Review

Sometimes it pays to persevere with a novel. At first, I struggled with The Child, I couldn’t form an attachment to any of the narrators, even though the tale did intrigue me. But suddenly it grabbed me and I was hooked.
Kate, who is the journalist who featured in the authors previous book The Widow, is back and keen to get a story to attach to the child’s bones that were found on a building site. Along with a photographer and a trainee she starts to delve. The changing methods of journalism were demonstrated well, how online 24-hour news has had a significant impact on printed news and the affect that it has had on jobs.
The narrative switches between four narrators. One of them was Kate who I liked a lot more in this novel, she came across as much more compassionate and less of a newshound. Out of the other three, one was utterly repulsive. Cruel, selfish and bitter just about begins to cover it. I won’t reveal their name but will leave you to make your own mind up.
My favourite character was Joe, the trainee. I hadn’t expected him to be so trustworthy and keen to help and he was quite refreshing with his ability to charm those around him. I hope that both Kate and Joe will appear in future novels together.
It’s a different type of crime novel, it focuses more on how the media approach an investigation rather than the police and once I put aside my feelings towards journalism I enjoyed it.
With thanks to the publisher for the copy received

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The Widow by Fiona Barton

imageThe Widow by Fiona Barton is being published as the book to watch in 2016. I received my copy as a limited edition proof (number 22/100) at this years crime festival in Harrogate. Even though it won’t be published for a few months yet I decided to read it early, before any opinion I had was influenced by hype.
It is a good book but one that I did struggle with at times. The narrative switches between different people. That of the widow I did like reading although at times I felt she was older than the age she was said to be. There was also the police officer who failed in the investigation and refused to let go. And then there was the journalist. It was this part of the novel that I struggled with. I found it draining to read and unfortunately it was a fairly large part of the novel. The husband and Bella’s mother also have their turn but not to any huge degree.
It is clever and I’ve not really read anything like it before. Most crime books I have read focus on the police rather than that of a relative of a suspect. Sadly it is the image of the press that I am left with.