Back Cover:
Glasgow is being terrorized by a serial killer the media have nicknamed The Cutter. The murders have left the police baffled. There seems to be neither rhyme nor reason behind the killings; no kind of pattern or motive; an entirely different method of murder each time, and nothing that connects the victims except for the fact that the little fingers of their right hands have been severed.
If DS Rachel Narey could only work out the key to the seemingly random murders, how and why the killer selects his victims, she would be well on her way to catching him. But as the police, the press and a threatening figure from Glasgow's underworld begin to close in on The Cutter, his carefully-laid plans threaten to unravel - with horrifying consequences.

People who follow my blog and me know I am not a big fan of books told in first person narrative and when I started to suspect RANDOM was written from the killer's POV and only from the killer's POV I started to wonder what I'd gotten myself into by offering to read this book for review.

When I started to read it I didn't know if I was going to like this type of thriller. For me it was a very unusual concept to make the killer the protagonist and following the story from his POV. I am more used to reading thrillers where the focus is on the police procedures and how law enforcement investigates and tries to discover whom the killer is. That being said I truly enjoyed reading this book and started to feel sorry for the killer along the way and while discovering his motives. From his POV you also see the way the police deals with these weird and random killings, these parts are shown in newspaper article quotes and they were ingeniously done.

RANDOM tells the story of a serial killer who chooses his victims randomly, making sure he doesn't leave any clues about his person. When one of his random picks leads him to a victim who turns out to be connected to a known local gangster, he not only has the police after him but Glasgow's most renowned criminal as well. As random as he chooses his victims, he's meticulously precise in his preparations and execution of the murders.

The way he picked his victims was both intriguing and appalling and the same is to be said about the horrible ways he killed his victims. The seemingly random killing however served a purpose and I was surprised to discover that. It was slowly and brilliantly set up and revealed by the author. Even though I didn't always agree with the protagonist's actions and some of them were really hideous, still Craig Robertson has the talent to make me sympathize with him, feel sorry for him and to understand his anger and grief and why he was doing what he was doing.

Just when I thought I had the killer all figured out and thought the ending was going to be a bit predictable, Craig Robertson turned it around and gave me a surprising and unexpected ending that was an accumulation of twists and turns I really didn't see coming. The conclusion of this different to me and fascinating read was an amazingly powerful final chapter that left me with a lump in my throat, wondering what had just happened.

Sometimes a book comes along of which you have no or low expectations. Then you start reading and after getting used to the concept, the fascination reels you in and doesn't let go until an ending that is just perfect and fitting the story. RANDOM was such a book for me.

If you like to read thrillers that aren't a dime a dozen and don't fit the picture you have of thrillers RANDOM is a perfect pick!

Thank you to Carolyn from BOOKCHICKCITY and Ally Glynn at SIMON & SCHUSTER UK for the opportunity given to read and review this wonderful book.

Quote:
It was a magnificent Victorian building but it had been plastered with so much gold leaf and crystal that it reminded me of an old whore with far too much make-up. It tried for plush refinement and it managed classy brothel.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10

Back Cover:
BLOOD TIES...What do they mean?
How far would someone go to serve…or protect them?

Julie Collins is stuck in a dead-end secretarial job with the Bear Butte County Sheriff’s office, and still grieving over the unsolved murder of her Lakota half-brother. Lack of public interest in finding his murderer or the killer of several other transient Native American men, has left Julie with a bone-deep cynicism she counters with tequila, cigarettes, and dangerous men. The one bright spot in her mundane life is the time she spends working part-time as a PI with her childhood friend, Kevin Wells.

When the body of a sixteen-year old white girl is discovered in nearby Rapid Creek, Julie believes this victim will receive the attention others were denied. Then she learns Kevin has been hired, mysteriously, to find out where the murdered girl spent her last few days. Julie finds herself drawn into the case against her better judgment, and discovers not only the ugly reality of the young girl’s tragic life and brutal death, but ties to her and Kevin’s past that she is increasingly reluctant to revisit.

On the surface the situation is eerily familiar. But the parallels end when Julie realizes some family secrets are best kept buried deep. Especially those serious enough to kill for.

Julie Collins moved back from Minneapolis to Bear Butte, South Dakota, when her half-brother was found murdered. She wanted to find out who killed him and why, so she took a secretarial job at the sheriff's office to get better access to the information she needed. But now, after three years, she's still stuck were she began. Julie is also a part-time PI, working for her childhood friend Kevin Wells, and when he wants her help on a case very similar to her brother's she grabs the chance to finally get a step closer to finding out what happened. But instead of answers, the investigation brings up stuff from Julie's past, stuff that she had locked far away in her memory and by putting herself in the middle of the investigation she also attracts the attention of the killer.

Wow! Just the first page of the prologue set the tone for this gritty, dark mystery in every sense. The way it described Julie's past with a dead mother, abusive father and murdered half-brother, I knew I was in for something else. My love for Julie's character had to grow but I liked her voice from the start. She's snappy and tough as nails with her sarcastic wit and in-your-face-personality. I know gritty mysteries aren't suppose to be funny but this one plastered a smile on my face regularly, due to Julie's dark sense of humor and spot-on remarks, both aloud and in her thoughts, on the people in her life.

Julie is a beer drinking, chain-smoking, woman who is anything but sweet and loveable. Julie has her moments where she made me smile with her sharp, sarcastic remarks but I can't say I found her to be a sympathetic character in the beginning, as I said: she had to grow on me because at first I felt more sorry for her than that I felt a connection. Later this changed, mainly because she is a woman of contradiction: the badass, mad-at-the-whole-world woman has another side too. Despite her harshness and attitude, deep down she has a sensitive and caring heart. Injustice and innocent people suffering are things that gnaw at her and get to her and that showed me she is not that cold, cynic, insensitive woman she seemed to be in the beginning.

This book is written mostly in 1st person narrative, Julie's POV but I very much liked the few short chapters that were written from the killer's POV and that were in 3rd person narrative. BLOOD TIES is gritty, violent and not for the faint of heart. It was also very slow-paced and took me a while to get into, so much that in the beginning I was not very compelled to pick it up to read once I put it down for a moment. But after the slow start there was a point where it all turned around and I started to really like the story. I think it was the point where I started to like Julie as a character. From that point on despite the slow-pace and the 1st person narrative, which isn't my favorite to read, I started to love this book. Mysteries have always intrigued me: Who did it? Why? How? And BLOOD TIES gives the answers to these questions in a believable and realistic way. Slowly and gradually the clues and facts are revealed, leading Julie, Kevin and the reader to the answers and the killer.

The way Lori Armstrong describes the scenery you feel like you're right there in South Dakota and you know the places she's talking about. She has a vivid imagery to her writing, which I love to read and which for me is a sign of a talented writer. BLOOD TIES was never boring or too descriptive despite the slow pace. It's weird and hard to describe but even with the slow pace there was a lot of exciting action, which didn't interfere with the pace but still made it action-packed. Once you're near the end it's not hard to guess who the killer is but still it was suspenseful till the very end as motive is explained and the question is whether rescue will arrive in time for Julie. And that ending was very surprising.

With BLOOD TIES I have tasted a bit of Lori's Armstrong's work and as with the work of her alter ego Lorelei James, she has once again ensnared with brilliant writing skills and a story that, once I got into it, kept hold of my attention right to the very last page. I am definitely ready for the next Julie Collins mystery.

Quotes:
"Knock it off, Julie. Sheriff hears you moaning like that, he'll think we're doing it on your desk."
"Al," I said lazily. "If I thought you could find my G-spot as quickly as you zeroed in on that knotted muscle, we would be doing it on my desk."

"Kevin Wells," he answered with that knock 'em dead smile that made women seriously consider disrobing.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10

This challenge is hosted by BookChickCity

Timeline: 01 Jan - 31 Dec 2010
Rules: To read TWELVE (12) thrillers in 2010

Details:

• You don't have to select your books ahead of time, you can just add them as you go. Also if you do list them upfront then you can change them, nothing is set in stone! The books you choose can crossover into other challenges you have on the go.

• You can join anytime between now and the later part of 2010.

Contrary to my earlier statements this year (both here, on twitter and IRL) that I didn't want to do reading challenges anymore because I feel the pressure of obligatory reading and reviewing next to all my other (reading) obligations, this was a challenge I couldn't resist and I have a few reasons for it:

First, I don't have to select any books ahead of time, so the sense of obligation is somewhat diminished. This, however, doesn't mean I don't have some books in mind for this challenge specifically and I know this is a challenge that I won't have trouble meeting "deadlines".

My second reason is linked to the first: I think reading twelve Thriller/Suspense/Mystery books will not be a great challenge as I had already planned to read more in that genre, next to the romantic suspense I already read plentily and I suspect the romantic suspense genre also falls under the regulations of this challenge, so this will be a challenge that won't be hard to meet at all.

For this challenge we are supposed to read 12 Thriller and Suspense Books. BCC, through J. Kaye has provided a list of sub-genres that work for this challenge. To view go HERE.

Find below the "work-in-progress"-list of my books for this challenge. Some have been and will be put in the list beforehand, others will be added along the way in the course of next year.

THE LIST: (in random order)

01. Lori Armstrong - Blood Ties - Click HERE for my review
02. Jordan Dane - No One Heard Her Scream
03. Barry Eisler - Rain Fall
04. Stieg Larsson - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
05. Ashley Gardner - The Hannover Square Affair
06. Karen Rose - Have You Seen Her?
07. Chelsea Cain - HeartSick
08. Robert Craig - Random (ARC supplied by publisher via BookChickCity)
09. Allison Brennan - Original Sin - Click HERE for my review
10. Shiloh Walker - Broken Click HERE for my review
11.
12.