Pan MacMillian

HANNAH’S ROCK SOLID, TWISTY THRILLER, WILL HAVE YOU SETTLED IN TO THE VERY END

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There was a huge outpouring of anger and grief last year, when a mindless yob cut down a beautiful
tree which had stood next to Hadrian’s Wall for many years, in an act of vandalism. The sycamore
which grew adjacent to the wall near Crag Lough was the subject of many photographs and had won
Tree of the Year in 2016. This competition is organised by the Woodland Trust. Residents of the
countries which make up the UK are encouraged to nominate their favourite tree and one of those is
subsequently selected as the overall UK winner. The Sycamore Gap was one of those iconic vistas
that we all hope to see. Maybe I passed it when I visited Hadrian’s Wall on a school trip eons ago,
when we were both saplings – LOL?


Anyway, Hadrian’s Wall was on my mind when the Chief Inspector Kate Daniels series was suggested
to me. The books are set in Northumbria, Kate being a youthful version of Vera, the well-known
titular heroine, of the televised novels of Ann Cleeves. Mari Hannah’s second book, Settled Blood (published 2012 by Pan Books www.panmacmillan.com ),
begins with the body of a young woman being found at the base of Hadrian’s Wall. Cover illustration
aside, the premise of this was enough to fire my enthusiasm.


It doesn’t take Detective Chief Inspector Kate Daniels long to realise that the woman’s death is no
ordinary homicide. She was thrown from a great height and was probably alive when she hit the
ground. Then a local businessman reports his daughter missing. Has Daniels found the identity of her
victim or is the killer playing a sickening game?


This is the second book in the Kate Daniels series. I wanted to start with this book but found a lot of
references to what had happened in the first book, The Murder Wall. Generally, I’m one of those
people who prefers to read books where there’s an ongoing history in order, so I admit I purchased
the first book and enjoyed that before restarting this. I’m not saying you couldn’t read them as
standalone novels; this was just my preference (but also AN POST, the Irish postal service held up the delivery of first and third books for almost twelve weeks, forcing us to miss the tour).


It was no hardship to read two books to review one as I thoroughly enjoyed both. This is a
procedural police detective novel, so the cast of characters, setting and the way police work is carried
out are familiar to both fictional and true crime readers. Kate Daniels is an interesting and rounded
character with her fair share of family, relationship, colleague, and boss issues to work through, but
she seems very real. She has human reactions to situations without making the reader feel she is
paranoid or clinically depressed or thinks she is superior to everyone around her.
The cast of supporting characters are a little predictable, the loyal sergeant with marital problems,
the junior detectives snapping at her heels and the difficult boss, but all are engaging and rounded
enough to promise deeper involvement in future stories. No fictional detective seems to have a
straightforward love life and Kate’s is no exception, adding another dilemma for her to juggle in her
professional life.

Mari Hannah (The Word)

Mari Hannah ( www.marihannah.com/ ) , is an English crime fiction writer who has written 14 books to date, with her 15th, The Longest Goodbye, due out this month. As well as the DCI Kate Daniels series, she has written the Stone & Oliver series, and Ryan & O’Neil series. Before becoming a writer, she was a probation officer, but an assault while on duty prompted a career change. she now lives in Northumberland with her partner a former homicide detective,


The plot of This Settled Blood is pacy and wonderfully twisty. It kept my interest, with me staying up
late to finish it as I had to see what happened. I’m now looking forward to reading books three and
four after a short hiatus. I’m looking forward to what Katy did next. Will it be another serial killer?
Between Mari Hannah and Ann Cleeves, Northumbria is looking like a dangerous place!

Reviewed by Georgina Murphy

This book review was supposed part of a Compulsive Readers Blog Tour. But owing to Brexit and An Post customs irregularities, it was delayed. For that we are sorry to Tracy, Mari, and the team at Pan.

CLINTON AND PENNY TERRORISE THE THRILLER GENRE WITH THEIR GRIPPING COLLABORATION

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If I were an an American, during the elections for president which saw Obama and Trump prevail, I would have been a staunch Hillary Clinton supporter. Personally, I feel she’s the best president the states never had. She’d might have  done a  better job than her husband, whose presidency was marred by a lapse personal judgement, and I feel the USA we know today would be a better place if she had won. As you can tell, I’m a fan and so I was delighted to be asked to read ‘State of Terror’ a collaboration between the thriller writer Louise Penny and Hillary Rodham Clinton and published by Pan MacMillan (www.panmacmillan.com) on the 12th october, for this month’s first book review..

After a tumultuous period in American politics , a new administration has just been sworn in . Secretary of State, Ellen Adams is determined to do her duty for her country. But she is about to face a horrifying international threat. A young foreign service officer has received a baffling text from a anonymous source. Too late, she realises it was a hastily coded warning. Then a series of bus bombs devastate Europe, heralding the rise of a new rogue terrorist organisation, who will stop at nothing to develop a nuclear arsenal. As Ellen unravels the damaging effects of the former presidency on International politics, she has to consider if the previous president was a traitor?

There’s an interesting section at the end of the book, where Hillary and Louise are interviewed about how they met and how this writing collaboration came about. It seems Hillary and her closest friend Betsy were both avid thriller readers and enjoyed Louise Penny’s books.  Betsy and Louise were introduced and following the death of Louise’s husband, Hillary sent a personal sympathy card. A friendship between the three women and their husbands then developed. During covid and following a collaboration between Bill Clinton and James Patterson, it was suggested that Hillary and Louise team up to write a political thriller. Some of the characters in the book are based on, or at least named after real colleagues and friends. There are also many other characters in the book which resemble recent and current political figures, the British Prime Minister with the unruly hair for example, or that slightly mad ex-president in Florida…

This book was an exciting read from the first page and kept up the fast pace and edge of your seat tension throughout. Ellen moves from one dangerous situation to another as she races from one end of the world to the other in her search for answers. The book is full of intrigue and twists and turns. With the authors keeping the reader guessing as who is to be trusted an who isn’t, never straightforward in a world of politics where everyone has their own agenda.

Ellen is a likeable character, smart and funny but ultimately very human. She is new to the role of Secretary of State but brings to it a certain amount of street smarts from her previous career running a media empire. There’s also some family tension in relation to her son. Betsy in this book, is her lifelong friend and confidante and has a role as her advisor. She brings a wit and loyalty to Ellen’s current role, where everyone else, its seems, is her enemy. I really enjoyed the ‘woman power’ demonstrated in this story which I thought was never heavy handed.

Louise Penny / Hillary Rodham Clinton

Hillary Rodham Clinton (www.hillaryclinton.com) is the author of seven previous books which include It Takes A Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us (1996), An Invitation To The White House (2000), The Book Of Gutsy Women (co-written with Chelsea Clinton) (2019), Why I Should Be President (2014). She was the first woman in America to recieve a presidential nomination and served as the 67th Secretary Of State after nearly four decades in public office including eight years as the first lady.

Louise Penny (www.louisepenny.com) is a Canadian author of seventeen mystery novels set in the province of Quebec and featuring her hero Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, they include: Still Life (2005), Bury Your Dead (2010), The Long way Home (2014) and The Madness Of Crowds (2021). before turning to writing she was a broadcaster with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, In 2017 she recieved the Order of Canadan (OC) for her contribution to Canadian culture. she curently lives just outside Montreal.

Hillary confides that there were three scenarios which would give her sleepless nights when she was Secretary of State, and this was one of them. I hope therefore, that another of the three will be a second book featuring Ellen Adams. If its as gripping as this, I can’t wait.

Reviewed by Georgina Murphy

This book review is part of a Random Things Blog Tour, to see what the other reviwers thought visit their blogs listed below. Then if you get a copy comeback and tell us what you thought. we’d really appreciate the feedback.