Guy and Sara have a close relationship with their son Jacob so they know instantly that something is wrong when he starts behaving oddly. Jacob is being bullied and the worried parents decide they have no option but to take matters into their own hands…
The Couple’s Revenge is a psychological thriller that plays on parents’ fears for their children’s mental and physical wellbeing.
Poor Jacob is obviously upset and finally confesses that he is the target of the school bully. This bully left his last school after his victim committed suicide. Jacob’s parents are determined to protect their son at any cost and also prevent any other child suffering at the bully’s hands.
The book is written using the first person perspectives of Guy and Sara via alternating chapters. Their fears and emotions are wonderfully written and I’m sure every parent will identify with the minutiae of their relationship with each other and their child. The prologue gives massive clues about the lengths the parents would go to in order to protect their son, and then the book goes back to show how they came to this terrible choice.
I found that I had to suspend my disbelief when the parents decide to take control of the situation. This didn’t stop me loving the way the plot twisted and I was absolutely gripped. I had several theories about who and why events proceed as they do. I was not disappointed by the resolution which ties up all the loose ends.
The Couple’s Revenge is a tense, dramatic and emotionally engaging psychological thriller.
The Couple’s Revenge by Daniel Hurst
How far would you go to protect your child?
I knew something was wrong. It’s a mother’s instinct.
I could tell when my son started hiding things from me. He used to walk to school with a mischievous grin on his beautiful face. Now he avoids eye contact and keeps his head down.
Since I discovered he’s being bullied by a classmate, I’ve spent every day worrying, my stomach churning with anxiety from the moment he leaves the house to the second he walks back through the door.
Everyone keeps telling me I’m overreacting, but I won’t risk my child’s safety. My husband and I try to talk to the other boy’s parents, but it only makes things worse…
Then our precious child is hurt. Enough is enough. It has to stop. Even if that means taking matters into our own hands.
Because we know the truth about the family targeting our son – it’s not the first time they’ve done this.
So the question is, exactly how far will we go to get revenge?
A nail-biting, page-turning psychological thriller from the number one bestselling author of The Doctor’s Wife. If you love Behind Closed Doors, Gone Girl and The Housemaid, you’ll be hooked on The Couple’s Revenge.
About Daniel Hurst
Daniel Hurst writes psychological thrillers and loves to tell tales about unusual things happening to normal people. He has written all his life, making the progression from handing scribbled stories to his parents as a boy to writing full length novels in his thirties. He lives in the North West of England, returning to his roots after several years away exploring the world and garnering plenty of ideas for future books!
Social media
So 2024 begins and I have signed up for Veganuary again. It is a great campaign for those wanting to make a little or big difference!
I decided to try veganism back in January 2019 so somehow it has been 5 whole years. It doesn’t feel that long!
I will be completely honest and say I’ve had some wobbles recently and even considered having a month off or even just a weekend. My main nemesis is cheese, I miss it a lot! Having a restricted diet due to my gluten allergy has got the better of me a few times this year and I thought about opening up some options by returning to vegetarianism temporarily.
On the flip side, I have fallen in love with guinea pigs this year so my reasoning of hating animals is crumbling. If I wouldn’t eat a guinea pig then why would I even consider eating another animal. (I wouldn’t, hence being vegetarian since 2000). I also wouldn’t want toiletries tested on them or eat their by-products (although, seriously, guinea pigs only poo!)
At the end of the day, I am the only person that has to live with my conscience, and it tells me to avoid exploitation of animals for my benefit. So I will be sticking with being a vegan indefinitely.
Your conscience may say differently and it is none of my business. I am not a preachy vegan, telling you how to live your life. I don’t even do that with my own family. Every individual has the right and the obligation to choose their own path. But I would urge you to make a conscious decision, go with what is right for you, not just the easy option.
If you need help or advice then please seek it and make a choice. Veganuary can offer support and I have lots of recipes for a wide range of dishes (use the sidebar category or search box)
Book club choice for January! It was lovely to read a festive themed book over the Christmas holidays 🙂
Lucy wants to save her beleaguered PR company and has a radical idea to bag a new client. The Miller family are gathering for Christmas but there is an unexpected guest…
Snowed In For Christmas is a romantic novel with gentle family drama and comedy.
Lucy needs to secure a wealthy client in order to save her struggling company for the team who are like a family to her. She has a gift wrapped proposal and is going to hand deliver it. Ross Miller is heading home for Christmas and is ready for the usual interrogation about his private life. He has made up a girlfriend but then Lucy turns up for real!
I liked the humour of the unfolding events and mistaken identity. The tone is wonderfully light hearted but I did describe this book as vanilla. Now, I love vanilla, it’s simple, straightforward, uncomplicated. Nothing to dislike but no wow factor. There are no big surprises but the book is reassuring in its simplicity and gentle confidence.
There are some big emotions in this book. Lucy has no family left and is struggling with grief. Ross and his family have some issues to work through and communication is a major problem that drives them apart. These elements added depth to the plot and characters. I have to mention the delightful Nana Jean, a fount of wisdom and wry comment!
Snowed In For Christmas is an easy to read, festive themed book about love and families.
Book blurb
She’s snowed in with the family. The only problem? They’re not her family.
A family gathering
This Christmas the Miller siblings have one goal – to avoid their family’s well-meaning questions. Ross, Alice and Clemmie have secrets that they don’t intend to share, and they are relying on each other to deflect attention.
An uninvited guest
Lucy Clarke is facing a Christmas alone, and the prospect of losing her job – unless she can win a major piece of business from Ross Miller. She’ll deliver her proposal to his family home in the Scottish Highlands and then leave. After all, she wouldn’t want to intrude on the Miller’s perfect family Christmas.
A Christmas to remember
When Lucy appears on the Miller’s snow-covered doorstep, she is mistaken for Ross’s girlfriend. But by the time the confusion is cleared up, a storm has hit and Lucy is stuck. As everyone settles in for a snowed-in Christmas, tensions bubble to the surface and suddenly Lucy finds herself facing a big family fallout with a family that isn’t hers…
Three men are discovered dead in a cellar after dying of dehydration. Three more men have gone missing and DS Jason Smith is back from sick leave to crack the case. But can he find the killer before anyone else dies…?
The Cellar is the 26th book in the Smith crime thriller series. There are mentions of events and outcomes from previous books and this series is just soooooo good that I would advise reading them all!
Jason Smith is waiting to be allowed back to work from sick leave. His colleagues can’t wait for his official return and he jumps at the chance to get back into action slightly early. The case is quite grisly as three men died of thirst after being locked in a cellar whilst another man resorted to cannibalism before succumbing to death as well.
We then witness others being tricked into another cellar and this really ramps up the tension as we know the intended outcome and anticipate the desperation. Once again the style of writing is dialogue led and this makes the pace super fast. Chapters are short and the plot drives on with twists and turns.
As usual, I was swept up into Smith’s world as he struggles to catch a killer and prevent more deaths. I felt the fear and dread of the victims as they realise the danger they face. The book is set at the start of Covid so I liked the context which added authenticity. The conclusion and outcome of the book are directly associated with a previous book so again I will say ‘read the whole series!’
The Cellar is a tense, dramatic and gripping police procedural and crime thriller.
The Cellar (A DS Jason Smith Thriller Book 26)
From bestselling author: Stewart Giles comes another brilliant addition to the Detective Jason Smith series.
Something nasty is happening in York.
When the bodies of three men are discovered in the cellar of a house it soon becomes clear that their deaths were not peaceful.
Detective Jason Smith is itching to get back to work after a case that almost killed him and he soon realises he’s dealing with something he’s never come across before.
With a global pandemic looming, nobody in the city is paying much attention to the homeless people who are mysteriously vanishing from the streets.
But Smith senses there is something more to this.
Something else is happening here, and he’s not wrong.
A horror, far worse than he imagined is happening in a dark place somewhere in his city and Smith is going to have to face his deepest fears to stop it.
Stewart Giles – Author Bio
After reading English at 3 Universities and graduating from none of them, I set off travelling around the world with my wife, Ann, finally settling in South Africa, where we still live.
In 2014 Ann dropped a rather large speaker on my head and I came up with the idea for a detective series. DS Jason Smith was born. Smith, the first in the series was finished a few months later.
3 years and 8 DS Smith books later, Joffe Books wondered if I would be interested in working with them. As a self-published author, I agreed. However, we decided on a new series – the DC Harriet Taylor: Cornwall series.
The Beekeeper was published and soon hit the number one spot in Australia. The second in the series, The Perfect Murder did just as well.
I continued to self-publish the Smith series and Unworthy hit the shelves in 2018 with amazing results. I therefore made the decision to self-publish The Backpacker which is book 3 in the Detective Harriet Taylor series which was published in July 2018.
After The Backpacker I had an idea for a totally new start to a series – a collaboration between the Smith and Harriet thrillers and The Enigma was born. It brought together the broody, enigmatic Jason Smith and the more level-headed Harriet Taylor.
The Miranda trilogy is something totally different. A psychological thriller trilogy. It is a real departure from anything else I’ve written before.
The Detective Jason Smith series continues to grow. I also have another series featuring an Irish detective who relocated to Guernsey, the Detective Liam O’Reilly series. There are also 3 stand alone novels.
Twitter: @stewartgiles
Charlotte Lucas is Elizabeth Bennett’s best friend and has married the easily ridiculed Mr Collins. Now she is happily ensconced at Hunsford, mother to three children and enjoying her friendship with Miss de Bourgh. But tragedy strikes…
Charlotte is a sequel to the much beloved Pride and Prejudice. It is mostly written in the Charlotte’s present day (around 1820) with some reflections about the past, including events from the original classic and events in the intervening years.
Fans of Austen will know the character of Charlotte Lucas well. The eldest daughter with no hope of abandoning spinsterhood, she seizes the opportunity to wed after Mr Collins’ proposal is rejected by Lizzie. Calculating? Perhaps but it is more reasonable to see her as a woman grabbing a chance to marry when everyone else has written her off as an old maid.
Genuine love develops between Charlotte and Mr Collins. My heart broke at the sadness they endure but their love remains strong. However, their relationship is threatened when Charlotte’s heart and body are captivated during her grief. Rather surprisingly, there are sex scenes included.
Anne de Bourgh’s character has plenty of spark in this book which I loved. Both Charlotte and Anne have become experts at spouting what Lady Catherine and Mr Collins want to hear but can persuade them through subtlety. This served to soften the big emotions of grief and infidelity that are dealt with in other plotlines.
Charlotte is an enjoyable book and I loved the interpretation of the classic characters and the imagining of how their lives developed.
Book blurb
Everybody thinks that Charlotte Lucas has no prospects. She is twenty-seven years old, unmarried, plain, and seemingly without ambition. When she stuns the neighbourhood by accepting the proposal of buffoonish clergyman Mr Collins, her best friend Lizzy Bennet is angry at her for undervaluing herself. Yet the decision is the only way Charlotte knows to provide for her future, and marriage will propel her into a new world, of duty, marriage, children, grief and ultimately illicit love, and a kind of freedom.
Jane Austen cared deeply about the constraints of women in Regency England. This powerful reimagining takes up where Austen left off, showing us a woman determined to carve a place for herself in the world. Charlotte offers a fresh, feminist addition to the post-Austen canon, beautifully imagined, and brimming with passion and intelligence.
