**Blog Tour** The Night Stalker by Robert Bryndza #BookReview & Guest Post

From the phenomenal No.1 bestselling author Robert Bryndza comes the second heart-racing, electrifying thriller in the Detective Erika Foster series The Night Stalker. To say I am excited to be opening the blog tour for The Night Stalker by Robert Bryndza is an understatement, in fact I’m so excited I could burst! so a huge thank you to Kim Nash over at Bookouture and Robert Bryndza for allowing me to be part of this blog tour. The Night Stalker is published today and I’m positive it’s going to be a huge hit, its already a top 20 ebook bestseller with over 60,000 pre-orders sales.

Now with no further ado I have a fabulous guest post from the very talented Robert Bryndza, where you can learn all about what goes on behind his wardrobe (I kid you not!)

I love reading articles from authors about where they write, and I’m often jealous of their snug/elegant/beautiful offices. I say to myself that, one day, I will have my own office. It will have high ceilings and lots of light. I’d like a huge bookcase crammed with my favourite books, an open fireplace, a view of trees and hills where I can watch the seasons change, and lots of chairs for people to sit in. Then I realise I’m describing a living room, not an office.

The problem is I can’t stand the thought of having to go to an office, even a space especially given over to me for writing. It would feel like too much pressure. It would feel too much like going to work.

I write my books on the sofa in the living room, at the kitchen table, or sat up in bed curled up with our two dogs. I can bunk down almost anywhere to write, and I like that. Coffee shops, long bus journeys, crowded Ryanair flights…

I did have one place which I tentativley called my office, or non-office. It was the least glamorous place imaginable, and I loved it. It was a spot behind a wardrobe in the spare room of my mother-in-law’s flat.

When I decided I was going to pursue writing full-time, we had to downsize and save money, and she very generously let us live with her. The spot behind the wardrobe was quiet, and I would sit in a cosy old armchair amongst my mother-in-law’s best crockery and huge jam pans, Christmas decorations all boxed up, and several religious icons. Several of her friends have made trips to Lourdes, and she has an excess of Virgin Mary’s!

I wrote all of my books behind that wardrobe, and the first draft of The Girl in The Ice too. My new book, The Night Stalker was the first written in our new home. We live in an apartment on the fifth floor, where I feel very safe.

I was inspired to write The Night Stalker by something that happened when we lived in London, nine years ago, in a first floor flat in Brockley (around where the Erika Foster books are based). The flat was lovely, cozy and modern with a bay window looking out over the small garden of the flat below us, and the back of a row of terraces opposite. I would sit on the sofa (which was also my office at the time) and write, and I enjoyed watching the seasons shift.

I was woken one night by a weird crashing clunking noise coming from the living room, leapt out of bed and rushed through to the living room in the darkness to see a tall figure outside, clad in black, and trying to force up the sash window. He was balancing on top of the fence in the garden below. Thank God the window had sash stops and he was only able to lift the window up a few inches.

I remember standing there in the middle of the dark living room as his gloved hands scrabbled through the small gap in the window. He was breathign heavily and the material of the balaclava he wore pressed against the glass. I was unable to move, I was so scared. He gave up after what seemed liked hours, but in relity was probably only seconds, and I watched him jump down onto the grass, walk calmly to the back of the garden and climb over the fence.

It was then that I called the police and turned all the lights on. They never caught who it was, and we didn’t sleep until it got light. The next day we found out that five houses had been burgled that night, and a ground floor window in one of the houses opposite had been smashed.

That was pretty much the end of that flat for us. We were almost at the end of our tenancy agreement, and we chose not to renew it, moving to a safer area. For our last three weeks there, we slept fitfully with a knife under the pillow.

I have never forgotten that fear, and I tapped into this when I was writing The Night Stalker. It’s bittersweet really. I loved that flat, and writing my books from the sofa/office, but it planted the seed for this new Crime thriller.

About Robert Bryndza

Originally from the UK, Rob lives in Slovakia
with his Slovak husband and their two crazy dogs. He originally trained as an actor, but was bitten by the writing bug in his mid-twenties and hasn’t looked back. His debut novel, The Not
So Secret Emails of Coco Pinchard became
an Amazon bestseller, and has grown to a best selling series of five books.

In addition to his recent number one romantic comedy Miss Wrong and Mr Right, Rob is excited to embrace the darker side of life, writing his first crime thriller series. He is currently writing the third book in the Erika Foster series, which will be released in September 2016.

Website    Goodreads      Facebook          Twitter

About The Girl In The Ice
• Over 565,000 copies sold
• #1 Amazon US
• #2 Amazon UK
• #1 Amazon Canada
• #1 Amazon Australia
• #1 Amazon Netherlands
• Top 100 Amazon France, Spain and India
• #2 Wall Street Journal Best-sellers
• #3 USA Today Best-sellers

 

Book Description

If the Night Stalker is watching, you’re already dead…

In the dead of a swelteringly hot summer’s night, Detective Erika Foster is called to a murder scene. The victim, a doctor, is found suffocated in bed. His wrists are bound and his eyes bulging through a clear plastic bag tied tight over his head.

A few days later, another victim is found dead, in exactly the same circumstances. As Erika and her team start digging deeper, they discover a calculated serial killer – stalking their victims before choosing the right moment to strike.

The victims are all single men, with very private lives. Why are their pasts shrouded in secrecy? And what links them to the killer?

As a heat wave descends upon London, Erika will do everything to stop the Night Stalker before the body count rises, even if it means risking her job. But the victims might not be the only ones being watched… Erika’s own life could be on the line.

To say I was excited to get an ARC of The Night Stalker by Robert Bryndza was an understatement. I seem to have been waiting for this book forever, (OK 6 months, and a slight exaggeration), this is the second book in the Detective Erika Foster series, and although you could read it as a standalone I would highly recommend reading The Girl In The Ice first, why? You may well ask, because this series is shaping up to be such a fantastic one, and you don’t want to miss anything. I absolutely loved The Girl In The Ice and voted it my book of the month when it was released, so here lay the problem, I had very high expectations for The Night Stalker, and was concerned I would be disappointed with the follow up. Was I? HELL NO! In fact The Night Stalker surpassed my expectations, from the tense opening chapter my heart was in my mouth, and it remained there until the nail biting climax! In the Night Stalker we are introduced to a serial killer whose victims are single men, why these particular men? Well It’s down to Detective Erika Foster to hunt down the stalker and find out what links these men to the killer.

Erika is fast becoming one of my favourite detectives, Robert Bryndza has given her character real depth, she’s bright, determined, tenacious and passionate about her job. During The Night Stalker we get to see Erika’s vulnerable side as she continues to struggle with the guilt of loosing her husband and four of her work colleagues. You sense how lonely she is with no real friends to support her, (although there are glimpses of friendships forming) and this helps to make her a very credible character in my opinion. As for the serial killer well what can I say? Robert Bryndza has created a monster, in the shape of a calculated and very disturbed individual, as the investigation intensifies Erika puts her own career on the line, as she attempts to bring The Night Stalker to justice.

Robert Bryndza writes in such descriptive way it was easy to become immersed in both the atmosphere and the plot (I could envisage the swelteringly hot summer nights, tempers rising, a serial killer hiding in the shadows), the pace is relentless and the plot is taut and original in content, which certainly added to my enjoyment of this highly entertaining novel. The Night Stalker is a compulsive read, and one I could not put down until I reached the thrilling conclusion (I read it in one sitting, it really was that good). In case you haven’t guessed by now I absolutely loved this heart pounding, fast paced, chilling crime thriller (sorry for all the cliches, but I could go on and on). Robert Bryndza continues to go from strength to strength with this well crafted series, and if you love an “edge of your seat” (last cliche, I promise) crime thriller then you definitely need to put The Night Stalker to the top of your TBR pile NOW, it will certainly be going on my list of top reads of 2016. I for one cannot wait to read the next instalment of this incredible series, and fingers crossed We don’t have to wait to long

My thanks to Kim Nash over at Bookouture for my ARC in exchange for a honest review

Unfortunately my rating system only goes up to five stars, but I feel The Night Stalker deserves a much higher rating, so I’m introducing the Gold Star Award which I will award to books I feel are outstanding and have an edge on all the other books I’ve read. So Robert Bryndza congratulations on being the first author to get the gold star award

Print Length: 289 pages

Publisher: Bookouture (2 Jun. 2016)

Kindle🇬🇧

If you haven’t read The Girl In The Ice, I’ve  included a link to my review and an author interview I done with Robert Bryndza earlier this year Author interview with Robert Bryndza