Today I’m thrilled to be on the blog tour for The Songbird Girls by Richard Parker, the second book in the Detective Tom Fabian series. If you haven’t read the first book in the series don’t let that put you off because I actually read this book as a stand-alone. Before I share my review here’s the book description………
Her eyes were closed. From a distance the blood around her neck might have looked like a necklace, but up close her body told a different tale. She had been murdered.A tiny songbird lay beside her, its neck broken…
Detective Tom Fabian’s past is catching up with him. It has been years since the most famous case of his career – when his evidence put infamous serial killer Christopher Wisher behind bars forever. But when Wisher summons a reluctant Fabian to his prison cell to hand over a diary, he realises that Wisher’s twisted games are far from over.
Shortly after Fabian’s visit, Wisher is found dead in his cell. And a few days later, the police find a woman’s body bearing Wisher’s signature, a dead songbird. But the police never released this detail to the public … so who has Wisher been talking to?
Fabian is desperate to find the killer before another innocent life is taken. But as more bodies turn up, Fabian begins to realise that Wisher may have handed him the clues before he died. Is the twisted serial killer still pulling the strings from beyond the grave…
The Songbird Girls by Richard Parker is the second book in a new crime series featuring Detective Tom Fabian, I’m kicking myself because I should have read Never Say Goodbye first, not because this book can’t be read as a stand-alone, (I personally think it can) but I do like to start a series at the beginning. Never the less this did not make an iota of difference and I really enjoyed The Songbird Girls from the off. Detective Tom Fabian is summoned by the infamous serial killer Christopher Wisher, a killer that Tom captured and put behind bars. Wisher gives Fabian his journal, a journal that contains clues to crimes that haven’t yet been committed. Is the journal the ramblings of a deluded of serial killer? Or is it the start of something far more disturbing.
When police find a woman’s body bearing Wisher’s signature, a dead songbird, a detail never released to the public Fabian comes to the conclusion that it’s either a copy cat killer or Wisher is playing a deadly games from beyond the grave. I have often wondered about the “groupies” who appear to have a fascination with serial killers, the kind of people who visit them in prison desperate to be their confidante. Author Richard Parker delves into the life’s of such people who visit Wisher in prison, each one becomes a suspect as Fabian tries to uncover who Wisher has been sharing his secrets with.
The novel is told from the points of view of Fabian and his daughter Tilly, both get caught up in Wisher’s twisted games. It’s the chapters told from Tilly’s POV that strike fear into the hearts of its readers, there’s an ominous sense of impending doom running through these chapters, but these are the very chapters that push the reader on, you’re desperate to find out what Tilly’s future holds. I was surprised that Parker doesn’t really share much about Fabian’s personal life but perhaps that’s something I missed by not reading the first book. Although I’m intrigued by his character, as I feel there’s a lot to learn about him, I also liked the fact Fabian’s character doesn’t take the familiar route of using alcohol as a crutch after a bad day.
The Songbird Girls is a very different type of police procedure, unusually there is very little focus on the victims of the crime or the forensics in fact they are secondary to the plot. The book’s focus is mainly centred on the motives behind the new crimes and the list of suspects that come in the shape of Wisher’s prison visitors. Different is always good in my opinion especially when it comes to a crime series, I really enjoy a book a lot more when its original and doesn’t stick to a well used formula. The plot moves along at a fast pace and the author manages to create a level of suspense that intensifies as the plot progresses. If I had one small gripe I thought the ending felt rushed,but all was forgiven when the author left me with a tantalising ending, which has left me desperate to read the next book in the series. Highly recommended
- Print Length: 269 pages
- Publisher: Bookouture (19 Dec. 2018)
Buying links:
Amazon: http://geni.us/B07HRJHCZSPublication
iBookstore: https://tinyurl.com/y6w7e286
Kobo: https://tinyurl.com/yd3qal8q
Googleplay: https://tinyurl.com/yb9h43zt
Richard Parker was formerly a TV script writer, script editor and producer before turning his hand to penning twisted stand-alone thrillers.
Author Social Media Links:
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/richard.jayparker.9
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/Bookwalter
WEBSITE: http://www.richardjayparker.com/
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/bemykiller/?hl=en
Be My Killer by Richard Parker should come with the tag line “be afraid, be very afraid”, this novel reads like one of the scariest movies you watch, you know the slasher movies where you spend half the time peering from behind your fingers, you want to watch it but it’s making you anxious, your hearts pounding, that’s exactly how this novel made me feel whilst reading it. From the blood curdling first chapter you know it’s going to be a hell of a read. If you are expecting Be My Killer to be a conventional crime thriller forget it, as this book reminded me very much of the horror books I use to love reading in my younger days.
Richard Parker is an ex TV script writer, script editor and producer who now writes dark, stand alone thrillers. His first novel, Stop Me, was nominated for a Dagger Award. The movie rights to his second, Scare Me, have been bought by Hollywood studio Relativity Media with screenplay completed by Wentworth ‘PRISON BREAK’ Miller and his third, Stalk Me, rode high in the US and UK Amazon charts.
The book review café 