Friday 21 December 2018

The Songbird Girls by Richard Parker

Today is my stop on the blog tour for The Songbird Girls by Richard Parker. I was delighted to have the opportunity to read this, as I loved Richard's previous Tom Fabian book, Never Say Goodbye. My thanks to Noelle Holten at Bookoutre for inviting me to take part and for providing my review copy. The Songbird Girls was published on 19th December 2018.


The Blurb:

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 high-profile 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.

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…?


Buying Links:

Amazon: http://geni.us/B07HRJHCZSPublication
iBookstore: https://tinyurl.com/y6w7e286
Kobo: https://tinyurl.com/yd3qal8q
Googleplay: https://tinyurl.com/yb9h43zt

My Review:

This is the second book in the Tom Fabian series, but can easily be read as a standalone. However, if you are going to read the first one, Never Say Goodbye (see my review here) too, and you should because it's great, I suggest you read the two in order. 

Fabian is called to a murder scene, and a dead bird has been left next to the body. It is reminiscent of the crimes of Christopher Wisher, who Tom helped put in jail several years earlier, but not before he has murdered nine people. But the songbird detail of his crimes was never released to the public, so how can the new perpetrator know about the birds?

Wisher calls Fabian to the prison and passes him a cryptic diary, with entries for future dates. Can Tom make sense of it? A few days later, Wisher takes his own life. And whilst all this is going on, Tom's daughter Tilly has a new boyfriend she really likes...

Phew! There is lots going on in this story! It's one of those where I can't say too much without giving spoilers. As Tom and his team investigate the murders and Wisher's death, they come across a big cast of characters, many of whom have secrets of their own to hide, and are led up one or two blind alleys.

Tom Fabian is beautifully written. He's an ordinary man, doing an extraordinary job. He's principled, loyal and determined to find the truth. But he's not without his flaws, which just make him easier to identify with. Wisher, although not featured much himself, is a huge part of the story, and I found him fascinating and intriguing, in a creepy way.

The pace is fabulous, the suspense ramps up to a great finale and maybe a wee hint of more to come? I sure hope so. I read this almost in one sitting as I was so keen to find out what happened next. It's another winner from Richard Parker.

The Author:

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

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