Blood Red City by Rod Reynolds | @OrendaBooks @annecater | #blogtour

It’s a pleasure to welcome you all to my stop on the blog tour for Blood Red City by Rod Reynolds today! My thanks to Karen Sullivan at Orenda Books for the proof copy and to Anne Cater for the invitation to join the tour.

Author : Rod Reynolds
Title : Blood Red City
Pages : 386
Publisher : Orenda Books
Publication date : June 11, 2020 (ebook)

| ABOUT THE BOOK |

When crusading journalist Lydia Wright is sent a video of an apparent murder on a London train, she thinks she’s found the story to revive her career. But she can’t find a victim, much less the killers, and the only witness has disappeared. Wary she’s fallen for fake news, she begins to doubt her instincts—until a sinister call suggests that she’s not the only one interested in the crime. 

Michael Stringer deals in information—and doesn’t care on which side of the law he finds himself. But the murder on the train has left him exposed, and now he’ll stop at nothing to discover what Lydia knows. When their paths collide, Lydia finds the story leads through a nightmare world, where money, power and politics intersect, and information is the only thing more dangerous than a bullet.

| MY THOUGHTS |

Lydia Wright is a journalist working for the Examiner. After a few missteps while working on an investigative article, she’s been sidelined to the graveyard showbiz desk. When Lydia receives a video of what is definitely an assault and probably even a murder on a London train, she thinks she may just have found the story that will revive her career. There are just a few snags. There is no crime scene to be found, no missing person, no sign of a victim or a witness and even less of any potential killers.

Michael Stringer deals in information. He’s what is called a fixer, with little regard of which side of the law he finds himself on. He too is interested in finding out what, if anything, happened on that London train. But there are higher powers at work here. Lydia and Michael will find themselves caught up in a world of power, money and politics.

Danger lurks around pretty much every corner of the streets of London in Blood Red City. There was a bit of a game of cat and mouse going on that left me wondering for ages who the cat and who the mouse was. There are a few different players, who all have their hands in various different pots that I, average Jane, know absolutely nothing about. But money is the key here. Have a lot of it and then make more of it because more is never enough, or something like that. These powerful players are ruthless and far-reaching and have no qualms about leaving dead bodies behind if it’s in their own interests. But will Michael and Lydia be two of those bodies? Can Michael even be trusted? Honestly, I had no idea and had a heck of a time trying to figure things out. It is apparent there’s more to Michael than meets the eye and he’s most definitely a multi-layered and complex character that I’d like to learn more about.

Blood Red City is a well-paced and realistic urban crime thriller. At times, it’s super tense because just like Lydia and Michael, you just never know what’s coming next. Or from which direction. I was just left with this feeling in the pit of my stomach that whatever it was couldn’t possibly be good.

Quite frankly, Blood Red City would make an absolutely brilliant movie or tv series. The setting of the city of London works like an absolute charm, creating multiple atmospheric vibes depending on which neighbourhood the characters find themselves in. However, more than anything, it’s the plot that pulled me in. It is immensely clever, constantly making you think and keeping you on your toes but it wasn’t really until the very end, when the pieces of the puzzle started to come together that I realised just how smartly Rod Reynolds plotted this story. Many of my questions were answered, but some were not and it left me to wonder if there might possibly be a sequel on the horizon. The door has definitely been left open for that to happen.

Seeing as I was completely unfamiliar with Rod Reynolds’ previous books, I had no idea what to expect from Blood Red City but I was pleasantly surprised. Admittedly, some of the financial explanations went a tad over my head but that is in no way the author’s fault. The only thing I know about money is how to spend it 😉. I digress. If you’re a fan of action-packed crime thrillers, then this one is definitely for you and I thoroughly enjoyed being introduced to Rod Reynold’s work.

Blood Red City is available to buy in ebook format. The UK paperback will be published in July.

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Other retailers : Amazon US | Amazon UK | Hive UK | Kobo | Waterstones

| ABOUT THE AUTHOR |

Rod Reynolds was born in London and, after a successful career in advertising, working as a media buyer, he decided to get serious about writing. He recently completed City University’s two-year Crime Writing Masters course and THE DARK INSIDE is his first novel. He lives in London with his wife and daughter.