Jake Boulder series

Die Cold by Graham Smith | @GrahamSmith1972 @Bloodhoundbook | #DieCold #JakeBoulder #TeamBoulder #blogtour

~ noveldeelights ~ 2 Comments

Thrilled to bits to join the blog tour for Die Cold by Graham Smith today! My thanks to Emma Welton at Bloodhound Books for the invitation to join and for my review copy!

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Author : Graham Smith
Title : Die Cold
Series : Jake Boulder #4
Pages :
Publisher : Bloodhound Books
Publication date : November 12, 2018

aboutthebook

Boulder is back.

Jake Boulder is working as a bartender, at an exclusive Vermont ski resort on New Year’s Eve, when armed terrorists hold up the lodge and take the guests hostage.

Trapped with the other hostages, Boulder watches in horror as the female terrorist leader disfigures a singer to make her point. He wants to fight back, but is unarmed and being held at gunpoint.

When Boulder finds a way to escape from the terrorists he searches for a way to raise the alarm. After he discovers the terrorists plan to leave no witnesses to their crime, he knows has a race against time to save as many innocent people as he can…

But will Boulder be the reluctant hero and save the day?

mythoughts

Boulder is back! BOULDER IS BACK!!! I may be a wee excited.

Die Cold is the fourth instalment in the Jake Boulder series and really, if you’re not reading these, you need to go sit in a corner and think about your life’s choices!

First things first, do yourselves a favour and do not treat this as a stand-alone! Jake’s struggle is real and I feel it’s important that you know him as well as you possibly can to understand him and his actions better. Our reluctant hero has been through a lot and events from the previous book especially have made a massive impact on him.

So much so, that he’s left behind family, friends and his hometown. Jake is now working as a bartender at an exclusive ski resort in Vermont. It’s New Year’s Eve but before the champagne even has the opportunity to start flowing, terrorists hold up the lodge and take everyone hostage. Their female leader is a cold and vile woman who has no qualms whatsoever in getting her point across. But what is it these terrorists want? Stuck up on a mountain in the middle of a fierce snow blizzard, what are the odds that help is coming? Does anyone even realise the people at the resort need any help? Or will it be left to Jake to save the hostages and the day?

Die Cold should have come with a warning to hook up an oxygen tank before you start reading because hoo boy, I found myself thrown right into the action from the very first page and it just didn’t let up! I was holding my breath numerous times (not literally, obviously, or I probably wouldn’t be here right now), could almost feel the adrenaline pumping inside my veins and was quite frankly left utterly exhausted. This would make an incredible action movie!

Now, I must admit, I missed Alphonse. But a character called Daniel made up for so much of that and I’m kind of hoping (possibly against all hope) that he might somehow make an appearance in other Boulder books. I’d quite like that. Through Daniel’s eyes and a few other hostages, we constantly get a glimpse into what’s going on, which really added to the tension. I found myself desperately trying to figure out what the terrorists had in mind, while all the time hoping I’d never find myself in that position.

What an immensely thrilling journey this was. Action-packed from the word “go”, tense, totally addictive and a fantastic addition to this series, Die Cold may just leave you gasping for air. I absolutely can’t wait to see where Graham Smith takes Jake Boulder next. Although, I do hope it’s somewhere warmer.

Die Cold is published TODAY!

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Goodreads

abouttheauthor

Graham Smith is a time served joiner who has built bridges, houses, dug drains and slated roofs to make ends meet. Since Christmas 2000, he has been manager of a busy hotel and wedding venue near Gretna Green, Scotland.

He is an internationally best-selling Kindle author and has six books featuring DI Harry Evans and the Cumbrian Major Crimes Team, and four novels, featuring Utah doorman, Jake Boulder.

An avid fan of crime fiction since being given one of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five books at the age of eight, he has also been a regular reviewer and interviewer for the well-respected website Crimesquad.com since 2009

Graham is the founder of Crime and Publishment, a weekend of crime-writing classes which includes the chance for attendees to pitch their novels to agents and publishers. Since the first weekend in 2013, ten attendees have gone on to sign publishing contracts.

Author links : Facebook | Twitter | Website

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This Week in Books (November 7)

~ noveldeelights ~ 27 Comments

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Hosted by Lipsy Lost and Found, my Wednesday post gives you a taste of what I’m reading this week. A similar meme is run by Taking on a World of Words.

Last book I finished reading

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Boulder is back.

Jake Boulder is working as a bartender, at an exclusive Vermont ski resort on New Year’s Eve, when armed terrorists hold up the lodge and take the guests hostage.

Trapped with the other hostages, Boulder watches in horror as the female terrorist leader disfigures a singer to make her point. He wants to fight back, but is unarmed and being held at gunpoint.

When Boulder finds a way to escape from the terrorists he searches for a way to raise the alarm. After he discovers the terrorists plan to leave no witnesses to their crime, he knows has a race against time to save as many innocent people as he can…

But will Boulder be the reluctant hero and save the day?

The book I’m currently reading

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A woman is strangled six hours after organising her own funeral.

Did she know she was going to die? Did she recognise her killer?

Daniel Hawthorne, a recalcitrant detective with secrets of his own, is on the case, together with his reluctant side-kick – a man completely unaccustomed to the world of crime.

But even Hawthorne isn’t prepared for the twists and turns in store – as unexpected as they are bloody…

What I’m (probably) reading next

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Kim Lord is an avant garde figure, feminist icon, and agent provocateur in the L.A. art scene. Her groundbreaking new exhibition Still Lives is comprised of self-portraits depicting herself as famous, murdered women—the Black Dahlia, Chandra Levy, Nicole Brown Simpson, among many others—and the works are as compelling as they are disturbing, implicating a culture that is too accustomed to violence against women.

As the city’s richest art patrons pour into the Rocque Museum’s opening night, all of the staff, including editor Maggie Richter, hope the event will be enough to save the historic institution’s flailing finances.

Except Kim Lord never shows up to her own gala.

Fear mounts as the hours and days drag on and Lord remains missing. Suspicion falls upon the up-and-coming gallerist Greg Shaw Ferguson, who happens to be Maggie’s ex. A rogue’s gallery of eccentric art world figures could also have motive for the act, and as Maggie gets drawn into her own investigation of Lord’s disappearance, she’ll come to suspect all of those closest to her.

Set against a culture that too often fetishizes violence against women, Still Lives is a page-turning exodus into the art world’s hall of mirrors, and one woman’s journey into the belly of an industry flooded with money and secrets.

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What are you reading this week? Let me know! I don’t want to run out of books! 😉

Happy reading! xx

Past Echoes by Graham Smith @GrahamSmith1972 @Bloodhoundbook #blogblitz #PastEchoes #TeamBoulder

~ noveldeelights ~ 10 Comments

Eek! I’m so excited to host a stop on the blog tour for Past Echoes by Graham Smith today, I may just wet myself. 😳 Sorry.

Let’s just quickly move on with the all-important bookish information, shall we.

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Author : Graham Smith
Title : Past Echoes
Series : Jake Boulder #3
Pages : 348
Publisher : Bloodhound Books
Publication date : February 1, 2018

aboutthebook

Tasked with finding a beneficiary and revealing a dead woman’s secret, Jake Boulder travels to New York with his girlfriend Taylor. He also has to find his estranged father for a life-saving transfusion.

Once there he becomes embroiled in a web of mystery, deceit and violence which sees him pitted against a professional assassin known only as The Mortician. Boulder must use every drop of his courage and cunning to survive the chaos that envelops him.

mythoughts

* insert lots of incoherent gibberish here *

Holy flying … haggis! What the fudge just happened?!

Jake Boulder receives a request from beyond the grave and his mission leads him to New York. He’s also tasked with finding his long-lost father for a life-saving transfusion. All sounds perfectly innocent, doesn’t it? Ha! Well, just sit back and watch that brown stuff hit the fan like you wouldn’t believe!

I don’t have the vocabulary to even try to explain this rollercoaster ride. I feel like I’ve just spent the last three hours stuck in the fastest spinning cycle of my washing machine. This third instalment in the Boulder series is just utterly insane and had me running a gamut of emotions. My diet went right out of the window as I stuffed my face with chocolate because the tension was just unbearable. How very much dare you, Mr Graham Smith, sir. Putting Jake and us through the wringer like that. (I kid. Please can I have some more?)

Past Echoes is by far the best one in the series yet! It’s incredibly tense and just phenomenally relentless. Don’t even think about going off to do something else once you start reading this one. You will not want to put this one down! It’ll grab you by the throat and leave you gasping for breath.

Yes, I’m fully aware I’ve not mentioned a thing about the plot. I can’t. I’m way too afraid I’ll give something away. I will say, for the first time ever, I actually liked Ivy. That made for a nice change. I love that she finally got a chance to confront her past. I loved the fights, which in my opinion would look incredible on a big movie screen. And I love an author who’s willing to mess with and mess up his main character. But other than that, my lips are sealed. Hold on to something and prepare yourself for a wild adventure.

If you’re not reading this series, … how to say this nicely? What is WRONG with you?! Do yourself a favour and pick these up and please, start at the beginning with Watching The Bodies or you’ll miss out on the full experience. I promise from the bottom of my heart you won’t regret it! #TeamBoulder

I can’t wait for the next book! Is it here yet? How about now? Now?

Past Echoes was published on February 1st. Get your copy ASAP!

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Bookdepository | Wordery | Goodreads

abouttheauthor

Graham Smith is a time served joiner who has built bridges, houses, dug drains and slated roofs to make ends meet. Since Christmas 2000, he has been manager of a busy hotel and wedding venue near Gretna Green, Scotland.

 He is an internationally best-selling Kindle author and has four books featuring DI Harry Evans and the Cumbrian Major Crimes Team, and two novels, featuring Utah doorman, Jake Boulder.

 2018 will be a busy year for Graham as he has the third Jake Boulder being published and a Harry Evans novel and novella.

 An avid fan of crime fiction since being given one of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five books at the age of eight, he has also been a regular reviewer and interviewer for the well-respected website Crimesquad.com since 2009

 Graham is the founder of Crime and Publishment, a weekend of crime-writing classes which includes the chance for attendees to pitch their novels to agents and publishers. Since the first weekend in 2013, eight attendees have gone on to sign publishing contracts.

Facebook | Twitter | Website

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The Kindred Killers by Graham Smith @GrahamSmith1972 @Bloodhoundbook

~ noveldeelights ~ 4 Comments

** advanced copy received via publisher **

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Author : Graham Smith
Title : The Kindred Killers
Series : Jake Boulder #2
Pages : 318
Publisher : Bloodhound Books
Publication date : September 12, 2017

aboutthebook

Jake Boulder’s help is requested by his best friend, Alfonse, when his cousin is crucified and burned alive along with his wife and children. As Boulder tries to track the heinous killer, a young woman is abducted. Soon her body is discovered and Boulder realises both murders have something unusual in common.

With virtually no leads for Boulder to follow, he strives to find a way to get a clue as to the killer’s identity. But is he hunting for one killer or more?

After a young couple are snatched in the middle of the night the case takes a brutal turn. When the FBI are invited to help with the case, Boulder finds himself warned off the investigation. When gruesome, and incendiary, footage from a mobile phone is sent to all the major US News outlets and the pressure to find those responsible for the crimes mounts. But with the authorities against him can Boulder catch the killer before it’s too late?

mythoughts

Flippin’ heck! Mind blown! Need a minute!

Whew! Okay, here we go.

Not that long ago, I discovered Graham Smith’s work and lost myself in the world of the brooding hunk of a man that is Jake Boulder. Since then, I’ve been eagerly awaiting the next book in the series and when I was offered the opportunity to read it, it felt like my birthday had come early!

The Kindred Killers is the second instalment in the Jake Boulder series and it is absolutely mind-blowing! Yes, I’m aware I’ve already used that word but it fits perfectly!

Jake’s best friend Alphonse asks for his help when his cousin and his family go missing. Sadly there is no good news as the family is found horribly murdered. They are found to have been crucified and burned alive. And with that, the tone is set for a cruel and disturbing story that is unfortunately still rather apt and relevant these days. Some of these events may not be for the faint-hearted as they are quite brutal and stomach-churning but I feel it’s necessary to point out that none of it’s gratuitous and the author manages to set the scene as sympathetically as possible.

The return of Jake Boulder was most definitely worth the wait and this series just keeps getting better. I was utterly engrossed in the case and completely blown away by the reasoning behind the initial killings. I also really always enjoy it when an author takes the time to introduce us to a character so that even though you know deep down something is going to happen to them, it packs the most astounding punch when that something actually happens.

I continue to enjoy the friendship between Jake and Alphonse. Despite the strain they’re under and the grief Alphonse needs to deal with, they know each other so well that even when tempers rise, you know this bond won’t break. (Gee, I hope I didn’t jinx them now!)

I may have said it before but it’s worth saying again : Graham Smith has fast become one of my favourite authors and I honestly can’t wait to read more, be it about Jake Boulder or something else entirely! And you, yes you (!), should pick up this Jake Boulder series right now and get caught up! I promise you won’t regret it!

Many thanks to Graham Smith and Sarah Hardy at Bloodhound Books for my advanced copy, which I chose to review honestly! And a special shout-out to Noelle Holten! 😉

The Kindred Killers is available now!

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Goodreads

Watching the Bodies by Graham Smith @GrahamSmith1972 @Bloodhoundbook

~ noveldeelights ~ 8 Comments

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Author : Graham Smith
Pages : 322
Publisher : Bloodhound Books
Publication date : April 25, 2017

aboutthebook

When Jake Boulder is asked by his PI friend to help investigate the vicious murder of Kira Niemeyer, he soon finds himself tracking a serial killer who selects his next victim in a most unusual manner.

As the body count rises, Boulder has to work with the police to identify the heinous killer before more lives are taken. What ensues is a twisted game of cat and mouse, that only Boulder or the Watcher can survive. But who will it be?

mythoughts

Watching the Bodies has been sitting on my Kindle collecting dust since publication day and I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to finally get around to reading it! This is the first book I’ve read by Graham Smith and I can already tell you that it won’t be my last.

Let’s start with our protagonist. Jake Boulder isn’t a police officer or detective. He’s just a guy who works in a bar called The Joshua Tree. He has commitment issues, a narcissistic mother and a temper that boils right underneath the surface, ready to ignite before you get the chance to say “Oh, Jake, take me away!”. He’s intelligent, perceptive and determined but not exactly the man you take home to meet your parents. Still, that whole dark and brooding thing he has going on totally got my pulse racing and he makes an excellent narrator.

His best friend Alphonse is a private detective and a whizz at all things IT. When he’s hired to investigate the murder of Kira Niemeyer, he quickly enlists the help of Jake. I really enjoyed the banter between these two. Their longtime friendship is a thing of beauty.

Now, this killer, The Watcher, is something else. Not only does he have the most unusual way of choosing his next victim, he also has a novel approach to deciding how they die. Genius! The Watcher is on a mission. He wants to go down in history and he will stop at nothing to achieve that.

Watching the Bodies is one of the best crime fiction thrillers I’ve ever read and a brilliant start to a new series. I could point out that maybe the ending wasn’t exactly what I’d been expecting but then I’d just be nitpicking. However, if the author’s aim was to leave the reader wanting more, then he totally succeeded in that and I absolutely can’t wait for the next instalment!

This fabulous Jake Boulder thriller was published on April 25th.

Amazon US – Amazon UK – Goodreads