Review of The Iron Pendulum

Whilst working towards completing another crime thriller this year, I was pleased to receive another five star review for The Iron Pendulum.

Needless to say, I appreciate all reviews, good or bad, but this one made my day:

This book was an impulse purchase. I was looking for something different and enjoy reading material by less well known and/or up and coming authors. I wasn’t disappointed. It’s a gripping page turner than offers a fantastic and unexpected twist at the end. I am always fascinated by the ideas that get woven in to novels. This story is full of characters you can try to get inside the mind of. Super. Highly recommended!


C. TAYLOR
5.0 out of 5 stars A gripping page turner! Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 March 2020

Pick up your Kindle, Kobo or IBook copy today and let me know what you think about The Iron Pendulum.

My Killer

Cigarette smoke curls and licks at her frazzled locks, braiding them with a scent of something delicious and sensuous. I watch her sway before me. Her attempts to seduce are abysmal but I smile, my lips sticking to my teeth as I watch each layer removed from her body like onion peels.

Brown skin burns in the soft light and I desperately want to squeeze it between my fingers, feel its texture and warmth. But I stay my course. A gentle breeze lifts the cheap chintz curtains, exposing the street lights and dismal rain sloshing down the streets below. The air is a welcome break from the incense and heady perfume permeating every inch of this tiny room that she and I share. Our breath is mixed in these close quarters, almost tasting each other in its closeness.

Fingers test their boundaries as she snakes herself over my inert body, hoping for a response that will never come. What I want will make her scream – the kind of scream that sends nosy neighbours running and crying into their phones; the kind of scream that makes my skin crawl in delight and sends shivers down my spine. I lick my lips in anticipation. It’s time.

Her flexing muscles gyrate against my lap, working sweat through her armpits and at her temples. She’s ugly when she tries so hard. I snap her pretty little head with a flick before she can cry out. It’s a pity really. Such a waste of that gorgeous skin. Maybe I could take some and keep it for later? Yes. Waste not want not, and all that. Her muscles are still flexing as life flows out of her body. I mount her, feeling the power seep through my skinny body. Eyes once so bold now glaze over in a steady exchange with mine as I tilt my head left to right, a bird sitting on its prey.

Cigarette smoke slithers up the curtains and dances to the rain drops outside. My keepsake is carefully packed away in my briefcase and she is dressed in her best for her discovery later tonight or maybe tomorrow morning. I linger. It’s just that she’s so damn beautiful lying there in her dressing gown with her fingernails painted with matching toes. Those wayward locks are framing her face, exposing fine cheekbones I hadn’t noticed before. The light certainly gives her a mysterious flavour and I can’t resist kissing those luscious pink lips one more time.

With a sigh, I take one last look at the studio flat. The breeze has died down and the rain is no longer beating out its tender pulse. My exit will be observed at this late hour. Risks have to be taken by any doctor visiting his patient after hours. After all, isn’t this part of the service? I can feel my lips sticking to my teeth again so I blow out my cheeks as my gloved fingers trail down her fantastic body. Yes. I must go.

Until my next appointment, I shall have her to enjoy in my thoughts and in my fridge.

 

Review of The Iron Pendulum

An exciting new review of TIP showcasing the reader’s opinion on the crime thriller.

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning
ByWilma Lettingson 18 June 2017
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
A stunning thriller full of suspense and susprises. The opening scene sets up a great sense of intrigue as we discover along with the detetcives a very strange crime scene. Soon, another crime scene is discovered, this one even more bizarre and puzzling. You simply can’t help wondering what has happened and will want to know where the story is going. There are two people missing. We learn a little later on where the missing people are, while the detectives are still in the unknown. It’s hard to describe this thriller further without risking giving anything away.
It’s high octane, fast paced, well plotted and definitely a worthy challenge for those eager to figure a novel out before the debouement. A treat for crime fiction fans.

If this has sent your crime taste buds into a frenzy, click below to get your copy:

Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000038_00060]

 

Review of The Iron Pendulum

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent thriller, June 18, 2017
This review is from: The Iron Pendulum (Kindle Edition)
A stunning thriller full of suspense and susprises. The opening scene sets up a great sense of intrigue as we discover along with the detetcives a very strange crime scene. Soon, another crime scene is discovered, this one even more bizarre and puzzling. You simply can’t help wondering what has happened and will want to know where the story is going. There are two people missing. We learn a little later on where the missing people are, while the detectives are still in the unknown. It’s hard to describe this thriller further without risking giving anything away.
It’s high octane, fast paced, well plotted and definitely a worthy challenge for those eager to figure a novel out before the debouement. A treat for crime fiction fans.

Review: The Iron Pendulum

My editor, Lance Mitchell, wrote a lovely review for The Iron Pendulum.
Here is what he had to say:

Write to Inspire

The Iron Pendulum
The Iron Pendulum by Eloise De Sousa

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Declaration of interest: I am the editor of this book.

The author is already well known for her superb children’s stories and for a previous thriller, Deception. I was delighted to be invited to beta-read and edit her latest book.

It captured me from the first paragraph. I warn you that it is a fairly gruesome tale with lots of blood and flesh [literally] hanging around. The main story is interwoven with a lot of intrigue and a share of puzzles for the detectives and the reader to work out. I am sure that you, like me, will go off down several wrong tracks as you try to solve the mysteries.

What I particularly liked was the way that the characters of the rather strange family members and the detectives are built into the main story…

View original post 62 more words

The Pink Mask

Taster:

Crystal quivered as another sob escaped her swollen lips. How could such a simple plan go so wrong?  She had followed her sister’s commands to the letter.  Yet, somehow, somewhere along the line, what was supposed to be a silly prank had become real.  Her sister was dead.  Tangled, wild hair fell unchecked across her face as she turned to watch the paramedics load Harold’s unconscious body into the back of an awaiting ambulance.

She sighed.  All this for revenge.  Had she had the nerve, she would have stopped her sister in time; hindsight was a beautiful thing. After giving her statement to the police, she would be free to go, whereas poor Harold would be arrested for Melanie’s murder.  Crystal gulped down a nervous giggle.  Well, from another perspective, Melanie plan had worked!

With the body of her sister wrapped in black and tucked away in the back of another ambulance, the sirens wailed their despair as they pulled away from the crime scene.

The body of Melanie Kent wrapped in black, most becoming for any beautiful corpse, mused Crystal.  The heavy footfall of a very large man dressed in a heavy trenchcoat caught her attention.  His determined walk in her direction wiped the lingering smile off her pretty face.

“Detective Bob Jones, miss. I’d like to ask you a few questions about what occurred tonight.”  Heavy brows and the hooded, focused stare scared her. She wrapped the patchwork blanket tighter around her body.

“I already answered the officer’s questions detective.  What more do you want from me?”

Jones watched her. She was as slinky as a cat’s tail, curling her feline body into a protective stance at his scrutiny.

“Do you know the woman who was found in the bathtub?”

“N-no detective. As I told Officer Campbell, Harold and I were in the bedroom.  I got up to go freshen up and found her there. I tried to pull her out but…” A lonely tear wet her cheek. “The blood.  It was too much and my mind snapped. I screamed. Harold, he tried to help me but I knocked him aside and ran.” Her hand quivered as she cleared stray strands of hair from her eyes. “The next thing I remember is being wrapped up in this blanket and the police arriving.”

The detective watched Crystal picking at the blanket, as though trying to remove the lies woven within. He sighed. Life would be so simple if people told the truth the first time round.

Tapestry of a Killer

That beautiful moment when your serial killer finds a reason for being! I’ve been pandering with the idea of poison, but due to the common occurrence of poisons as a medium for murder, I’ve decided to change things up a bit. 

Given the nature of my killer and realising the catalyst needed to activate his natural instincts, I have a clearer direction as to why he creates mayhem in Bagley town. My two detectives have their work cut out for them once he goes on a rampage and what could have been a clean cut case of suicide turns into  a bigger mess.

Looking at the behavioural patterns of certain individuals and the stimulus pushing them to violence gives a model for my character to morph into and perform the dastardly tasks that normal functioning humans could never achieve. 

Perspective can be frightening when it comes to cold blooded killers. I do hope I can capture the essence whilst throwing breadcrumbs through the story for my detectives to find.

Catch up with Detectives Perkins and Jones in The Iron Pendulum. Click on the pic to download your copy. 

The Iron Pendulum

Book Tuesday

Before He Sees (A Mackenzie White Mystery-Book 2) by [Pierce, Blake]Hello, welcome to Book Tuesday.

This week I have read a rather interesting crime thriller called Before He Sees (A Mackenzie White Mystery – book 2) by Blake Pierce.

Mackenzie White is young police detective pulled from the backwaters of Nebraska and recruited to Quantico as an FBI rookie agent. Already a promising student, she is chosen to assist in a series of murders that have the FBI chasing their tales. The pressure to prove just how good she is mounts as another body is found and the powers that be who have given her the opportunity have set a deadline for her to solve the case or lose her job and career as an agent. Flashbacks of Mackenzie’s own troubled past mixed with previous experience from solving the Scarecrow Killer murders, which bear a similarity to the case she is helping solve, puts her in a precarious position. With no-one to turn to or share the burden of responsibility, she is pushed beyond her limits, testing her capabilities as a true detective and agent.

When she is pulled off the case and returned to the status of rookie agent, her own perseverance in cracking the case pushes the powers that be to give her a second chance, but their own stubborn arrogance forces her to take drastic measures which put her in danger.

This was a great thriller and I enjoyed the momentum of riding along with the main character as she pushed her way through a world of dominant characters bent on proving they are right! Though the end was predictable, I still enjoyed the thrill of the story unfolding and would recommend this book to readers who want a light crime thriller.

There are two more books in the Mackenzie White series and I look forward to reading them. If you would like to read Before He Sees, click on the pic below to order your copy.

As always, please leave a review for the author. It’s a great way for other readers to gauge the books. Thanks.

before-he-sees

If you would like to read one of my crime thrillers, please click on the pics below to download your copy.

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deception cover
Click here to order your copy.

Notes on murder

Whilst surfing the net, searching for interesting ways to kill people for the next book in my crime series, I stopped to wonder at what the new laws covering people’s search history would throw up for those writers who dabble in murder.

Today, I was investigating the merits of using a muscular relaxant to mix in with insulin for terminal effects.

NIMBEX (cisatracurium besylate) is a nondepolarizing skeletal muscle relaxant for intravenous administration.

Of course, my character would have to be a doctor to administer such medicines and the research required for said profession with access to the required meds was quite interesting. It drew my attention to the many cases of murder using insulin. As a person who has friends and family with diabetes, it was an interesting subject to investigate, whereas from my writer’s point of view, it gave me very poor traction as a murder weapon. Not many adults die from insulin overdoses given to them by murderers, mainly because the side effects show up pretty fast and can be actioned by the victim before it’s too late. The long term side effects of brain damage opened up options on killing the victims in a different setting, adding tension to the story. So, to restrain said victim in the first place after administering the insulin,a muscular sedative seemed like a good option and something different to throw into the mix.

Oh, the things we think of as writers. Makes my real life seem rather mundane in comparison!

 

 

 

 

 

THE IRON PENDULUM

Extra! Extra! Read all about it…

The Iron Pendulum is now available.

https://read.amazon.co.uk/kp/card?asin=B01HYFLBII&asin=B01HYFLBII&preview=inline&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_w0lJxbCYNKAXR

Here’s a quick synopsis:

Julia Webster and Hugo del Fuego are missing from their third floor apartment in Bagley. The grisly display discovered in their home leaves Detectives Perkins and Jones with little evidence to follow and, as more remains turn up, the pressure mounts to find the killer.  Time is the key element in solving a case riddled with dead ends and a strange family hiding its true evil behind the façade of money and power.

Can they unravel the secrets hidden behind the closed doors and will it be enough to solve the case and rescue the couple in time?

The Iron Pendulum is currently available from lulu and on Amazon with all my other titles.

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Click here to order your copy

Download your copy and don’t forget to leave to a review!