‘Even perfect families have secrets . . .’
I am thrilled to bring you all my review of No Turning Back, the latest novel in the Cat Connolly series from Sam Blake.
Just released with Bonnier Zaffre Publishing, Sam Blake takes the reader on a heart-pounding race against time and a journey into the world of the Dark Web. An excellent follow up to the previous two books in the series.
Please do read on for my review……
About the Book:
Orla and Conor Quinn are the perfect power couple: smart, successful and glamorous. But then the unthinkable happens. Their only son, Tom, is the victim of a deliberate hit-and-run.
Detective Garda Cathy Connolly has just left Tom’s parents when she is called to the discovery of another body, this time in Dillon’s Park, not far from where Tom Quinn was found. What led shy student Lauren O’Reilly to apparently take her own life? She was a friend of Tom’s and they both died on the same night – are their deaths connected and if so, how?
As Cathy delves deeper, she uncovers links to the Dark Web and a catalogue of cold cases, realising that those involved each have their own reasons for hiding things from the police. But events are about to get a lot more frightening . . .
My Review:
I have read, reviewed and thoroughly enjoyed the two previous books in the Cathy Connolly series, Little Bones and In Deep Water, so I was thrilled to pick up a copy of No Turning Back, the latest addition to this exciting thriller series.
Cat Connolly is a kick-boxing champion and a Detective Garda officer. A pure professional at everything she does, Cat takes her kick-boxing training very seriously, in the gym at the dawn and dusky hours of the day, as she trains hard in preparation for the forthcoming National Championship competition.
Cat is also studying for her Masters and is intent on a position as a Profiler within the force, a job she has had her eye on for quite some time. Cat studies extremely hard, but unfortunately her ambitions are thwarted when she is informed by her colleague (and dare I say love interest!!), her boss, O’ Rourke, that she did not get the profiling role. Disgusted, upset and angry, Cat is frustrated as her future dissolves in front of her, but Cat isn’t allowed to wallow for long as the discovery of a body, following a suspected hit-and-run, is soon known to be that of Tom Quinn, the only son of power-house couple Orla and Conor Quinn.
Cat is on the scene, as evidence is gathered in the immediate aftermath of the incident, evidence that immediately throws up suspicions of it ever being an accident.
And things are about to get even more complicated, when the body of student, Lauren O’ Reilly, is found nearby under equally suspicious circumstances.
Cat and her colleagues soon discover that both Lauren and Tom were students in Trinity College together and were friends. A coincidence??
Sam Blake has masterfully crafted the art of suspense in No Turning Back. With a very informative insight into the fascinating world of the Dark Web, paranoia began to set in! How safe are we really online? Who is watching us? Who is tracking our online footprint? Scary practices are investigated throughout the book, where technology is behind some very terrifying and alarming acts.
In writing this novel, Sam Blake ensured that all procedural technicalities were accurate and precise, making No Turning Back a very authentic and believable read. It is a very up-to-the-minute novel, featuring terrorism and the internet, and portraying how terrifying the world can really be.
Cat Connolly’s character is fabulous. I’ve been a fan of hers from the get-go. Her strength and determination to succeed is so admirable, yet there is also a very human side to Cat. Her relationship with her boss, colleague, confidante and friend, O’ Rourke, has a very tender side to it. Their lives are complicated and we never really get to see the full story behind O’ Rourke. As a reader, it’s almost frustrating watching the ‘will-they-won’t-they’ moments, but understandable at the same time. The Cat Connolly Series is not a romance. The snippets we see between O’ Rourke and Cat are enough for us to use our imaginations and have a little hope for a future for the two of them.
No Turning Back takes the reader on a global journey where the world wide web has no boundaries. We travel to France, London and the US where we witness the cross-policing of the different agencies and we are exposed to the evilness that lurks in the dark, dark world of the web. There are two victims in this story, whose deaths need to be explained and Sam Blake wraps it all up in a very neat package with this fast-paced page-turner that grabs your undivided attention from the very first page.
Exciting. Breathtaking. Thrilling.
More please Sam Blake 😉
Purchase Link ~ No Turning Back
Bio:
Sam Blake is a pseudonym for Vanessa Fox O’Loughlin, the founder of The Inkwell Group publishing consultancy and the hugely popular national writing resources website Writing.ie.
She is Ireland’s leading literary scout and has assisted many award winning and bestselling authors to publication. Vanessa has been writing fiction since her husband set sail across the Atlantic for eight weeks and she had an idea for a book.
You can find out more about Sam Blake at Sam Blake Books and @samblakebooks
To find out more about Vanessa you can check out writing.ie and The Inkwell Group and on Twitter
The Inkwell Group ~ @inkwellHQ
writing.ie ~ @writing_ie
Great review Mairead, I really need to catch up with this series. I enjoyed Little Bones and I have In Deep Water to read. Thanks for this, I’ll add it to my list x
Thanks Jill. I really do love this series. Accessible to all. Great stories. Hope you get the opportunity to catch up xx