Review: ‘Frankie’, by James Essinger and Sandra Koutzenko

Frankie: The Woman Who Saved Millions from Thalidomide

Thalidomide: patented in Germany as a non-toxic cure-all for sleeplessness and morning sickness. A wonder drug with no side-effects.

We know differently now.

Today, thalidomide is a byword for tragedy and drug reform – a sign of what happens when things aren’t done ‘the right way’. But when it was released in the 1950s, it was the best thing since penicillin – something that doctors were encouraged to prescribe to all of their patients. Nobody could anticipate what it actually did: induce sleeping, prevent morning sickness, and drastically harm unborn children.

But, whilst thalidomide rampaged and ravaged throughout most of the West, it never reached the United States. It landed on the desk of Dr Frances Kelsey, and there it stayed as she battled hierarchy, patriarchy, and the Establishment in an effort to prove that it was dangerous. Frankie is her story.

Purchase Links

https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/publication/frankie/9780750991919/

Blog tour calendar: ‘Died and Gone to Devon’, by T. P. Fielden

I love a Miss Dimont mystery. I have the first two in paperback, but this one is an ebook so I’m having a bit of trouble getting through it. I will though, and then you’ll be able to read my review.

Extract: ‘Demon’s Fire’, by Lee Cockburn

**Information about the Book**

**Title:** Demon’s Fire (The DS Taylor Nicks and DC Marcus Black Series #3)
**Author:** Lee Cockburn
**Release Date:** 7^th November 2019
**Genre:** Thriller
**Page Count:** 322
**Publisher:** Clink Street Publishing
**Goodreads Link:** https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48350666-demon-s-fire
**Amazon Link:** https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07Y8P3CL2

Summary:

Demon’s Fire is the third instalment in the crime thriller series featuring DS Taylor Nicks and DC Marcus Black.

The City had barely settled back to normal when the sky turned orange as flames licked upwards and smoke billowed out from a quiet industrial estate in Edinburgh.

Blood-curdling screams of those trapped within were muffled by the sound-proofed room as the women climbed desperately over one another to try and escape, their efforts futile against their prison walls, their captors slain where they sat, bullet holes in their heads.

Human trafficking, prostitution, drug dealing, kidnapping, violence and murder hidden in plain sight in Edinburgh City Centre.

Drug dealer Burnett’s grip on the city has no limits, and he will stop at nothing to ensure that remains the case.

Nicks and Black struggle to secure evidence against him within the confines of the law, but an enemy of Burnett, hell-bent on revenge, doesn’t have to play by their rules.

A thrilling story of crime and retribution, good versus evil, Demon’s Fire will have you on the edge of your seat as the tentacles of despair take hold of your emotions.

Hearts are broken and others mended as the tale gathers momentum, the lives of the officers forever entwined by fate.

Blog Tour Calendar: ‘Demon’s Fire’, by Lee Cockburn

Cover Reveal: ‘I Can See The Lights’, by Russ Litten

Blurb

The prose poems in I Can See The Lights are earthy and raw, but also incredibly sensitive. It’s pretty much guaranteed that more than one of them will bring you to tears. Characters are vividly brought to life, and stark but warm environments evoked in a down to earth, yet almost painterly manner by Russ Litten’s uncompromising voice.

Tales of home, of un-belonging, of strife at sea – of a northern city’s beating heart. Told in a mesmeric, stripped-down tone, this collection is a work of genius.

Blog Tour Calendar: ‘Blue Gold’, by David Barker #LoveBooksGroup

Promo Post: ‘Stand Against Injustice’, by Michelle Diskin Bates #LoveBooksTours

Blurb

On April 26, 1999, BBC TV presenter Jill Dando was murdered outside her home in London. Barry George was convicted and imprisoned for the murder but was later acquitted after an appeal and retrial. Stand Against Injustice is the powerful memoir of the sister of Barry George. For the first time, Michelle Diskin Bates tells her story, the human side and truth behind one of recent history’s most high profile and damaging miscarriages of justice whose life is inextricably interwoven in the drama, the trauma, the conspiracy and the fight for justice. A self-confessed ‘ordinary housewife’, Michelle’s voice weaves the personal everyday struggles that bring depth, color, and passion into what is an extraordinary account. A troubled childhood weighted with overbearing responsibility, fear and insecurity, depression, and the challenges of marriage and adult relationships, Michelle’s life has never been easy. However, the one constant in her life – her faith in God – underpins and provides the foundation upon which she now stands – against injustice.

Buy Link https://amzn.to/2pc2i5o

This was going to be a review post, but the book didn’t turn up in time. However, I am going to review the book at a later date.

‘The Lost Ones’ by Anita Frank #Review #HalloweenTakeover #HQ

My Review

Thanks Joe for sending me a copy of this book.

England 1917, and VAD nurse, Stella Marcham is home from the front after the death of her fiancé, Gerald Fitzwilliam. Broken by grief, and feeling trapped at home, she needs a change of scene. As it happens, her sister Madeleine is pregnant and feeling anxious at Greyswick, her husband’s family home, and when Hector, her brother-in-law, asks Stella to visit, she readily accepts.

Stella finds Greyswick to be the gauche house of a nouveau riche family. Dark, over-decorated, staffed only by Cook, Maisie the maid and the glowering Mrs Henge, it is not a happy place. Madeleine is anxious but she won’t say why. Slowly things start to fall into place and Stella starts to experience things she can’t explain.

Unfortunately, the lady of the house refuses to believe them. Hector arrives with an amateur supernatural investigator, Tristan Sheer, to convince the sisters that they’re being hysterical.

With Stella is Annie Burrows, maid and daughter of the man who died trying to rescue the youngest Marcham sister from a fire. Annie is unusual. She can see ghosts. And she knows who is haunting Madeleine and why. A decades old murder is at the root of their problems. So, in parallel with Sheen’s investigation, the women set about solving the murder to end the haunting.

Cover Reveal: ‘The Final Trail’, by AA Abbott #LoveBooksTours

Blurb

Family feuds just got bloodier… A gripping thriller, and a great story of death, revenge and vodka.

To save glamorous Kat White’s life, Ben Halloran killed his gangster father. Now his brother wants to even the score.

The gripping Trail series of British crime thrillers reaches its dramatic conclusion in this compelling page turner.

Continue reading “Cover Reveal: ‘The Final Trail’, by AA Abbott #LoveBooksTours”

Category Archives: Blog tours