Book Review: The Good Samaritan by John Marrs

“She’s a friendly voice on the phone. But can you trust her?”

The Good Samaritan by John Marrs follows End of the Line employee Laura, who offers her callers hope and reassurance that life is worth living. But some are unlucky enough to get through to Laura. Laura doesn’t want them to hope. She wants them to die.

Laura hasn’t had it easy: she’s survived sickness and a difficult marriage only to find herself heading for forty, unsettled and angry. She doesn’t love talking to people worse off than she is. She craves it. But now someone’s on to her, though they have no idea of the desperate lengths Laura will go to. Because the best thing about being a Good Samaritan is that you can get away with murder.

Book Review: The Marriage Act by John Marrs

“What if marriage was the law? Dare you disobey?”

Set to be released on 19th January, The Marriage Act by John Marrs is set in the near future where a right-wing government believes it has the answer to society’s ills – the Sanctity of Marriage Act, which actively encourages marriage as the norm, punishing those who choose to remain single.

But four couples are about to discover just how impossible relationships can be when the government is monitoring every aspect of our personal lives, monitoring every word, every minor disagreement, and will use every tool in its arsenal to ensure everyone will love, honour and obey.

My Top 2022 Releases

Happy New Year!

Let’s start off the new year by discussing our favourite reads of 2022! Here are my top 2022 releases (I will post a separate list of my top reads from previous years tomorrow!):

Book Review: Keep It In The Family by John Marrs

“I WILL SAVE THEM FROM THE ATTIC”

Set to be released on 18th October, Keep It In The Family by John Marrs follows married couple Mia and Finn who are busy turning a derelict house into their dream home when Mia unexpectedly falls pregnant. But just when they think the house is ready, Mia discovers a chilling message scored into a skirting board: I WILL SAVE THEM FROM THE ATTIC. Following the clue up into the eaves, the couple make a gruesome discovery: their dream home was once a house of horrors.

In the wake of their traumatic discovery, the baby arrives and Mia can’t shake her fixation with the monstrous crimes that happened right above them. Haunted by the terrible things she saw and desperate to find answers, her obsession pulls her ever further from her husband. Secrecy shrouds the mystery of the attic, but when shards of a dark truth start to emerge, Mia realises the danger is terrifyingly present. She is prepared to do anything to protect her family — but is it already too late?

Book Review: When You Disappeared by John Marrs

“It was better to remain on my island than drown in somebody else’s sea.”

Originally published in 2013, When You Disappeared by John Marrs follows wife and mother Catherine who wakes up alone one morning. She thinks her husband has gone for a run before work, but Simon never makes it to the office. His running shoes are by the front door. Nothing is missing – except him.

Catherine knows Simon must be in trouble. He wouldn’t just leave her. He wouldn’t leave the children. But Simon knows the truth – about why he left and what he’s done. He knows things about his marriage that it would kill Catherine to find out. The memories she holds onto are lies.

While Catherine faces a dark new reality at home, Simon’s halfway around the world. But he can’t hide forever, and when he reappears twenty-five years later, Catherine will finally learn who he is. And wish she’d stayed in the dark.

Book Review: The Vacation by John Marrs

“How far would you run to escape your past?”

The 2021 re-release of Welcome To Whoever You Are, The Vacation is set on Venice Beach, Los Angeles, where tourists flock to the golden coast and the promise of Hollywood. But for eight strangers at a beachfront hostel, there is far more on their mind than an extended vacation. All of them are running from something. And they all have secrets they’d kill to keep…

Book Review: The Minders by John Marrs

“Everyone has secrets. They know yours…”

The 2020 book from John Marrs, The Minders is set in a near-future world information is king. But computers can be hacked, files can be broken into. So a unique government initiative has been borne. Five ordinary people have been selected to become the latest weapon in thwarting cyber terrorism. A revolutionary medical procedure has turned them into the ultimate secret keepers – the country’s most secretive information has been taken offline and turned into genetic code implanted inside their heads. Together, the five know every secret – the truth behind every Government lie, conspiracy theory and cover-up. Only somebody has discovered who the secret keepers are. And one by one, they are being hunted down…

Book Review: The One by John Marrs

“If you’ve got the opportunity to love someone as much as they love you, then grab it with both hands and hold on to it for dear life.”

John Marrs‘ 2018 book, The One, is set in a future where a simple DNA test is all it takes to find ‘The One’. Just a quick mouth swab and soon you’ll be matched with your perfect partner the one you are genetically made for. That’s the promise made by Match Your DNA. A decade ago, the company announced that they had found the gene that pairs each of us with our soul mate. Since then, millions of people around the world have been matched. But the discovery has its downsides: test results have led to the breakup of countless relationships and upended the traditional ideas of dating, romance and love. Now, five very different people have received the notification that they’ve been “Matched”. They’re each about to meet their one true love. But “happily ever after” isn’t guaranteed for everyone. Because even soul mates have secrets, and some are more shocking than others.

My 2020 Reading Wrap-Up

Over the past couple of years, I have documented every film that I have watched and reviewed them all using Letterboxd. As a way to motivate myself to read more, I thought I would do the same for what books I have been reading, using Goodreads as a way to set myself a reading challenge every year.

I initially set my target as 25 books this year, but a few things happened that meant I reached this goal quite early on. Firstly, I had a baby, so this meant that I was awake at silly hours with plenty of time to read. Then, there was lockdown. Because of lockdown, I decided to join Bookstagram and NetGalley and get more serious about reviewing books. So now, instead of reading two books at most a month, I’ve been reading up to ten.

I upped my goal to 60 around halfway through the year, and still managed to pass that by reaching 74 books. This year has really rekindled my love of books, and I can’t wait to start 2021 with this new passion.

Here’s how my 2020 challenge went:

Book Review: The Passengers by John Marrs

“When people are part of a mob, they stop being individuals, their inhibitions disappear, they don’t follow their normal moral compass… When they’re surrounded by like-minded people, they don’t see themselves as violent individuals, it’s the group that’s responsible for the violence, not them personally.”

Written by John Marrs and published in 2019, The Passengers is set in a dystopian future where self-driving cars are becoming the norm. Soon, all of England’s manual vehicles will be banned as roads will become a completely autonomous network. Some have their concerns, but it’s not until the day that Libby is forced to attend jury duty that the trust in artificial intelligence becomes painstakingly clear, when someone hacks into the systems of eight self-drive cars and sets their passengers on a fatal collision course. The passengers include a TV star, a pregnant young woman, a disabled war hero, an abused wife fleeing her husband, an illegal immigrant, a suicidal man, and a husband and wife who are travelling in separate vehicles. Now, the public has to judge who should survive. But are the passengers all that they first seem?

Book Review: What Lies Between Us by John Marrs

“I thought that having a baby meant that I would always be loved by someone until the day I died. I was wrong. Being a mother is no guarantee of anything.”

What Lies Between Us by John Marrs was published in May 2020. They say every house has its secrets, and the house that Maggie and Nina have shared for so long is no different. Except that these secrets are not buried in the past. Nina can never forgive Maggie for what she did. And she can never let her leave. But there are many things about the past that Nina doesn’t know, and Maggie is going to keep it that way. Because in this house, the truth is more dangerous than lies.