I’m pleased to welcome you today to my stop on the blog tour for atmospheric thriller Twist of Fate by D.L. Mark. Thank you to Anne Cater and Aries Fiction for giving me the opportunity to read and review this chilling book.
About the book:
She says he’s a victim. They say he’s a killer.
When an armed man massacres several people in central London, Claudine witnesses the whole thing. To her horror, one of the victims is her brother, Jethro.
Riven by grief, Claudine retreats to the house in the Fens where she and Jethro grew up. When the police contact her, she is left reeling when they tell her Jethro orchestrated the attack.
Why would a gentle, if troubled, middle-aged man cause such bloodshed – and why would he include himself in the list of victims?
Claudine sends herself down a rabbit hole of mystery, caught up in Jethro’s research on a medieval cult. If she can’t solve the riddle in time, more people will die… and the darkness will claim her too.
This twisty, unrelenting thriller is perfect for fans of Ruth Ware, Emma Kavanagh, and Sharon Bolton, using themes of grief to explore how people are never as straightforward as they seem.
About the author:
D.L. Mark spent more than fifteen years as a journalist, including seven years as a crime reporter with the Yorkshire Post. His writing is heavily influenced by the court cases he covered: the defeatist and jaded police officers; the competent and incompetent investigators; the inertia of the justice system and the sheer raw grief of those touched by savagery and tragedy.
He writes the McAvoy series (as David Mark), historical novels and psychological suspense thrillers. Dark Winter was selected for the Harrogate New Blood panel (where he was Reader in Residence) and was a Richard & Judy pick and a Sunday Times bestseller. He has also written for the stage, for a Radio 4 drama (A Marriage of Inconvenience) and has contributed articles and reviews to several national and international publications. He is a regular performer at literary festivals and also teaches creative writing.
Follow D.L. Mark at @davidmarkwriter and http://www.davidmarkwriter.co.uk
Purchase Link:
My Review:
Twist Of Fate by D.L. Mark is an atmospheric and chilling thriller that will keep you guessing as the dark and creepy tale slowly begins to unfold.
The book begins with a horrifying prologue that really does set the tone for what’s to come. We then move forward to the present day in central London and Claudine, who witnesses the horrific massacre of several people by a knife wielding man as he chants words in an unknown language. To her shock and devastation one of the victims is her gentle if troubled brother, Jethro, murdered right in front of her, at her place of work.
Grief stricken, Claudine retreats to the dilapidated house in the Fens where the siblings had grown up and where Jethro had been living. But then the police contact her and she is stunned to learn that they suspect Jethro of being involved in the attack…
Told from the alternate perspectives of Claudine and Billy Dean, the detective investigating the case, Twist Of Fate is an unsettling, dark and complex tale that kept me reading long into the night. Billy is a man with troubles of his own and, I have to admit, one that I went from having sympathy for to loathing with a passion as the story continued. His contempt for Claudine, as uncomfortable as it is to read at times, brings a chilling sense of unease to the proceedings as the tension slowly begins to build.
As someone who enjoyed David Mark’s McAvoy series, I was excited to be given the opportunity to read Twist Of Fate, a standalone novel with a chilling supernatural undertone bubbling beneath the surface. And I’m pleased to say I was not disappointed! There are twists, turns, shocks and surprises along the way as Claudine finds herself caught in the middle of a tangled web of secrets and lies that take her deep inside Jethro’s research of a medieval religious cult. However, nothing could have prepared her for what is about to happen as secrets that have been buried for so many years gradually begin to emerge…
Twist Of Fate isn’t a book that fits into just one genre. Part crime thriller, part supernatural mystery, this is a book that also goes beneath the surface of what it means to be human, exploring themes of grief and sorrow that really do add to the creepy and atmospheric feel of the story.
Claudine is a woman caught in the middle of a nightmare, not knowing what to believe or who to trust as she tries to come to terms with the trauma of what she has witnessed. And then there’s Billy Dean, our second narrator who is the link to the investigation. A character difficult to empathise with, Billy is an angry man with a tendency to take his frustrations out on others. Can Claudine and Billy overcome their differences to get to the truth of what happened that day? Or is the truth even more terrifying than either of them could ever have imagined?
Twist Of Fate is a darkly complex tale with a chilling supernatural element running through it. Beautifully written by D.L Mark, it is a tense and surprising thriller that I would recommend.
Twist Of Fate by D.L. Mark is available to purchase now.
Check out what these other lovely bloggers have to say about this book:
Cal Turner Reviews 
Thanks for the blog tour support x
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