I’m thrilled to welcome you today to my stop on the blog tour for outstanding thriller The Acapulco, latest book in the fantastic Chastity Riley series by Simone Buchholz, with translation by Rachel Ward. Thank you to Anne Cater and Orenda Books for giving me the opportunity to read and review this wonderful book, which is quite possibly my favourite one yet.
About the book:
State Prosecutor Chastity Riley faces her most challenging case yet, with a violent serial killer at large, who might just be uncatchable…
A serial killer is on the loose in Hamburg, targeting dancers from The Acapulco, a club in the city’s red-light district, taking their scalps as gruesome trophies and replacing them with plastic wigs.
Chastity Riley is the state prosecutor responsible for crimes in the district, and she’s working alongside the police as they investigate. Can she get inside the mind of the killer?
Her strength is thinking like a criminal; her weaknesses are pubs, bars and destructive relationships, but as Chastity searches for love and a flamboyant killer – battling her demons and the dark, foggy Hamburg weather – she hits dead end after dead end.
As panic sets in and the death toll rises, it becomes increasingly clear that it may already be too late. For everyone…
About the author:
Simone Buchholz was born in Hanau in 1972. At university, she studied Philosophy and Literature, worked as a waitress and a columnist, and trained to be a journalist at the prestigious Henri-Nannen-School in Hamburg.
In 2016, Simone Buchholz was awarded the Crime Cologne Award as well as runner-up in the German Crime Fiction Prize for Blue Night, which was number one on the KrimiZEIT Best of Crime List for months. The critically acclaimed Beton Rouge, Mexico Street, Hotel Cartagena and River Clyde all followed in the Chastity Riley series, with The Acapulco out in 2023.
She lives in Sankt Pauli, in the heart of Hamburg, with her husband and son.
The Acapulco is translated from German by Rachel Ward.
Rachel Ward is a freelance translator of literary and creative texts from German and French to English. Having always been an avid reader and enjoyed word games and puzzles, she discovered a flair for languages at school and went on to study modern languages at the University of East Anglia. She spent the third year working as a language assistant at two grammar schools in Saaebrücken, Germany. During her final year, she realised that she wanted to put these skills and passions to use professionally and applied for UEA’s MA in Literary Translation, which she completed in 2002. Her published translations include Traitor by Gudrun Pausewang and Red Rage by Brigitte Blobel, and she is a Member of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting.
Follow Rachel on Twitter @FwdTranslations, on her blog http://www.adiscounttickettoeverywhere.wordpress.com and on her website http://www.forwardtranslations.co.uk
My Review:
The Acapulco is the latest book in the brilliant Chastity Riley series by Simone Buchholz. Skillfully translated as always by Rachel Ward, The Acapulco sees a very different Chastity to the one we last saw at the end of River Clyde. Here, we go back in time to a younger, fresher and, dare I say, slightly softer Chastity to the one we’re used to. We get to see some of what shaped her into becoming the Chastity we know and love later in the series, as it begins to give us a deeper understanding of the character and exactly what it is that makes her tick.
Chastity Riley is the state prosecutor responsible for crimes in the red light district of Hamburg. So when a serial killer begins to target dancers from a club called The Acapulco, Chastity faces her most challenging case yet as she works alongside the police as they begin their investigation. Will she be able to get inside the mind of a killer? Or is it already too late? For everyone…
The Acapulco is an often gruesome, tense and emotive thriller that keeps you on your toes throughout. I love Simone Buchholz’s writing. It’s as rich and powerful as ever as Hamburg is brought vividly to life, the atmosphere palpable as the story begins to gain pace. Chastity Riley is a fantastic character and, although somewhat different to how we’re used to seeing her, her strong determination, personal demons and underlying grittiness are all there, as is her softer, more vulnerable side that she tries to keep hidden.
The Acapulco is a dark and brutal thriller that is quite possibly my favourite book of the series so far. Simone Buchholz’s writing is as top notch as always, drawing you in and keeping you reading right up until the final page has been turned. With strong characters and an emotional and addictive storyline, this is a book that I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend.
A simply outstanding read!
The Acapulco by Simone Buchholz is available to buy now:
Cal Turner Reviews 
Thanks for the blog tour support x
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