Book Review and #BlogTour @OrendaBooks – Blood Red City by Rod Reynolds (3 stars)

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Title: Blood Red City

Author: Rod Reynolds

Published: 11^th of April 2020 – Orenda Books

Format: Kindle Edition – 300 pages

Hello Hello! How are you?

This weekend went by so fast and I can’t believe that today is the last day of June. Where has this year gone?

This is the 3^rd month in a row that I’ve taken part in blog tours for Orenda Books and I’ve been having such a fun time so far. They’ve really pushed me out of comfort zone and I’ve discovered some new genres and subgenres that I had never tried before! Keep reading for my thoughts on Blood Red City by Rod Reynolds.

GOODREADS SYNOPSIS

A witness with no victim. A crime with no crime scene…

When crusading journalist Lydia Wright is sent a video of an apparent murder on a London train, she thinks she’s found the story to revive her career. But she can’t find a victim, much less the killers, and the only witness has disappeared. Wary she’s fallen for fake news, she begins to doubt her instincts – until a sinister call suggests that she’s not the only one interested in the crime.

Michael Stringer deals in information – and doesn’t care which side of the law he finds himself on. But the murder on the train has left him exposed, and now he’ll stop at nothing to discover what Lydia knows. When their paths collide, Lydia finds the story leads through a nightmare world, where money, power and politics intersect … and information is the only thing more dangerous than a bullet.

A nerve-shattering and brutally realistic thriller, Blood Red City bursts with energy and grit from the opening page, twisting and feinting to a superb, unexpected ending that will leave you breathless.

MY REVIEW

Blood Red City by Rod Reynolds is a Noir Mystery in which we follow the subsequent narratives of Lydia Wright, a journalist who has been downgraded to showbiz and works nights, and Michael Stringer, someone working for the top guys and dealing in information to blackmail other top guys.

I think this is my first time reading a Noir Mystery, and I have to say that I found it really quite different to other mystery novels I’ve read in the past. This book was really interesting but quite technical for me actually, with a lot of politics and money/law talk that I didn’t really understand or have much interest in, unfortunately. The synopsis really pulled me in, I love anything crime and the element of a crime without a body was really intriguing to me.

Lydia and Michael were really interesting characters, I don’t think I can talk much about any other characters in this book because they all come into the story and have their own intricate reasons for being there, so I don’t want to give anything away. I’m rather sceptical of books with journalists because we all know that they are mostly only in it for the story and a lot don’t care about the fallout, but Lydia seemed really different to me. She was following a story on money laundering and put a foot wrong, her bosses pushed her off the case. She is now working nights in the showbiz department writing meaningless stories about celebrities until she gets an email that she can’t ignore.

Michael’s character was really cryptic, to begin with, I didn’t really know where the author was going with him, I didn’t know what side he was on or what would come of his part in the book, but in the end, I quite enjoyed how both these characters were important separately, but also together.

I was expecting this book to be more of an actual look at the crime instead of other leads around it, why it happened, the consequences and the fallout, it was a really interesting take on the whole plot but just fell short in my expectations. I’m a bit picky with my mysteries and only really enjoy a certain type of mystery book, but I did enjoy this one and enjoyed the different reading experience.

MY THOUGHTS AND RATING

Overall, I did enjoy this book, and it was interesting, the characters were all really believable and the writing style was really fluid. I enjoyed this book but it just wasn’t exactly my cup of tea as I prefer more of an investigative (police, detectives, coroners, etc) take on the crime instead of the one which was taken here.

I gave this book 3 stars, it’s a great book that I know loads of other readers will really enjoy, and I’m glad I got a chance to read it and experience a Noir. If you like mysteries with more of a focus on big crime, money laundering, journalism, private eyes, corruption and politics, I would recommend, I think you would really enjoy it.

Thank you so much to Karen from Orenda Books and to Rod for letting me take part in this tour and for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

That’s all for now, I hope you enjoyed this post and will consider picking up this book if it sounds like something you would enjoy, see you soon, stay safe,

Ellie xx

ABOUT THE AUTHOR – ROD REYNOLDS

Rod Reynolds is the author of four novels, including the Charlie Yates series. His 2015 debut, The Dark Inside¸ was longlisted for the CWA New Blood Dagger and was followed by Black Night Falling (2016), and Cold Desert Sky (2018). The Guardian has called the books “Pitch-perfect American Noir.”

A lifelong Londoner, in 2020, Orenda Books will publish his first novel set in his hometown, Blood Red City. Rod previously worked in advertising as a media buyer, and hold an MA in novel writing from City University London. Rod lives with his wife and family and spends most of his time trying to keep up with his two young daughters.

If you would like to purchase this book, you can find it here: Amazon UK (affiliate link) – Amazon FR (affiliate link) – The Book Depository (affiliate link) – Audible FR (affiliate link) – Amazon US – Waterstones – Barnes and Noble – Audible UK – Kobo