Blog Tour - Want You Gone by Chris Brookmyre

I first met Chris Brookmyre twelve months ago at Chiplitfest, when I am unsure if his worried and vacant look was relating to my questions about his social media presence and use of blog tours t promote his latest book or if he was still looking for the answers to Saturday nights main event of Chipping Norton Literary Festival, Mark Billingham's Saturday Chiplit Quiz where the infamous picture and music rounds always leave people dumbfounded as they try and decide just who that famous author is or which author also has a secret profession as a song writer or singer. Chris was unsure what a blog tour was or how to organise one so I was really pleased when Grace Vincent, Little, Brown Book Group's Publicity Manager invited me to take part to celebrate the publication of Want You Gone, Chris' latest release.

What if all your secrets were put online? Sam Morpeth is growing up way too fast, left to fend for a younger sister with learning difficulties when their mother goes to prison and watching her dreams of university evaporate. But Sam learns what it is to be truly powerless when a stranger begins to blackmail her online, drawing her into a trap she may not escape alive. Who would you turn to? Meanwhile, reporter Jack Parlabane has finally got his career back on track, but his success has left him indebted to a volatile source on the wrong side of the law. Now that debt is being called in, and it could cost him everything. What would you be capable of? Thrown together by a mutual enemy, Sam and Jack are about to discover they have more in common than they realise - and might be each other's only hope.

Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
ISBN: 9781408707173

Want You Gone is from the popular Jack Parlabane series, although if this is the first book you have read by Chris, it is a great introduction to Jack and his world. However if you have read and enjoyed the previous two novels I believe that you will enjoy this book as Chris grows in confidence and his writing style matures as he reintroduces characters from earlier novels back into his story. 

I was filling out a survey earlier today which was about another crime writer and one of the questions was about if the writing, plot line, characters and story were relateble and as I was thinking about it I realised that that perfectly describes Chris Brookmyre's books. There are many moments within the book that could happen to the reader or to their friends and family - one moment that springs to mind is after a burglary, during which a television is stolen and within the family, a little girl with additional needs has a moment because she can't watch her DVD's during her daytime routine - how many writers would include such a well thought out detail in their books? Chris Brookmyre has and it describes the situation perfectly and I really felt for the little girl and her family, victims of crime have to deal with so much and this is one of those effects that no one thinks about, unless they have a child with additional needs. 

There are computer hackers and financial fraud but also, on the other side, the benefits system and how it can go wrong as the reality of living within this system hits those hardest. I really liked the partnership and interaction between Jack and Samantha and the rollercoaster that they ride throughout this book is one that I wouldn't like to try but they are fantastic characters and I loved following them as the twists and turns are throughout and leave you on tenterhooks to the very last page.

I really did enjoy this book and I hope that my blog readers will give Chris Brookmyre a try. I hope that Chris enjoyed visiting my blog today and has enjoyed the blog tour experience.

Thank you to the publishers, for inviting me to take part in the blog tour in return for an honest review of the book.