Already a strong contender for ‘top books of 2019’ and it’s only the start of January, that’s how good this book is!

I quite literally read through it in one sitting and that was even re-reading some pages to make sure I had read it right!

It certainly lives up to the title Twisted with some hefty plot twists, to the point on one of them I had to go back a few pages to make sure I hadn’t missed something major, but no, I hadn’t missed anything, it was just a very clever, unexpected change in direction causing me enough wrinkles in my forehead from frowning at the book to need major doses of Botox to iron them out!

The book blurb doesn’t give much away but has an irresistible magnet effect pulling you into it just from just those six lines and the very first page of the book sinks its teeth in even further.

This will be my last book. I won’t write another. The reasons should be clear by the time you come to the end of this story. That’s an interesting word – story. Is this a true story? Is it a memoir? Or fiction?

I can’t say. You may have found this book on the true crime shelf, or in the thriller section of your local bookstore. It doesn’t matter.

Forget about that. There are only two things you need to know:

1. On my specific instructions my publishers have not edited this text. There have been no editorial notes, structural edits or other outside interference. It’s just you and me.

2. From here on in, don’t believe a single word you read.

J. T. LeBeau,

Now if that doesn’t draw you in like a moth to a flame I don’t know what will!

This is a standalone book so no need to have read any of the previous books, you can jump straight in with this one and then go back and read the others which is what I will now be doing and I can safely say I have another new author to add to my favourite pile from this book alone.

I won’t go over the plot as there are plenty of reviews out there already that have done that but my advice would be to go into this book just from what is written on the back cover and that opening page and find out for yourselves what and why everyone will be talking about this book.

Twisted will be published on 24 January 2019 and can be pre ordered now.

A huge thanks to the author Steve Cavanagh, publishers Orion Publishing Group and NetGalley for my copy of this book in exchange for an honest and independent review.

https://debbiesbookreviews.wordpress.com/2019/01/09/twisted-by-steve-cavanagh/ ( )

Very appropriate name - the book was very twisted, as in having lots of twists along the way. In fact, I was tempted to subtract a star because I'm still not sure what really happened in some cases, but the very start of the book warned of that.

Nothing seemed to end up as expected, and a lot of good people died. That was sad, but it's OK because it's fiction - or is it? Hard to know for sure, sometimes. I'd say a lot of it was fairly unbelievable, but then, that was not unexpected.

But I can say for certain that it was hard to put the book down after a while. ( )

Best one of the series in my opinion ( )

Read this and more crime and thriller reviews on CriminOlly.wordpress.com

Who doesn’t love a great twist? ‘Twisted’ is a book that sells itself on the fact that it has great ones. It’s right there in the title and it’s pretty clear that author Steve Cavanagh has spent a lot of time coming up with devious ways to trick and surprise his readers.

The set up is interesting. JT LeBeau is the world’s bestselling crime writer. His work is beloved by millions of fans but nobody knows his real identity. When a woman and her lover discover papers in her husband’s office that suggest he is LeBeau, a mystery kicks off that is filled with as much betrayal and as many twists as the title suggests,

Being a book about a writer, Cavanagh spends some time reflecting on the craft and on what makes a good twist. Reading the book I found myself thinking of truly great twists in novels and movies. Things like ‘Psycho’, ‘Fight Club’, ‘The Crying Game’, ‘The Usual Suspects’, ‘Behind Her Eyes’. It occurred to me that what the twists in those works have in common is that they change your perception of what has gone before. They make the reader or viewer reflect back on the story and characters and replay it with the new knowledge they have gained. That’s a really powerful thing because it makes you obsessively analyse the story. It’s why all the titles I’ve mentioned above are so memorable.

None of the twists in ‘Twisted’ did that for me. They change the direction of the plot, but they didn’t have that kind of revelatory impact. To put it simply, I never had a “whoa!” moment.

The other thing great twists have in common is that you don’t see them coming. You’re so wrapped up in the story that they hit you without warning. Because ‘Twisted’ sells itself on its twists I found myself constantly looking for them, so that when they did come, they weren’t that unexpected. Often, I’d spent so much time thinking about them that I’d already figured out what they were going to be.

The biggest problem though, is that ‘Twisted’ really feels built around the turns in its plot. The characters and events are just there to carry you from one twist to another. As a result, I found myself not caring at all about what happened to the people I was reading about. That is the kiss of death for any book, no matter how good the twists are.

Read more crime and thriller reviews at CriminOlly.wordpress.com ( )

First (and probably last) thriller by Cavanagh that I read. While the writing is deft, and the plot pacey, at no stage did the author allow me to relate to the characters. The idea of the story is very good: successful writer wants to stay anonymous and is prepared to go a long way in order to protect his anonymity.

The real killer is however, the sheer number of twists in the plot, which ultimately clears whatever credibility was left. Twist, twist and twist again. Everything is sacrificed on the altar of twists in the plot. I understand that most good thrillers deliberately omit or withhold information or refocus the reader’s attention to a distracting event, character, or fact. But Cavanagh does it in such a way that one gets irritated. The reader can feel he is being conned deliberately by the narrator in order to prepare for another dramatic twist to the story. Cavanagh overdoes it.

Thriller killed by overdose of twists, could be a good heading for this review. And I stopped two-thirds of the way into the book, because I found it simply not credible that the serial killer did not simply kill the guy instead of paying him 2 million USD per year, to keep his mouth shut. I mean, the guy kills left, right and centre to keep his secret, and once he meets someone who really understands the momentous possibilities of this secret, he does not kill him, but pays him virtually his whole fortune? That can only be credible, if the reader is also interested in another momentous twist. One too many for me… ( )