Fiona Cummins

I went into this book with a really high expectation due to the promotional line – A psychopath more frightening than Hannibal Lecter, so I felt a little let down with this book. But Hannibal Lecter aside it is certainly a creepy disturbing read. And the subject matter is fascinating, I learned more about some medical conditions that I knew existed but was ignorant of the workings of the human body.

The serial killer (The Bone Collector) is a well fleshed out character and the workings of show more his mind makes him really interesting, he is a man who has spent his lifetime fascinated by bones and their diseases. Leading two lives, one as carer for his wife who suffers from MS and as a night time cleaner in a hospital and the other as the keeper of his family’s macabre museum. But it is his victims and his collection that are the stars of the show!

Two abducted children and the race to find them was a real page turner. It comes to light that they both have bone deformities. Stone Man Syndrome was a condition I hadn’t been aware of prior to reading this book and it has been fantastically written and incredibly researched. It not only encompassed fear through the mind of a child but also the fear that parents have about losing their child.You could almost feel the tensions developing within the families of the missing children and how all the individual family members were dealing with their emotions, the writing was so good that their emotions had a way of escaping the pages and seeping into your own emotions!

You also get an insight into the strain that having Jakey and the demands his condition has wrought on Lilith and Erdman’s marriage as well as the impact his disappearance has on them. Erdman is trying to survive the pressures of his job and failing and his love for Jakey leads him to try to find the serial killer single-handedly! – Maybe not the best decision of his life but as a parent i know i would do the same!

The ending is a cliff hanger, and this thought provoking finale stays with you long after you’ve turned the last page! Luckily the second book in the series The Collector is out now 🙂 show less

Nooooooo! Whhhhhyyyyyy!

That was an infuriatingly perfect ending to a sensational psychological thriller. This author is now an automatic read for me. I have never been slapped in the face so many times whilst reading a mystery but I dare not say more because I think the less you know the better. The characters are so richly drawn and compelling that I didn't want to stop listening. Such delicious treachery! Loved every word.

Sara and Shannon are sisters who love each other dearly. And thank god for that because their parents are two awful, wicked, and disturbed people.
Brinley is the girls next door neighbour and their good friend. They spend a lot of time together and the three of them find solace in each other’s company.
Late one night, the girls have had enough of their parents abuse, and one of them stabs them to death with a pair of scissors. Brinley happens to bear witness of this and thus their lives are show more forever marked and defined.
Twenty years later, details start to emerge through an interview one of the sisters decides to give.
What follows is a page turning race to the end to find out what really happened that fateful night.
This is one heartbreaking, infuriating, sad and redeeming book that made my hair stand on end almost all the time it took me to read it. Do not miss it! show less

This was my first book by Fiona Cummins and what a twisty little treat it was! We are thrust into a dark story of cruel parents, horrifically abused children, public personas and the ultimate revenge. The shifts in time were brilliantly done. I loved the pacing of the story with the motives behind everyone's actions unfolding in a way that really built up tension. It is so well crafted with shocking truth bombs that force you to rethink your understanding of what has happened again and show more again. Not an easy read but definitely worth it. I'm off to read another book by this amazing author!

CW: stabbing, bloody crime scene, children abused verbally, physically and emotionally, food deprivation show less