Thrilled to be taking part in the blog tour for Deep Dark Night by Steph Broadribb. Lori Anderson is one of my favourite characters in the crime genre. Thank you to Karen Sullivan and Anne Cater for inviting me to take part.

 

The Blurb

Fearless Florida bounty-hunter Lori Anderson travels to Chicago to trap the head of a notorious crime family, in a high-stakes, nail-biting mission that sees her trapped in one of the city’s tallest buildings during a blackout…

A city in darkness. A building in lockdown. A score that can only be settled in blood…

Working off the books for FBI Special Agent Alex Monroe, Florida bounty-hunter Lori Anderson and her partner, JT, head to Chicago. Their mission: to entrap the head of the Cabressa crime family. The bait: a priceless chess set that Cabressa is determined to add to his collection.

An exclusive high-stakes poker game is arranged in the penthouse suite of one of the city’s tallest buildings, with Lori holding the cards in an agreed arrangement to hand over the pieces, one by one. But, as night falls and the game plays out, stakes rise and tempers flare.

When a power failure plunges the city into darkness, the building goes into lockdown. But this isn’t an ordinary blackout, and the men around the poker table aren’t all who they say they are. Hostages are taken, old scores resurface and the players start to die.

And that’s just the beginning…

My Review

I’ve been eagerly awaiting this book since the end of Deep Blue Trouble (no.2 in the series) when Lori was given the gold chess piece. Steph Broadribb has kept me on tenterhooks but it’s been worth the wait.

This is quite a different book from the rest. Instead of the action being spread over a few days, most of this takes place in one night. And what a night! This is one of the best locked room mysteries I’ve ever read. It touches on many different fears – complete darkness, claustrophobia and a lack of air. And that’s before we add in knives, tasers and guns! Not once does the tension drop. Just as Lori gets over one obstacle, there’s another right behind it.

The story flicks between Lori and JT and I loved having JT’s perspective on the situation. This novel really cements them as a couple and their love and concern for each other and their daughter, Dakota, comes across well. Lori is no longer alone.

I don’t want to tell you any more about the plot because the blurb sums it up beautifully and I have no intention of giving spoilers. I thought Steph Broadribb’s last book, Deep Dirty Truth, was her best so far but Deep Dark Night eclipses it. A rollercoaster thriller played out in the shadows, not knowing where the next threat will come from. Truly magnificent.

You can buy Deep Dark Night here or look out for it in your local Asda or Tesco.

 

The Author

Steph Broadribb was born in Birmingham and grew up in Buckinghamshire.
Most of her working life has been spent between the UK and USA. As her alter ego – Crime Thriller Girl – she indulges in her love of all things crime fiction by blogging at crimethrillergirl.com, where she interviews authors and reviews the latest releases. She is also a member of the crime-themed girl band The Splice Girls. Steph is an alumni of the MA Creative Writing (Crime Fiction) at City University London, and she trained as a bounty hunter in California, which inspired her Lori Anderson thrillers, She lives in Buckinghamshire surrounded by horses, cows and chickens. Her debut thriller, Deep Down Dead, was shortlisted for the Dead Good Reader Awards in two categories, and hit number one on the UK and AU kindle charts. My Little Eye, her first novel under her pseudonym, Stephanie Marland was published by Trapeze Books in April 2018.