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The Orphan Factory by James and Lance Morcan

Description from Goodreads:

"An epic, atmospheric story that begins with twenty three genetically superior orphans being groomed to become elite spies in Chicago's Pedemont Orphanage and concludes with a political assassination deep in the Amazon jungle.

The Orphan Factory, a coming-of-age spy thriller novel, is book two in The Orphan Trilogy and a prequel to The Ninth Orphan. Go on another frenetic journey with the ninth-born orphan as he busts out of the clandestine orphanage he knew as home and goes on the run across America.

In the late 1970's, in Chicago, Illinois, the secretive Omega Agency initiates the Pedemont Project - a radical experiment utilizing genetic engineering technologies - to create twenty three orphan babies with the plan to turn them into the world's most effective assassins.

One of the prodigies will rebel: meet Number Nine, an orphan with a mind of his own.

In 1998, when Nine reaches adulthood and graduates with honors from the Pedemont Orphanage, he is already an adept of the deadly espionage arts. Ordered by his Omega masters to assassinate a survivor of the Jonestown tragedy in Guyana's Amazon rainforest, Nine is forced to draw upon all of his advanced training just to stay alive."

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This is the second book in the trilogy, the second that has had me thoroughly engrossed and entertained and the second that I have been fortunate to have been sent to me by the author in return for an honest and unbiased review.

I won’t go into the ins and outs of the story as it is covered in the description but what I will say is that, like The Ninth Orphan, it is excellent. The plot is well thought out, well paced, exciting and thrilling as well as being different to anything else I have read before. I really enjoyed getting to know more about the beginnings of “Nine” and his fellow orphans - the authors provided small glimpses in the first book but this one put the flesh on the bones.

The characters are believable and interesting, some more likeable than others, but overall well developed from start to finish.

I would most definitely recommend this to lovers of espionage, conspiracy theorists or just people who enjoy a flippin’ good read and I look forward to reading the third in the series.

The Doll's House by M. J. Arlidge

Blurb from Goodreads:

"The Doll's House is the new twisting and terrifying thriller in the Detective Inspector Helen Grace series from M.J. Arlidge.

Arlidge is the author of Eeny Meeny and Pop Goes the Weasel, and has been dubbed 'the new Jo Nesbo'.

A young woman wakes up in a cold, dark cellar, with no idea how she got there or who her kidnapper is. So begins her terrible nightmare.

Nearby, the body of another young woman is discovered buried on a remote beach. But the dead girl was never reported missing - her estranged family having received regular texts from her over the years. Someone has been keeping her alive from beyond the grave.

For Detective Inspector Helen Grace it's chilling evidence that she's searching for a monster who is not just twisted but also clever and resourceful - a predator who's killed before.

And as Helen struggles to understand the killer's motivation, she begins to realize that she's in a desperate race against time . . ."

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This is the third book in a series but the first I have read. I think I was at a slight disadvantage not having read the first two but not so much as it spoiled things for me because I was highly entertained by this book.

The story starts off as it means to go on with a terrifying description of a young woman’s realisation that she has not woken up in her own bed after a night out. It continues with the account of an idyllic family trip to the seaside which quickly descends into terror with the discovery of a young woman’s body buried in the beach. Enter the hero of the book, DI Helen Grace, who you quickly realise has her own demons to deal with which, from the glimpses provided by the author, follow on from the two previous books.

The book is written from several perspectives and this all helps to see and understand things from each of the viewpoints of the main characters including the killer, suspects, victim and police officers. The story is written at a great pace, particularly the ending, which keeps you on your toes throughout and, in my case, my fingers swiping my Kindle screen with enthusiasm and reading deep into the night unable to stop. One thing I didn’t like was the bitching and back-stabbing that went on between police officers but, unfortunately, this is probably quite close to real life.

I really enjoyed this and would recommend to anyone who enjoys a fast-paced, thrill from start to finish but I feel it would be better to read the previous novels first as I feel this would add extra dimensions to the overall story.

Thank you to the publisher, Penguin UK - Michael Joseph, and Netgalley for the uncorrected advance proof copy in return for an honest and unbiased review.