Spotlight: The Hangman’s Master by Elyse Hoffman (2025)

Blurb

In a world torn by hatred, reckless Stefan Harkel finds himself expelled from home at sixteen and drawn to the Nazi Party’s Brownshirt Unit. But when the Führer turns against his own during the Night of Long Knives, Stefan vows vengeance for those he lost.

Joining an anti-Nazi resistance, Stefan’s thirst for revenge leads him to a supernatural twist: he’s chosen as a warden in Hell, granted a Contract for Zone N-1, home to the soul of Reinhard Heydrich, a key architect of the Holocaust. Yet, he’s not alone in this dark game; a ruthless Nazi seeks to claim the power of the Contracts for himself.

As the fate of Europe hangs in the balance, Stefan must protect his Contract from falling into enemy hands, confronting the ultimate battle between good and evil.

Elyse Hoffman delivers a gripping tale of redemption and resilience in the shadow of World War II.

What The Write Reads Reviewers are Saying

_ForBooksSake gave it 4.5 stars: “Elyse Hoffman is fast becoming one of my favourite historical fiction writers.”

Left on the Shelf says: “The author weaves the present, past and supernatural elements of the books together splendidly”

Marie Sinadjan gave it 5 stars: “I found Stefan to be an incredible protagonist”

Beyond the Books says: “Yes! Again, Elyse Hoffman has excellently crafted a tale that takes your heart and stomps all over it.”

About the Author

Elyse Hoffman is an award-winning author who strives to tell historical tales with new twists. Having studied WWII since the age of thirteen and with interests in fantasy and Jewish folklore, she loves to combine them in her writing. Elyse started writing novels at fourteen and finished her first historical fiction work at fifteen. She has published eight books: five in a series called The Barracks of the Holocaust, and three novels, including The Book of Uriel, Where David Threw Stones, and Fracture. In her spare time, she loves to read, work on pretty keyboards, and hang out with her co-authors – her Goldendoodle Ari and her ex-feral cat, Echo.

Book Info

Genre: Historical Fiction

Age Category: Adult

Number of Pages: 216 Pages

Publication Date: January 10, 2025

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/211974620-the-hangman-s-master Storygraph: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/6fd59b66-9231-4893-989e-d7cbc70767f0

Amazon: https://a.co/d/a6YTSra (Canada) https://a.co/d/4C3JIhU (USA) https://amzn.eu/d/6rujEYi (UK)

Review: Nesting by Roisin O’Donnell (2025)

Blurb

An extraordinary and urgent debut by a prize-winning Irish writer, Nesting introduces an unforgettable new voice in fiction.

On a bright spring afternoon in Dublin, Ciara Fay makes a split-second decision that will change everything. Grabbing an armful of clothes from the washing line, Ciara straps her two young daughters into her car and drives away. Head spinning, all she knows for certain is that home is no longer safe.

This was meant to be an escape. But with dwindling savings, no job, and her family across the sea, Ciara finds herself adrift, facing a broken housing system and the voice of her own demons. As summer passes and winter closes in, she must navigate raising her children in a hotel room, searching for a new home and dealing with her husband Ryan’s relentless campaign to get her to come back. Because leaving is one thing, but staying away is another.

What will it take for Ciara to reinvent her life? Can she ever truly break away from Ryan’s control – and what will be the cost?

Tense, beautiful, and underpinned by an unassailable love, hope and resilience, this is the story of one woman’s bid to start over.

Review

Many thanks to the author for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is a stunning, urgent, important book, and it resonated with me in ways that left me feeling seen, as well as drawing my attention to issues I didn’t know much about, such as the dire housing situation that Ciara faces when she finally leaves Ryan. The tension runs through this book, a taut thread that pulls the reader along with the kind of momentum that makes it a quicker read than a book on such weighty topics might be in less skillful hands. The close, close, CLOSE third person that we experience Ciara’s point of view from is absolutely brilliantly done – it’s that kind of voice that makes you remember the book as a first person narrative even though it’s not – this is a rare and beautiful thing in fiction.

One of the many things the author does so well in this book is to capture the mundanity of motherhood without making it dull to read – I remember reading The Golden State by Lydia Kiesling a few years ago (another excellent novel about a single mother) and being struck by how rare it was to read the sorts of descriptions she provides about the practicalities of parenting – the snacks that need procuring, the noses that need wiping, the putting on of shoes and the endless laundry.

There is something about mothering young children which keeps you urgently anchored in the present moment, and it makes it incredibly hard to think Big Thoughts about the future, or make sensible plans, and I think O’Donnell really captures the struggle that Ciara faces here – ‘starting a new life’ is all very well, but those immediate, pressing needs of her children won’t wait patiently in the wings while she does that. The absolute requirement to hold it all together, to be a rock for the small people when you feel like falling apart, to keep some semblance of normality going for their sake, because they still need snacks, and clean clothes, and entertainment – these moments provided the most poignant scenes of the book for me.

There is a lot here that is bleak, yes, but there is also hope, and it is to be found in the small kindnesses of others. The characters Ciara meets as she seeks shelter for herself and her children are not all benevolent, because life isn’t like that, but there are shining moments that restore our faith in humanity – not in a sentimental way, but in the very real sense of connection that is the touchstone of human experience.

Hope is also found in Ciara’s own strength, which she discovers within herself in a way which resonated beautifully and almost painfully in my chest. It has been a little while since I read this book, and writing this review is bringing the tears back to my eyes – that’s how powerful Roisin O’Donnell’s debut novel is. I think this is a must-read book for many, many reasons, and I defy anyone not to be moved by its beauty and intensity. I can’t wait to see what comes next from this incredibly talented author.

Nesting by Roisin O’Donnell is published by Scribner and is available to purchase here.

Review: Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeny (2025)

Blurb

Author Grady Green is having the worst best day of his life.

Grady calls his wife as she’s driving home to share some exciting news. He hears Abby slam on the brakes, get out of the car, then nothing. When he eventually finds her car by a cliff edge, the headlights are on, the driver door is open, her phone is still there . . . but his wife has disappeared.

A year later, Grady is still overcome with grief and desperate to know what happened to Abby. He can’t sleep, and he can’t write, so he travels to a tiny Scottish island to try to get his life back on track. Then he sees the impossible: a woman who looks exactly like his missing wife.

Wives think their husbands will change, but they don’t.
Husbands think their wives won’t change, but they do.

Review

Many thanks to the publisher and to the lovely Squadpod for my beautiful copy of this book, which I received in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first novel by Alice Feeney, but I had obviously heard a lot of good things, so I went in with high expectations for a twisty, gripping thriller – and wow, does this book deliver! It keeps you guessing the whole time, and gives the reader that deliciously ‘on edge’ feeling that the best examples of this genre provide. The set-up is classic – wife disappears, husband is left unable to find closure because he doesn’t know what really happened – but the way it all plays out feels extremely fresh and original.

I always think it takes a particular confidence on the part of an author to make their protagonist a writer, but with Grady, Feeney shows how well-earned that confidence is, and his narration reflects his profession in his keen eye for detail and his imaginative flights of fancy, which are compounded by his insomnia and his drinking (both alcohol and, later, the mysterious tea the islanders press on him). The point of view doesn’t stay with him all the time, however – we get flashbacks to Alice which provide an alternative perspective on their marriage, and although I can’t go into details of the plot for fear of spoilers, suffice it to say that it thickens up very nicely indeed!

The real star of this book for me, though, is the setting. The island that Grady takes himself off to in his self-imposed exile, the remote Isle of Amberly, is the most glorious place to set a thriller, fulfilling the promise of the brilliant title in its mixture of beauty and danger, idyll and prison. The landscape, climate and buildings are all described so vividly that it feels as if we’re actually there (and I loved the map at the front of the book – I am a sucker for a book with a map!), and the inhabitants who gradually make themselves known are as intriguing, secretive, and, at times, sinister, as one could wish for in a ‘locked room’ (well, isolated island) mystery. By the time the novel hurtles towards its conclusion, every page seems to give up a new secret, and the twists come as thick and fast as you could wish.

If you enjoy a thriller with fine writing, a rich setting, engrossing characters and a plethora of unexpected twists, you’ll love Beautiful Ugly.

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney is published by Macmillan and is available to purchase here.

Review: The Quick and the Dead by Emma Hinds (2025)

Blurb

It matters not who you are born to but where you are made.

It is 1597 and Kit Skevy and Mariner Elgin have just robbed the wrong grave.

The two are unusual criminals in the pocket of a gang Lord named Will Twentyman, the Grave Eorl of Southwark. Mariner is the best cutpurse around, a strange Calvinist girl who dresses like a boy and is partner in crime to Kit Skevy, Southwark’s best brawler who carries a secret: he cannot feel pain.

When caught out in their unfortunate larceny, Kit is kidnapped by the threatening alchemist Lord Isherwood (a man who will stop at nothing to achieve his hopes for the Red Lion elixir) and his studious son, Lazarus Isherwood, with whom Kit develops a complicated intrigue. When Mariner enlists the help of a competing French alchemist, Lady Elody Blackwater, Mariner and Kit are thrust into the shadowed, political world of Tudor alchemy.

Review

Many thanks to the publisher and to my lovely Squadpod for arranging a proof copy of this book to make its way to me in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first read of 2025, and what a way to kick off the year with a bang! This is exactly the sort of immersive historical fiction I love best, flirting with magical realism and dark fantasy but also full of historical detail and context that makes the storyworld feel so rich and real. There’s such a potent mix of elements, if you’ll excuse the alchemical pun, in this novel: from the poverty-stricken streets of Southwark to the political wranglings at court; from the laboratories of renowned alchemists to the stagecraft of the Rose theatre – there’s so much to enjoy, so many moving parts that make up the explosive, dramatic story.

The real strength of this book lies in the two protagonists, Kit and Mariner. Each of them is such an engaging character that they could sustain an entire novel as the point of view character – to have both of them feels like an extra special treat. With a lightness of touch and a real sense of respect for the characters, the author explores themes of identity, gender, sexuality, belonging in a way that complements the plot and adds a depth to the writing. I utterly believed in both characters, despite Kit, in particular, having some fantastical traits. The fact that he can’t feel pain (it’s in the blurb, so I don’t think I’m spoiling anything!) is presented in such a clever way – it makes him both less and more vulnerable to those around him. Both characters embark on queer love affairs, and again, rather than diluting the story, this doubling up makes it feel all the more rich.

The climax of the novel, which I WILL keep to myself, is brilliantly done – I certainly couldn’t have predicted the events that unfold towards the end of the novel, and I was absolutely gripped. I think this book has everything – drama, humour, a decent splash of gore and violence, sexual tension, and of course, a dollop of magic and alchemy. What’s not to love?! I haven’t read Emma Hinds’ debut novel, The Knowing, yet, but after reading The Quick and the Dead, you’d best believe it’s going on my TBR, as is anything else she writes in the future. I’m a fan!

The Quick and the Dead by Emma Hinds is published by Bedford Square and is available to purchase here.