Joy, Joffe Books and I would like to say a really big THANK YOU to all the wonderful Bloggers on the Blog Tour for FIVE BLOODY HEARTS. Your help is very much appreciated – you are THE BEST
What the Bloggers think
Nicki’s book blog
Linda Strong Book Reviews
This is a well-written fast-paced thriller filled with memorable characters that jump off the page. With the balance of professional life vs personal life , the characters come across as very credible. The suspense starts out a little slow, concentrating more of the personal side of things. But as bodies fall, one right after the other, the suspense grows and grows until it explodes like a helium balloon filled with hydrogen and oxygen. Read more here
On The Shelf Reviews
Overall Five Bloody Hearts is an addictive and enthralling read that will have you hooked from that very first chapter. I hope this not the last we’ve seen of Matt Ballard! Read more here
Ginger Book Geek
In short, ‘Five Bloody Hearts’ is one hell of a heart stopping and breath taking read. Joy Ellis certainly has another bestselling winner on her hands with ‘Five Bloody Hearts’. I look forward to reading more from the Ballard casebook. Here’s hoping that we don’t have too long to wait. I would have no hesitation in recommending Joy and her books to other readers. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*. Read more here
Donna’s Book Blog
GUEST POST FROM JOY ELLIS – The Hazards of Writing a Sequel to a Stand-alone Thriller.
Joanna Larum’s Reviews
I believe that this is the best Joy Ellis novel ever. The story grabbed me by the throat and wouldn’t let me go until I had finished it. I had no idea who the killer was so the ending was a revelation to me. I love the characters, especially the new one, Swifty and I hope he appears in more novels. The ending left me wanting more and I hope that Matt can feature in more stories, even though he should retire. I would recommend this book to all lovers of police procedural novels. You cannot get better than the best! Read more here
Book Worm
Turn The Page Blog
Fantastic read, highly recommend this, not much else I can say that’s not the blurb… Read more here
Debbie Hipster
This is a page turning read with many twists and loops, and so many What? moments? There are just as many dead ends to try and catch them out too. But even dead ends can reveal clues and leads to be useful. Will these leads hark back to Matt’s Past? Will it come back to haunt him and threaten everyone he cares about. Read more here
Mystery Thriller Week
I loved this one. Five Bloody Hearts by Joy Ellis is definitely a gripping crime thriller. As I read, I pictured the scenes playing out in my head as a movie. This would be a GREAT MOVIE. A brilliant, imaginative plot with good depth of character makes this one a winner. Joy Ellis is a good voice to have in crime fiction. The way she crafts scenes in her writing is superb. It captures the story and propels the reader until the end. Read more here
Akamatra
Joy Ellis did not dissapoint with the second book of the Detective Matt Ballard series. This had me at the edge of my seat (and waking the suspence off) and I couldn’t put it down! A very masterful character writer Joy Ellis, wrote yet another page turner! Read more here
Herding Cats
Joy Ellis creates a very realistic insight into the frustrations of police officers working a case. At first I was a little unsure as to why there were almost two separate stories running in the novel but then realised that actually, at no time would a police station be concentrating purely on one case and therefore this creates a truthful vibe of the time, staff, budget constraints of working several cases. There are other reasons too but I’ll let you discover those for yourself. A frenzied vibe is created and it draws you in so that you too begin to feel pressured and frustrated alongside the characters. Read more here
Mind Garbage
Black Books Blog
With so much going on the story just flows really fast and before you know it you are at the amazing conclusion. The book has lots of little twists which keep you guessing and the two storylines are so well written I enjoyed finding out what happened with both of them. Overall yet another best-selling book by Joy and I can’t wait to read the next book she writes. Read more here
Five Bloody Hearts (DI Matt Ballard #2) by Joy Ellis
Available from AMAZON
From multiple #1 best-selling author Joy Ellis, comes a mystery that will have you glued from first page to last, with a truly shocking conclusion. A killer mystery to make your heart race this Valentine’s.
DETECTIVE MATT BALLARD’S LAST CASE MIGHT BE THE ONE THAT FINALLY BREAKS HIM.
Grace Repton, a beautiful older woman, walks into the police station to tell Matt she has information that could stop a murder. Her fiancé, the infamous serial killer Jeremy Reader, has told her that he has a disciple who is going to kill using Reader’s horrific methods.
Reader murdered five women and was finally brought to justice by Detective Ballard. Reader is safely imprisoned in a high security prison, and claiming to be a reformed man who wants to help the police.
But can Matt believe the serial killer or his peculiar wife to be?
And the Fenland police also have another investigation on their hands. A Lithuanian migrant worker is found dead on the fens. There is no ID on him, but he has a Tree of Life tattoo. The third body to be found with this distinctive tattoo. Is this gang war or something even more sinister?
CAN YOU TRUST A KILLER TO HELP STOP A KILLER?
The police are stretched to breaking point with multiple copycat murders. And Matt and his girlfriend Liz will fight for everything they care about in a heart-stopping conclusion that will have you on the edge of your seat.
The Setting
England’s rural fenland is a strange place, with its never-ending fields, winding tracks, and long straight droves (the old livestock routes) that lead to nowhere. The lonely lanes are flanked either side by deep drainage ditches and are, for a good part of the year, filled with tall, whispering reeds. Closer to the Wash, high seabanks form a barrier between river and marsh, and the richly fertile soil of the drained land. But when the mists come down, as they so often do, perspective is destroyed and all sense of direction lost, and then the fens become a rather frightening place of mystery and danger. Somewhere that you do not want to be at night.
ALSO BY JOY ELLIS
THE BEST-SELLING NIKKI GALENA SERIES
Book 1: CRIME ON THE FENS
Book 2: SHADOW OVER THE FENS
Book 3: HUNTED ON THE FENS
Book 4: KILLER ON THE FENS
Book 5: STALKER ON THE FENS
Book 6: CAPTIVE ON THE FENS
Book 7: BURIED ON THE FENS
Book 8: THIEVES ON THE FENS
Book 9: FIRE ON THE FENS
JACKMAN & EVANS
Book 1: THE MURDERER’S SON
Book 2: THEIR LOST DAUGHTERS
Book 3: THE FOURTH FRIEND
Book 4: THE GUILTY ONES
Book 5: THE STOLEN BOYS
DETECTIVE MATT BALLARD
Book 1: BEWARE THE PAST
Book 2: FIVE BLOODY HEARTS
STANDALONE
GUIDE STAR
My Review
Well Joy Ellis has done it again! Another totally gripping page turner.
This is the sequel to BEWARE THE PAST in the first book we saw Matt Ballard up against evilness personified. It left him physically and emotionally shattered, one of his team with a life threatening injuries and someone close to him dead. So I was intrigued how Joy would build a book from the remains. I was far from disappointed this book just demonstrates what a talented author she is.
Matt’s retirement has been delayed as his replacement is tied up in court. He is just overseeing things and wrapping everything up when a case from his past returns to haunt him. Jeremy Reader killed 5 women in a slow, painful way and Matt was the one that caught him. He is in prison serving life but is apparently a reformed character. Matt doesn’t believe it but everyone else does. Unable to trust his gut instinct any more Matt goes along with the main feeling that he is a reformed character. Reader is about to marry Grace, a prison visitor. Grace appears to be a well adjusted woman so why would she want to marry a lifer?
When Grace arrives at the station with news of a copycat Matt is thrust straight into a nightmare. As the bodies stack up Matt and the team are struggling to find a lead even with the help of psychologists Laura and Sam.
Bryn takes a leading role in this book as he is left pretty much alone to investigate the murder of migrant workers with only a tattoo to link them. He is helped by Swifty, a uniformed officer and a new character. I loved to see Bryn grow wings and fly as his compassionate character and thoughtful nature help him gain the trust of a very untrusting community. That trust is key to solving the migrant murders.
This is a fast-paced read with many twists and turns as we follow the team down multiple ‘dead’ ends until towards the end when finally, they find some leads. The clues lead the team in a direction nobody expected and once again Matt finds his past coming back, ot to haunt him but to threaten his life and the lives of people he cares about.
The characters are complex and realistic and I was thrilled to learn of some new psychological conditions that I was previously unaware of. It was also interesting to learn a little of the culture and lives of the migrant community. I have much admiration for their ability to survive abuse and continually struggle to live in difficult circumstances.
An absolutely brilliant read. 5 golden stars from me.
JOY ELLIS – Author Bio
“I was born in Kent but spent most of my working life in London and Surrey. I was an apprentice florist to Constance Spry Ltd, a prestigious Mayfair shop that throughout the sixties and seventies teemed with both royalty and ‘real’ celebrities. What an eye-opener for a working-class kid from the Garden of England! I swore then, probably whilst I was scrubbing the floor or making the tea, that I would have a shop of my own one day. It took until the early eighties, but I did it. Sadly the recession wiped us out, and I embarked on a series of weird and wonderful jobs; the last one being a bookshop manager. Surrounded by books all day, getting to order whatever you liked, and being paid for it! Oh bliss!
And now I live in a village in the Lincolnshire Fens with my partner, Jacqueline, and our two second generation Springer spaniels. I had been writing mysteries for years but never had the time to take it seriously. Now I can, and as my partner is a highly decorated retired police officer; my choice of genre was suddenly clear. I have set my crime thrillers here in the misty fens because I sincerely love the remoteness and airy beauty of the marshlands. This area is steeped in superstitions and lends itself so well to murder!”
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