PUBLISHERS BLURB
Carrie’s best friend has an accident and can no longer make the round-the-world trip they’d planned together, so Carrie decides to go it alone.
Violet is also travelling alone, after splitting up with her boyfriend in Thailand. She is desperate for a ticket on the Trans-Siberian Express, but there is nothing available.
When the two women meet in a Beijing Hotel, Carrie makes the impulsive decision to invite Violet to take her best friend’s place.
Thrown together in a strange country, and the cramped cabin of the train, the women soon form a bond. But as the journey continues, through Mongolia and into Russia, things start to unravel – because one of these women is not who she claims to be…
MY REVIEW
Violet has split up from boyfriend Sam in Thailand, so decides to continue her backpacking trip alone. She’s planning on visiting Russia via the trans-Siberian railway but is too late to get a ticket…so getting a drink to wonder what to do next, she meets Carrie, also travelling alone….she has a spare ticket too.
So, they decide to travel together…..
They visit Mongolia, take part in a weird ritual and they get closer……but is this a bit one sided?
Violet is smitten, but events in Russia lead to violence…..someone is not who they say they are…..!
I won’t say anymore about the actual plot as I would hate to spoil it for anyone.
However, I will say this is an incredibly tense tale, there is a simmering sense of foreboding, almost smothering, dark and claustrophobic…….you know something is wrong, but you can’t really put your finger on it until events bring the secrets to light. It just makes you feel on edge, waiting for everything to fall apart…..all due to the marvellously intense writing by SJI Holliday…..utterly brilliant.
Thank you to Anne Cater and Random Things Tours for the opportunity to participate in this blog tour, for the promotional materials and a free copy of the book. This is my honest, unbiased review.
You can buy a copy here
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
S.J.I. (Susi) Holliday is a scientist, writing coach and the bestselling author of five crime novels, including the Banktoun Trilogy (Black Wood, Willow Walk and The Damselfly), the festive chiller The Deaths of December and her creepy Gothic psychological thriller The Lingering. Her short story ‘Home From Home’ was published in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and shortlisted for the CWA Margery Allingham Prize.
Encapsulating her love of travel and claustrophobic settings, her latest novel, Violet, explores toxic friendships and the perils of talking to strangers, as well as drawing on her own journey on the Trans-Siberian Express over 10 years ago. All of her novels have been UK ebook number-one bestsellers. Susi was born and raised in Scotland and now divides her time between Edinburgh, London and as many other exciting places that she can fit in.
White Tulip Resin 
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