#BlogTour ‘Deadly Games’ by Steve Frech

About the book….

I know everything about you.

I know your name, your birthday, your kids’ names, where you live, where you work.

I know when you get that big promotion, or when you argue with your spouse.

You tell me all this because I’m your bartender.

But someone knows everything about me too.

Someone knows all my secrets and they’re using them against me.

They’re setting me up. The police think I murdered Emily Parker. To prove my innocence I need to find the real killer.

I need to beat him at his own game.

Huge thanks to Sian at HQ Stories for inviting me on the blogtour for Steve Frech’s latest horror thriller, ‘Deadly Games’ which is out in ebook format from 4th December!

It’s the third novel by Steve Frech, where you really feel he is getting into his stride with his storytelling-breathless, fast paced thrillers with a first person narrative that drives the story forward.

Bartender Clay, is pulled into a cat and mouse game with an unknown protagonist who seems determined to set him up for murder. His occasional bed partner, Emily, an unsatisfied wife of a millionaire who likes to hang out at the bar Clay works in, turns up murdered, with all the forensics pointing to Clay.

Desperate to prove it wasn’t him, he initially co-operates with the police in order to get himself out of trouble, however, when the burner phone Emily used to set up dates with him begins to churn out annoymous messages , demanding Clay’s participation in his deadly game…

The bodies begin to pile up as Clay finds escape routes cut off, one by one, leaving him with little option but to go on the run with a journalist who is trying to get the inside scoop on Emily’s murder. But can he really trust Genevieve, or is she after the scoop of a lifetime? As the net tightens around Clay, it becomes increasingly difficult to work out how he will clear his name, escape and get on with his life.

It’s an interesting story ,Clay is a bit of a one dimensional character who puts himself and his casual affairs, his rootless and responsibility free lifestyle ahead of taking accountability for himself. His job allows him to peacock every night and affords him the bed partners of his choosing until he has to think about people other than himself due to circumstances beyond his control.

As a reader, I had to suspend a bit of belief and just allow myself to be swept away with the story, not thinking about it too deeply. Some parts don’t hold up to scrutiny and Clay does some really silly things that are the equivalent of a horror movie trope like going into the cellar. He’s not the most immediately likable protagonist and is pretty shallow, but over the course of the story he finds a sense of inner strength and resilience to do the right thing. I read this in one sitting, it’s the kind of book where you kepp going to find out what happens, nearly every chapter ends on a cliffhanger which propels the story forward.

I would recommend this novel for those who want a one shot read, it’s an engaging thriller with plenty of suspense.

About the author…

Steve Frech lives in Los Angeles. His best-selling thrillers, ‘Dark Hollows’ & ‘Nightingale House’, are available in all e-book formats and paperback from HQ Stories & Harper Collins.

His third thriller, ‘Deadly Games’, will be available December 4th, 2020.

In addition to writing, he is the co-creator of ‘Sports? with Jessimae Peluso‘ for Comedy Central. He is also the creator, producer, and host of the award-nominated ‘Random Awesomeness‘ podcast, which has been developed for television by the Emmy-award winning team at ‘Thank You, Brain! Productions’.

He is phenomenal at bar trivia, enjoys cooking, and is a frustrated Chicago Bears fan.