As many of you will know by now I am very much a rom-com/chick-lit type of girl but every now and then I like to dip into something else. I have heard many good things about MJ Cross’ (Mason Cross) work and when this tour came up it caught my interest.

I really enjoyed this book. I was hooked right from the start and all the twists and turns the story took I was very reluctant to put the book down, I just wanted to know what would happen next.

What I enjoyed most about this book was the fast pace. The story was continually moving and you were always left guessing what would happen next. There were a couple of points where I thought things were starting to get a bit farfetched but it didn’t take away from this book at all.

The characters were great and very believable and well-rounded. Each of the characters roles were important and essential to the story and the way the viewpoint changed between a few of the characters, mainly the female protagonist, Jenny, and police officer Mike, moved the story along quickly.

This was a great crime/mystery novel. It’s available now so make sure you check it out!

Thank you to Tracy Fenton at Compulsive Readers for my invitation to the tour and to Orion for my copy of the book in return for a fair and honest review.

I have recently had a bit of a break from Crime novels and I was instantly gripped by this one.

Jenny is travelling up to Scotland over night on the sleeper train and I felt a reminiscence of Murder on the Orient Express with a modern more gritty twist.

When Jenny finds a woman dead the next morning no-one believes that she saw a little girl in the cabin next door too or a tall man in a black overcoat, there is no CCTV as the train is really old.

The authorities are happy to call it an overdose as the woman had a history of drug abuse but Jenny can not stop thinking about the little girl.

Sargent Mike Fletcher is the officer on the case of the murder and although he initially believed that the woman overdosed, he decides to look into the case further but warns Jenny to be careful as she is also doing some investigation of her own as it does not add up.

This is a great book and it has some real shockers along the way that left me with my mouth open!  It is a fabulous page turner that is gripping, unpredictable and has a real dark side with what Jenny uncovers, but I will leave you to find out what that is...

When an email popped in from Tracy about What she saw last night by M. J. Cross I almost passed it by because December is busy enough, right!?!?!

Anyone else feeling like it’s going to be a long three weeks until Christmas? We have so many lovely things planned, but next year I need to plan a bit more time off 😀 😀 😀

Anyway. I read the blurb and I knew I wanted to read it. Have a read for yourself below…

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Great blurb, right?!?

And somehow doesn’t a death on a train remind you of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, or is that just me? But What she saw last night is nothing like that – other than the murder on a train and well the search for the killer…

The pacing of the book was great – it was filled with short snappy chapters, changes in POVs and the plot was littered with little cliff-hangers. The plot was ok, but the pacing really kept me reading and before I knew it I was a further ten chapters in because I had to read just one more. And then one more. And then another. You get the idea, right?

I very much liked Jenny one of the main characters and I think Mason Cross did a rather good job at writing a female character, even if she needed to ask for help a bit more than she did. The one small niggle I did have was I found the reasoning for Jenny getting so involved a little unlikely, but hey it’s fiction and sometimes you just have to go with the flow and be entertained. And entertained I was.

Overall, I thought that What she saw last night by M. J. Cross was maybe a tad far fetched at times, but it was an easy and absorbing read. One that I would recommend.

Murder on a train? Yes, please! Give me some of that claustrophobic Agatha Christie whodunit vibes! MJ Cross has written five novels in the Carter Blake series under his full name Mason Cross. What she saw last night is the first under the new pseudonym and also a stand-alone novel. I’m happy to say it delivers plenty of action-packed suspense and more than one eventful train journey.

The rest of the review can be read on my blog: https://wanderingwestswords.wordpress.com/2019/12/01/what-she-saw-last-night-mj-cross/

I love any book that takes place on a train. From the minute I finished Murder on the Orient Express for the first time, I was hooked on the romantic notion of travelling on luxury trains through the night. So when I was asked to review What She Saw Last Night, they had me at ‘Caledonian Sleeper’.

What She Saw Last Night is a fantastically fast-paced thriller, which really doesn’t slow down until the bitter end! Train-love aside, I think the pace of this book was one of the best aspects of this book as it always gives you a reason to keep going and pick the book back up again.

I’ll be totally honest with you, whenever I pick up a book by a male author writing a female protagonist, I always go in slightly cautiously – I’ve had too many experiences where the author has written the woman as some super attractive, busty, heel-wearing business woman/wife/mother. However, I am thankful to report that Cross is not one of these authors.

His protagonist, Jenny, is intelligent, doesn’t suffer fools and wonderfully independent. Maybe she could do with being a bit more risk averse but you’ll have to read the book to find out why.

I had some emotional ups and downs with this book; occasionally, despite the fast pace, I found my interest dipping slightly only then to be hit square in the face with a major plot twist, one of which really did give me the shivers.

The only thing I found slightly problematic about this book (and I do mean slightly) was I struggled to understand the protagonist’s motivations. I felt like I wanted to get to know her better and would’ve enjoyed more of a backstory.

In all, this is a solid book for crime thriller fans and I would highly recommend getting it in ready for the long winter nights ahead.

This is the first book have read by Mason Cross and it was a pleasant surprise to discover that the events take place in the UK. Even though some of the novel is city based it made a nice change to read a novel that showed somewhere different. Much of this novel takes place in a more remote setting, one that without the danger that Jenny found herself in, sounded amazing.

When Jenny travelled North it was to deal with the sale of her family home and find some personal space after her marriage broke down. She booked the sleeper train, hoping to find it more relaxing but the events that occured made it far from peaceful. Despite assurances form the local police that she mistaken about what she witnessed she refuses to accept that she was wrong and starts her own investigation into what happened. But she is unprepared for the danger she places herself in.

I liked Jenny a lot, her refusal to back down and her bravery in dealing with the increasing danger she found herself in almost immediately. And, especially when faced with Klenmore, one of the scariest bad guys I have ever met in fiction.

At times it felt like classic train noir. An emotionally exhausted traveller, a harassed young woman with a little girl, a feeling that the lone male traveller is sinister. One ends up dead, two never there. An old fashioned journey, no wifi, intermittent phone signal, little comfort in a poky room. It could have sounded like an unattractive journey but I found it fascinating, a blast from the past and despite the events it made me interested in doing a journey like this.

A great standalone introduction to Mason Cross, I have another of his books to read soon.

Jenny is travelling to her childhood home in Scotland, her marriage has broken up after husband, Eric, was cheating on her, and her father has died after a stroke. So she’s taken the sleeper train to have some quiet time before she has to deal with her life.

She sees a woman struggling with a suitcase and glimpses a little girl, but the next morning the woman is found dead and no sign of the little girl.

The British Transport Police arrive and the DI believes it to be an easy case of a junkie OD and feels Jenny was seeing things as no girl found on the train and not on the passenger manifest.

But, DS Mike Fletcher is uneasy and feels something is off. Jenny gets a little obsessed and does her own investigation and finds some surprising information, that puts her, her soon to be ex husband Eric and Mike in danger…..

Was there a little girl on the train? If there was, where is she?

I really enjoyed this fast paced thriller, I felt Jenny’s frustration at being dismissed as a grieving woman who imagined a child!!! (Reminded me a little of the old film, Bunny Lake is Missing)….And the tension builds making this a real nail biter of a thriller. Brilliant.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ebook for free.. This is my honest, unbiased review.

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy. This book sounded really interesting, but as I started reading, it wasn't as good as I expected. I ended up reading a chunk and then going to the back to see the ending.

I couldn’t put this one down! It grips you from the very beginning and doesn’t let up!

Jenny Bowen makes it onto the Caledonian Sleeper Train by the skin of her teeth, rushing onto the train, lucky that the doors are the old fashioned manual type that don’t close electrically, but are manually operated! Although she’s never actually booked a sleeping berth (sorry … they’re called ‘rooms’ now) before, a colleague has convinced her it’s the only way to travel overnight, and she’s succumbed to the pressure and will have a bed for the journey.

Due to her late arrival, she realises she’s boarded the train quite a few compartments away from the one that she’s booked, so she has to walk through the train to find her own., which she does rather awkwardly, especially when she arrives at the sleeper cabins, where the corridors are extremely narrow. But it gives her the opportunity to see a couple of her fellow travellers: a thin woman travelling with a little girl – who’s dropped her grey bunny, which Jenny picks up and hands back to her; and a tall blond man in a black coat.

Jenny is exhausted by recent events: her dad has passed away a few weeks prior to this trip, which has her travelling back to his house to pack it up and see about selling the place. Also, after long suspecting that her husband Eric was being unfaithful, she finally discovered the evidence she needed and they’ve now separated, pending a divorce. So the past weeks have been stressful to say the least. Lulled by the moving train, she soon falls asleep. But during the night she wakes up needing the bathroom, which means she has to leave her room. She opens her door, eases her way out into the narrow corridor, only to discover that her neighbour, the thin woman she saw earlier is sprawled in her own open doorway, clearly deceased, with no sign of the child who had been with her.

When the police arrive, she knows before he even opens his mouth to tell her, that the cop will say there is no trace or record of the little girl ever having been there. Nobody believes her. Nobody will listen when she insists the child was there – she’s positive this was not a figment of her imagination. But the police are quite sure this is an open and shut case of death by overdose and are keen to close the investigation as soon as possible.

What follows is a story of a tenacious, resilient female protagonist who just won’t quit. I loved that about Jenny, although in equal measure I found her stubborn and annoying at times! Using her knowledge of IT, she decides that she needs to do some research and tries to find out who the dead woman could be. She’s supported by Seargent Mike Fletcher who finds some elements of truth in her story, despite the fact that his colleague, DI Greg Porter says that she’s talking nonsense.

There’s danger, twists, secrets and lies and our two intrepid investigators need to overcome the odds to get to the bottom of a mystery that has them baffled. All of it makes for a thrilling, page-turning read, but be warned though … the body-count is high!

An exciting 4-star read!

This was one delicious book that I have read in recent times. Fast paced with a strong female protagonist, a good cop, bad guys, and a plot which moved with its own twists and turns.

Jenny was on a sleeper train, she helped a woman into her compartment, saw a child with her for a second, a tall man in the next compartment. The next day woman was dead, child was nowhere, and the tall man gone. No evidence of child or tall man anywhere on CCTV. Jenny started investigating along with the good cop Mike.

My first book by author Mason Cross, I couldn’t seem to let go of this book. One chapter became few chapters till I came to The End. It was quite amazing how the author kept my interest solely on his writing. The words came me a powerful imagery of the action in the scene and also the emotions.

I kept prodding the main characters as I knew how close the baddies were. At 72% the stakes turned really high and I could only read with bated breath hoping that the main character lives through her ordeal. The body count did rise at the end, but in a race against time to get to the truth, it was all part of fun. The book would make a great movie, fitting in nicely with coke and popcorn.

I loved it. A fantastic rip-roaring thriller of a read. Perfect for breakfast!!

Good book with a good concept. The setting of the sleeper train is very vivid an accurate and it was easy to be sucked into the story from the off. A good cast of characters and an intriguing mystery.

Absolutely loved this thrilling novel! The writer has a beautiful and seamlessly flowing narrating style and I literally could jot put the book down.

This is a great read that builds up to a nail biting ending.
Jenny is travelling to Scotland on the overnight sleeper train and doesn’t realise but this journey will change her life.
As she gets to her room she sees a woman and a young girl and moves past her. In the morning she discovers the woman’s dead body, but there’s no sign of the little girl.
Jenny talks to the Police but after checking CCTV, there’s no evidence that the little girl got on the train.
The Police want to close the case but Jenny won’t let this lie.
Soon her own investigations lead her on to a dangerous path and someone wants to get rid of her.
I loved the way Mike comes round to Jenny’s way of thinking and how he helps her out when she needs it.
This is a gripping crime thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat.
Thanks to Orion Publishing Group and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Jenny Bowen is at her emotional lowest after the death of her father and discovery of her now estranged husband's infidelity but fate was cruelly going to throw something else in her way. Jenny was boarding the overnight sleeper train from London to her dad's former home in Glasgow when she helps a young woman with a little girl on the train. When in the night she leaves her cabin to go to the loo she sees the woman dead on the floor of her cabin and alerts the guard.
When the police arrive the woman's death is put down to a self-inflicted overdose but when Jenny asks about the little girl she is nowhere to be found and no-one can recall ever seeing her. Jenny can't let it rest, she knows what she saw and begins to dig into who the woman was and where the child could be. Only one person believes her Sergeant Mike Fletcher but to help her it means putting his job on the line.
This is one edgy read that keeps you on your toes. Jenny is much stronger than she thought she could be and has no intention of letting up but there are far bigger people willing to do anything to stop her. The body count around her begins to pile up putting her and anyone she knows in grave danger.
There are some really hairy moments within these pages from an author who definitely knows how to shock and throw his readers off-balance. I love that having to just step back take a couple of minutes then carry on reading. It makes it all seem more real being so unpredictable. The bad guys really got to me, especial one, you will know when you meet him. I loved the scenes on the underground in London and the contrast of the countryside just outside Glasgow, both as deadly. A brilliant ending.
I wish to thank NetGalley and the Publisher for an e-copy of this book which I have reviewed honestly

I picked this one up because the premise grabbed me and I think perhaps I was expecting a different type of thriller....I tend to prefer ones with more nuanced characterisation and a slow burning plot. This was a very quick read with a cracking pace but not terribly plausible or memorable. I think fans of Lee Child would probably enjoy it very much, it just wasn't for me.

MJ Cross is a new author to me and I was keen to get stuck in and see if the book was as good as the blurb indicated.

I loved this book, it was a story that took twists and turns and kept me guessing as to what was going to happen next throughout. I loved the sleeper train where the story kicked off and it added a totally different spin on the who done it scenario. This book reminded me of Cluedo just set on a sleeper train, throughout this book I was looking for clues and second guessing as to what was unfolding on each page.

A story that had me hooked from the first few pages and kept me hooked throughout, I love finding a new author and this book did not disappoint and I look forward to reading more from MJ Cross in the future.

I thought the concept was really interesting. Unfortunately the writing is rather clumsy which stopped me from enjoying it as much as I might have otherwise.

This is my first book by this author and, despite certain reservation I had along the way with this book, it has definitely piqued my interest in his other offerings, especially his Carter Blake series.
We start with Jenny Bowden just making the overnight sleeper train to Scotland. Fleeing her broken marriage she is returning home after the death of her father to sort out his affairs. En route to her cabin, she passes a one that is home to what she sees as a mother and daughter, stopping briefly to rescue the child's fallen stuffed rabbit. Waking early the next day, she exits her cabin to a rather shocking sight. The mother is dead, apparent overdose, and the girl is nowhere to be seen. The police are called, they question her, but when she asks about the child, they investigate her claim but she is told that there was no child. She is adamant that they are wrong. She remembers the rabbit quite clearly. But they shut her down. With so much else going on in her life, it is possible that she might have been mistaken. But the rabbit. She can't let it go. Luckily, one of the police, Sergeant Mike Fletcher also can't move on and initially separately, later together they start their investigations.
I raced through the first two thirds of this book. Rapt by what was going on. Confused by the obfuscation that was going on. Then it started to get a wee bit silly as things escalated and the book turned into a bit of an implausible cat and mouse game (bloodbath) with some of the turns being taken a bit on the contrived side. But, as I rolled my eyes, I carried on reading and it did recover enough to leave me mostly satisfied at its conclusion.
Initially I had reservations about Jenny but I did manage to warm to her along the way. She's all things gutsy but, at the same time, a bit stupid and naive. I guess she's just human. A lesser person would have given up so I guess she did have that going for her. Mike I loved. He was all thing right with the world. Going out on a limb both personally and professionally to help Jenny.
All in all, not a bad read if taken with a pinch (handful) of salt. It was definitely entertaining! My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Brilliant story. Absolutely incredible writing and so suspenseful it took my breath away. Fantastic. Reminiscent of Agatha Christie x

There’s something about a thriller set on a train that really takes me back to the days of Agatha Christie and Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith I also love the series of the Railways murder detective by Edwards Marston as trains give you a closed environment, a crime scene on the move and much more.

So, when this novel set on the modern Caledonian sleeper came out, I was intrigued.The character who gets on board this train is Jenny, as IT geek and is in the process of getting a divorce as her husband has been doing the dirty. She has to go up to Scotland to clear out her father’s home as he had died recently, rushes and almost misses the long train journey up there.

I think the two locations of London and Scotland really help as they help to cement the feeling that she’s going out in to the wilds of nowhere away from civilization if you like, where the houses are getting sparser and the darkness even more intense. The idea of a train ride like that on a sleeper has that old world charm to it too, suggestions of yesteryear and elegance. Once you’re on board, you can’t get off when you’re racing through the desolate Scottish landscape.

When Jenny sees a woman and a girl on the train, she assumes they are mother and daughter. The woman is found dead the next day and her daughter is nowhere to be seen. Worse is to come when everyone tells Jenny that there was never a girl on the train in the first place….

Well, this got me from the off. A classic crime style murder mystery and a missing child! A lone woman traveller who joins the detective to see what has really taken place on board that train. OF course, it’s not really wise for Jenny to do half of the things she does, but throw that sense of disbelief off that train window, as it’s a rattling ride all the same. Stay onboard for this ride!

One slight quibble - I honestly don't think the title added anything to the mystery of feel of the novel! It was bland despite the exciting content of the book and didn't hint at anything within.