Thank you and sorry for the delay between receiving and reading.
The description of this book sounded really good, but unfortunately it was so slow.
Good storyline and characters but needed a bit of oomph!
Hence the 3 stars.

This book unfortunately wasn’t to my taste. I didn’t like the writing style at all. I also wasn’t a great fan of the characters either.
A disappointing read

I must firstly apologise for the amount of time it has taken me to provide a review of this book, my health was rather bad for quite some time, something that had me in hospital on numerous occasions and simply didnt leave me with the time I once had to do what I love most.

Unfortunately that does mean I have missed the archive date for many of these books, so It would feel unjust throwing any review together without being able to pay attention to each novel properly.

However, I am now back to reading as before and look forward to sharing my honest reviews as always going forward. I thank you f0r the patience and understanding throughout x

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

The description of this book had made it sound exciting. Something to really enjoy. Sadly it wasn’t. It was so slow I fell asleep a few nights. Didn’t pick up. Sadly this book wasn’t for me

What an entertaining and original premise for a book's plot. Imagine you can know what's going to happen tomorrow. Before it happens. And you are the only one that can stop it. Thrilling read, will read again in future.

I loved the previous book I read by this author and this did not disappoint. Another great thriller which left me guessing all the way through.

The story centres around Shirley who, while volunteering at the local hospital radio station, comes across Mallet AM, a pirate radio station that reports tomorrow's news. At first, the incidents that are reported were simple accidents, but it slowly becomes more sinister and reports a murder. Shirley can't leave it alone and sets out to stop the murder from happening.

Half-Past Tomorrow tells the story of Shirley Steadman, 70, who is a volunteer for the radio station at the local hospital in Chester-Le-Street. She enjoys chatting to patients and taking their music requests for the radio show.

Shirley lives in a small bungalow, a mile from the hospital, with her cat, Moggins. She’s a widow after the death of her husband, Bob, and has a daughter called Deena, 32. Her son, Gabe, was in the Royal Navy but died nearly 10 years ago and she still misses and mourns him, and makes his favourite bacon and banana sandwiches.

Shirley has an active social life – as well as the hospital radio, she does embroidery with a group of friends, volunteers at the local RSPCA shop and looks after her grandchildren, Maisie (10) and Kenneth (6) – but is also a bit lonely and tired of life.

One evening, while playing with the ancient radio equipment at the hospital before her request show, Shirley tunes into a pirate radio station called Mallet AM. At first, she just hears music then the presenter reads the news but, strangely, it’s for the following day. The new bulletin usually contains three items: two general bits of news and then the third one tells of an accident. Shirley decides to follow this up the next day and see if the predictions come true. She’s shocked to discover that they do!

She keeps listening to the pirate broadcast when she can and is concerned to hear that a murder is going to take place next! Shirley decides she must try to stop the murder from happening but it’s not as easy as that and things escalate in this twisted and gripping tale!

Shirley was a great protagonist – she’s fearless and brave and, despite her failing body, her mind is sharp and she’s not afraid to get involved in things to try and stop the events predicted by the Mallet AM presenter. She has a good rapport with her younger friend, Callie, who tries to help her solve the puzzling murders.

Shirley has a rather strained relationship with her daughter, Deena, who is protective and worried about her mum and her various escapades! We learn that Shirley had an abusive marriage and her husband was very harsh on their son, Gabe.

Overall, I really enjoyed Half-Past Tomorrow – it was entertaining, cleverly plotted and had an intriguing storyline. It was unique, surprising and went in several directions that I wasn’t expecting! I was never really sure if some events were real or imagined!

This was a fascinating read and very unpredictable. I had suspicions about several characters but was completely wrong about most of them and didn’t see the ending coming at all! This quirky story was something a bit different and I liked the way it was written – it was action packed and kept me gripped throughout and was also humorous and shocking as well.

My thanks to NetGalley and Orion for a copy of “ Half Past Tomorrow “ for an honest review.

I really enjoyed Chris George’s previous books , and this new publication definitely didn’t disappoint.
I was intrigued by the book blurb , and found it refreshing to have an older lady as the main character.
Unlike certain people in the book I didn’t foresee what was going to happen !
This was fast paced and kept me guessing right up to the end.
An original book that offered a bit more than the normal suspense novel.
Recommended.

This was a great read that had everything for me. Laughter, suspense, an unexpected twist as well as having no idea what was going on at times! It was such a different kind of mystery and I loved it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for an honest and unbiased opinion.

This ingenious blend of genres is predominantly voiced from the perspective of seventy year old grandmother Shirley Steadman who's only companion in life was her cat Moggins. The two highlights of her week were meeting up with her friends in the embroidery group and the one night a week when she was a volunteer dj at the local hospital. Shirley and her abusive (and fortunately now dead) husband Bob had two children, there was Deena with whom Shirley had a volatile relationship and Gabe who had died whilst serving in the navy. It was whilst Shirley was in the studio one evening, getting ready to play the list of requests that she had compiled from the patients in the wards that she would stumble across the radio station that would have such a dramatic effect on her life. The news presenter on 66.40 Mallet AM (and no the station had absolutely nothing to do with Timmy Mallet nor did they play Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini which is one of my favourite songs and can be one hell of a earworm) appeared to be able to predict events that were going to happen the next day. At first, as anyone would, Shirley had her doubts but after the predictions started coming true, she thought that it was all a bit of fun and found that she was intrigued and wanted to found out more about the mysterious station. But then events took a dark turn when a murder was predicted and Shirley found herself facing a moral dilemma, should she inform the police and risk being written off as a crazy old woman or should she try and warn the victim and probably have the door slammed in her face. Shirley finds herself caught up in a complex and confusing series of events and when things take a personal turn, she finds herself in a race against time to stop the predicted lose of her loved ones from coming true.

Shirley was a fantastic character, a feisty, individual who was determined to keep her independence and solve the mystery of the radio station despite her ailing health and aching bones. There was times when I thought she wasn't a very likeable individual but that didn't stop me routing for her as the story headed towards its closing acts. I can't say that I liked Shirley's daughter Deena very much but I absolutely loved DI (call me Fletch) Fletchinder. The ladies in the embroidery group were a diverse bunch of realistic individuals, each with their own unique personalities and character traits.

Occasionally a book comes along that I enjoy reading but I couldn't honestly give you a reason why and this was one of those books. I'm not normally a fan of slow burning thrillers but there was something about Shirley's story that captivated me and raised questions that I wanted answered like what the hell was actually going on. The plot was a intricate blend of thriller, mystery and domestic drama with elements of sci-fi and the supernatural and the story had a realistic, heart string pulling conclusion. I thought this was a unique, enjoyable, entertaining read.

Ooohhh....my first time delving into work from this author and I loved it. It won't be my last...
I will admit his absolutely brilliant book blurb won me over. I thought what a quirky, innovative idea for a story.
We meet a lady by the name of Shirley Steadman in this story. She is 70 years of age and does volunteer work in a hospital for their local radio. You do get to see the loneliness in Shirley's life quite quickly and my heart went out to her. I took to her immediately.
Such a vulnerability to her that would pull at your heart strings.
Her family do seem to be around to help and comfort her though.
One day while she is waiting for her slot on the radio, she tunes into what seems to be a pirate radio station.
Even more strange is the fact that this station gives news a day in advance. Almost like Shirley can tell what will happen the next day.
All well and good if the news is on a light, happy note but what happens when it takes a sinister turn. Shirley doesn't know who or where to turn to. Who will believe her crazy story?
I did absolutely love this story...
Light hearted, quirky at times and his main character was superb...
I wondered so many times throughout reading where on earth he was going to take the story..
Well worth your time..

INCREDIBLE!

I have been finding myself stuck with the same tropes in thriller genres recently and this blew that all away. A razor sharp story with an unlikely hero, a 70 year old woman. The difference in the protagonist took this story all the way to the top and I did not put it down once.

Brilliant and a must read.

If you’re anything like me, then you’ll be looking for a story that’s out of the box and not like anything else you’ve ever read before – because we’ve all had enough of being inside our own heads lately, haven’t we?!

I started this book and it took me a while to find my feet with it. I found it a bit slow to get going, but once it did, I couldn’t put it down because it was like being on a roller-coaster ride that I never wanted to end! Shirley Steadman is 70 years old. She reminds me so much of my late aunt! She’s clearly battling physically and is in quite a bit of pain, whether it’s from arthritis or something else, I’m not sure. But she’s quite determined to soldier on and show as few signs as possible of the struggle it takes to walk and to try and do many of the other daily chores that she needs to do, living on her own. And she swears … quite a bit! So she’s not your sweet, benign old dear by any means!

She has a volunteer job at the local hospital, and she has a weekly crochet group that she’s part of. I loved hearing about the characters that made up the group! But it’s her work at the hospital that Shirley really values. It gives her life meaning and purpose and she feels she’s contributing to the patients and staff who she plays requests for. Above all, it gets her out of her house that is an empty shell, well, empty apart from the ghost of her beloved son Gabe who seems to be appearing with startling regularity these days!

And then, one evening while Shirley is biding her time, waiting for her show to begin, she starts fiddling around with an old radio she’s found in the studio. She finds what sounds like a pirate broadcasting frequency playing music that’s all too familiar to her, so she continues listening. A news bulleting comes on and she’s a bit puzzled as the news that’s being broadcast isn’t anything she’s heard about that day. Living in a small, close-knit village, one tends to know what’s going on so it would be a bit odd that she had no knowledge of what the newsreader was saying. But she puts it out of her head and goes about her business. The following day though, when an incident occurs that she’d heard on the previous evening’s news, Shirley is suddenly on high alert.

And that’s when this rather benign story suddenly kicks into overdrive! And so does Shirley! I adored her – she just never gave up and was determined to do whatever it took to get to the bottom of whatever was going on. She goes through a gamut of emotions, opinions and feelings, not knowing from one day to the next what’s real and what isn’t; forced to question her own reality, her past experiences and her current relationships. Her daughter, who means well, does her best to help, but isn’t really emotionally equipped to cope with all this activity that threatens to unbalance her carefully constructed, balanced life. So Shirley is forced to either go it alone, or seek assistance from other sources. But how is that all going to work out?

Once the story got going, it just didn’t let up. Not only is it extremely clever, but it also forces us to question the norms that society places on our elderly. We tend to place people in boxes once they reach a certain age, relegating them to the realms of a shadow world where they’re either completely ignored or just not taken seriously. This needs to be reconsidered. Growing old is a privilege that many don’t get, and we need to treat our elders with a lot more gravitas, not only for the sheer number of years they’ve lived, but for what they’ve experienced and learned in those years, and what they have the capability to impart to those of us who have yet to achieve what they have.

This is a 4 star read. Suspend all belief when you read this book; know that there are flaws, but also know that if you dive in with an open mind, you’ll enjoy the journey!

Half-Past Tomorrow drew me in the second I read the blurb – a radio news report which is giving tomorrow’s news stories? Knowing 24 hours in advance of events which are going to happen is unsettling but to learn a murder will take place? What would anyone do in those circumstances?

Fortunately this dilemma doesn’t fall on the readers but lands at the feet of Shirley Steadman. Shirley is a pensioner who volunteers at her local hospital radio. She has had a tough life but the death of her abusive and dominating husband, coupled with the tragic suicide of her son have given Shirley a peace and inner steel which makes her a feisty and determined principle character.

Shirley is at the hospital when she finds an old radio set as she waits to begin her show. While spinning through the frequencies she finds a pirate radio station Mallet which heads into the news as Shirley is listening. She realises this station is VERY local to her home in the North East of England and enjoys listening to an amateur broadcaster sharing enthusiasm over local events.

The last story on the news tells of a local baker falling off a ladder outside his shop. Shirley hadn’t heard about the event and doesn’t give it much thought until the next day when her son-in-law also recounts the story about the baker but makes it clear it had just happened. Shirley heard about the ladder fall before it happened – she needs to understand how.

Worried she may be mistaken, Shirley tries to talk it through with her son Gabe. Gave died at the start of the book, took his own life while at sea. Yet he sometimes appears to Shirley in her kitchen and once she got passed the initial hysterical screaming she began to speak with her when he appears.

Half-Past Tomorrow shows how Shirley becomes obsessed by the pirate radio show and its predictive news reports. Despite health issues restricting her investigations Shirley doggedly chases down the reported incidents and soon becomes entangled in a way she could not have predicted.

Safe to say I had a lot of fun reading this book, I had absolutely no idea how Chris McGeorge was going to find a way Shirley could “solve” her pirate radio mystery. That need to see how the story would play out kept me hooked.  There were more than a few surprises along the way that I really enjoyed too.

If you haven’t read any of Chris’ previous books before then you are in for a head-messing treat as Chris specialises in confusing the reader and creating impossible situations in cleverly plotted storylines.

His first book Guess Who (read my review here) is about 5 strangers locked in a hotel room with a body in the bathtub. His second book Now You See Me (read my review here) is about 6 friends on a canal boat that travel through the longest tunnel and only 1 person came out the other side. His third book Inside Out (read my review here) is about a prisoner who wakes up in the morning and her cellmate has been murdered, but the door was locked all night. So that gives you a little taster of Chris’ books and Half-Past Tomorrow is another original mystery with some “wtf” moments thrown in.

Shirley Steadman is the main character. She’s a seventy year old grandmother. She lives alone in a bungalow with her cat, suffers from aches and pains, working as a volunteer at the local hospital on the radio station and attends a regular embroidery meeting with her friends.

Shirley hasn’t had an easy life, her husband was an abusive, cohersive bully who dominated her and their two children. Her eldest child Gabe took his own live years ago and she still lives with the guilt and grief every day.

One day whilst at the hospital she decides to put on an ancient radio and whilst scanning the airwaves comes across a pirate radio station. Entrigued, she listens to the announcer read the news and discovers the news appears to be events yet to happen and when she digs deeper she uncovers a strange and potentially impossible situation.

I absolutely adored Shirley. She was an amazing character and I think more books should start to feature the middle to late age protaganists as their past and life experiences bring so much more depth to the stories. Shirley is a very funny and opinionated lady who has been dealt a really unlucky hand with her family, but even though her body is not quite as quick as her wit and her hands keep her awake all night in pain and her heart is begging her to slow down, she is determined to work out the truth behind the radio station.

If you enjoyed Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club, then I think you will love this book too.

Many thanks to Tracy @ Compulsive Readers for the invite to Half-Past Tomorrow blog tour. And thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for my gifted digital copy.

I will hold my hands up and say I hadn't heard of Chris McGeorge before. Despite now seeing that I do have Guess Who on my kindle since forever. The beauty of blog tours is finding new authors, and I've found a new one and have already made a list of all the books I want.

It was the synopsis of this book that drew me toward it and applying to be on the tour. I wanted to know how someone could know the future? Is it time travel, a time warp, something completely out there or something else.

Shirley is the star of this book. And boy is she a character. For an old lady she has one heck of a potty mouth. Very reminiscent of Catherine Tate's Nan. Loved her. Despite being full of bravado and capable of taking care of herself, there is a deeper layer to her. There is an emphasis on loneliness here, and I like how McGeorge uses the radio station and its listeners to be a prop for Shirley in her life. She's had a very tough life but through it all she can still make other people smile.

Without sounding clichéd I had a roller coaster of a ride with this story. One minute I was laughing, next I was puzzled. Then I was lulling along, knocked over sideways by a twist and held on for dear life when the revelations started to untangle.

Half-Past Tomorrow is a sure fire hit. It lulls you into a false sense of security. And then it'll whip the carpet from under you and have you gasping.

Fabulous!

Not quite what I was expecting but I couldn’t put Half Past Tomorrow down! One of those unexpected stories that grabs you and refuses to let go. Shirley was a delightful character, I really enjoyed following an older character (especially in this setting!)
4.5/5

I loved everything about this novel, it's an enigmatic paradox of a tale which has, at times, you questioning what the hell is going on. At its heart is the formidable and stoic Shirley, eeking out the twilight of her years in Chester-Le-Street, volunteering for hospital radio, taking requests, meeting with her local embroidery groups, fending off well meaning daughter, Deena, and caring for her cat Moggins.

Oh, and making bacon and banana sandwiches for the ghost of her son Gabe who has been haunting her for the past year...

When she tunes in to a radio station, Mallet A.M which she had no idea existed, she hears news from the future. Thinking she is losing her marbles or having an extended case of deja vu, she doesn't pay much attention. Until it comes true. Small things happen at first, and then, then comes a murder. And another one.

What I loved so much about this book is how it had you trying to think ahead and work out what is going on, but how do you do that when the story is 6 steps ahead of you?

What the hell is going on?

Having lived in the North East for some years, I got the warmest feeling from reading the dialect which peppers the narrative, it brings the characters closer to the reader and makes you warm to them very quickly.

The mystery of what is going on is the central point of 'Half Past Tomorrow' however, it is Shirley who is the cornerstone of the book. She refuses to go quietly into that good night, but her character really shines a light on what we expect old people to die, simply fade away and die. How do you even approach any kind of authority about the fact you are being haunted by not just the ghost of yet to come, but also of the son you lost ?

As the book goes on, Shirley comes completely into her own and refuses to be pigeon holed as an old biddie with too much time on her hands. this is reflected in how sweary she gets , and how she keeps on fighting her hardest to find the truth of whether it is her mind, or someone playing an exceptionally cruel trick on her.

Who doesn't love being challenged by a novel like this?

This reader is always up for something mind bending and twisty and yet again, Chris delivers the goods and then some!