Jesus H Christ!! This book, I was completely on edge reading this, I didn’t know how it would turn out! The inclusion of the miles really added to the anticipation and waiting to see who would be at the rest table.

At some points, I thought Molly was a fantasist and was imagining some characters such as Zara. The different timelines added to my initial thoughts, these also added to the intensity of the race as it builds.

Towards the end, I did guess who was behind it, but not the hows and whys, but this added to my enjoyment as I raced 😏 to get to the end.

This author really can do no wrong, twist upon twists and turn, this and his other books need to be on your TBR.

BLOG TOUR REVIEW


Review for 'Every Step You Take' by M.A Hunter

Read and reviewed via NetGalley for M. A Hunter, Boldwood Books, Bold Book Club, Book And Tonic and Rachel's Random resources Tours.

Publication date 28th March 2024

This is the second book I have read by this author. I have also read 'Adrift' which I would also highly recommend!!

This novel consists of 52 chapters and an epilogue. The chapters are short to medium in length so easy to read 'just one more chapter' before bed...OK, I know yeah right, but still just in case!

This book is an extremely well written book by this amazing author which had me hook line and sinker!!! It is so smoothly and exceptionally well written with vivid descriptions I completely forgot I was even reading a book a few times. The blurb, title and cover really fit the storyline. Hunter has created an absolutely explosive and addictive storyline that had me hooked from the gripping first chapter to the absolutely shocking ending!!! The storyline was unique to me as I have never read a book where the main character is a runner especially with one that is training for the Olympics so a huge well done to Hunter immediately for coming up with a unique storyline! i have read hundreds of books so it is harder and harder to find one with a different storyline to many others but Hunter managed it with this one. In this book we meet Molly who dreams of competing for her country at the Olympics. In order for Molly to do this she needs to complete the London Marathon. However, after a series of injuries she is not in best physical condition although her coach believes in her. It isn't just her physical health that has taken a battering though but her mental health has taken one after anonymous phone calls and an unexpected gift of her mothers favourite flowers turning up with a note stating the sender is behind her all the way. Molly is convinced it her previous stalker Otto but the police insist that Otto is still locked away safely in a German prison after stalking her and other women. Has Otto managed to escape or has he sent someone to terrify her in his place? Is Molly going to be safe running in the marathon? Will Molly be able to live her dream or is someone going to put an end to it? Well, grab your copy of this gripping page turner today to find out!! The fact that Hunter has done his research clearly shines through the book so a huge well done Hunter!! There is not much worse than when an author does little or even no research into their chosen topic as it then litters the story with unnecessary mistakes and can destroy what could otherwise be an excellent read but Hunter has avoided this by doing plenty of research. I love the fact that he has written it with multiple timelines with the reader discovering what happened in Molly's past as well as running along with her in the race. Hunter has woven the chapters in different timelines together perfectly and smoothly ensuring the reader knows just enough information that he wants them to know without giving anything away until he is ready to. His evocative writing skills ensures that the reader feels that they are running the marathon along with Molly with their heart race picking up, not only due to the running pace but also with the fear and anxiety that Molly is feeling throughout the storyline. I found it to be scarily realistic, very fast paced and I read it in just several hours!!!Its so hard to NOT say anything more about the storyline as it will give too much away and spoil it for future readers but it definitely left me speechless!!! I have read hundreds of psychological books and it gets harder and harder to keep my interest and to shock me but these fantastic authors managed it hook, line and sinker Just brilliant fair play and all links in and wraps up perfectly!!! MA Hunter leads the readers up to some extremely explosive twists that I would never have seen coming. I cannot remember the last time I flew through a book so quickly. Each and every time I went to put it down to do something my fingers were itching to pick it back up as I just HAD to know what happened next!! MA's evocative writing skills ensure you are sucked deep into the storyline seeing everything that is happening and feeling the tension, stress and suspense that Molly is going through. My heart was in my throat throughout reading this fast paced, gripping and gritty psychological thriller! I can't say more than that as I don't want to spoil it for future readers so if you want to know you'll have to grab yourself a copy!! You won't regret it!!

Just like with the storyline the characters come to life with Hunter's fantastic writing skills. They are well rounded, realistic and strong making them all the more believable. It is going to be extremely hard for me to say too much about the characters as I really don't want to give too much away and due to there only being a limited amount of suspects it is way too easy to slip up. All the characters had their own unique personalities. I was kind blown when everything came out.I won't go into more details as I don't want to risk giving anything away but Hunter really has done an exceptional job constructing an addictive and explosive psychological thriller with fantastic and varied characters that you just won't be able to put down!! Regardless of whether you loved or hated them they each worked perfectly together to create this chilling and nail biting action packed thriller that you will not be able to put down!!

Congratulations MA Hunter on yet another explosive success!!! This is the reason you are in my favourite author club!! Here's to many more successes 🥂!!!

Clear your schedules before picking this up as you will not be able to put it down!!! "

Make sure you read to the very end of the book to read the first chapter of Hunter's 'Adrift' which I have actually read myself and would highly recommend!!!

Overall an absolutely page turning, addictive, gripping and explosive must read that will keep you addicted from the very start to the fantastic ending!!!

338 pages.

This book is just 99p to purchase on kindle via Amazon, free with kindle unlimited and £9.99 in paperback at time of review which I think is an absolute bargain for this book!!!

Rated 5/5 (I LOVED it ) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Amazon US and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook.

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What an intriguing plot with a runner being stalked during the London Marathon.

Told in past and present, the story is centered around Molly Fitzhume, an almost Bronze medalist at 2021’s Olympic Games in Tokyo. She is rehabilitating from an injury and a horrible scare and hopes to place in the London Marathon to go for the gold in Paris. Unfortunately, her past rears its ugly head when she starts getting signs that her stalker is back, but he’s in prison. So, who is determined to destroy her?

The London Marathon is a race that will make or break Molly’s run for the Olympics, and time and people are working against her. Molly’s tension and fear slowly increase as she races towards the finish line with a potential killer on her tail. I’m impressed with Molly’s stamina and dexterity in talking on the phone, avoiding several mishaps, and keeping her sanity while running in a race. It’s a miracle she makes it as far as she does.

One can’t help but root for Molly as she works so hard to be the best she can be. That mindset and her exceptional bravery keep her going. However, it was frustrating that many of her friends and supporters didn’t believe her at first due to her past paranoia.

In typical psychological thriller fashion, there are several suspects to choose from and a gripping build to the ultimate reveal.

If you’re looking for a story that will keep you hooked until the end, you should read this book.

Thank you to Ms. Hunter for giving me the opportunity to read this book with no expectation of a positive review.

A 26 mile marathon had me intrigued how on earth this story would pace (pardon the pun) itself and be the thriller it claims.

I actually felt like I was running the marathon along side Molly and feeling the tension and stresses of her stalker playing mind games with her. The frantic phone calls to her contact at the police, the creepy mechanical laughing on the other line to the photos of her during the race - how could her stalker be doing all this from behind bars??

Molly so thinks that he has help on the outside and starts to doubt her teammates only who is in cahoots with her stalker? The threats to her and the other runners are getting more intense the more miles she run, Can she find out who it is before it’s too late?

This was one of those intense reads that had you guessing the wrong person was behind it all until the last minute and I love it!

Molly has a dream, a dream of competing for her country at the Olympics. All that stands between her and heading to Paris 2024 is qualification which means running the London Marathon. She’s been hit by injury after injury so her physical preparation hasn’t been the ideal but her (rather attractive) coach believes she can do it.

But marathon training isn’t just about being in peak physical fitness, it’s about having the right mental attitude. Molly’s psyche has taken a battering with a stalker … a stalker who is incarcerated a stalker who has reappeared in her life on the morning of the race. Talk about knocking your focus.

Chapter by chapter, I’m running around London with Molly doing the famous 26.2 miles. But then Hunter will leave me on a cliffhanger and drag me back to the months leading up to the big day, to events that rocked Molly’s psyche and disrupted her preparation. Despite trying to piece together the who from the clues in the past, I was desperate to get back to my cliffhanger!

I raced through Every Step You Take, glued to my kindle. Unlike Molly, I wasn’t running a marathon – it felt like the 110 metre hurdles with some smooth running before having to leap over the obstacles in my way whilst trying to work out who was tormenting Molly. And oooooffff what a climax!!!! It’s a stonking read from Hunter, thankfully it’s not put me off my own running but I won’t be entering a marathon anytime soon 😂

A fast read that kept me riveted. You could feel the dread and paranoia through the pages. A marathon runner contends with a stalker while trying to qualify for the Olympics. One last marathon…will she make it?

Thank you Netgalley for this arc

Thoroughly enjoyed this suspenseful book. It was dark and quite chilling at times and an incredibly clever story. Highly recommended xx

Every Step You Take by M.A. Hunter

I received an advance review copy for free thanks to Rachel's Random Resources and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Blurb

Run for your life... This year's London Marathon is my last chance to win the final place on the Olympic team. The months of rehabilitation after my injury will feel worth it to cross that line.

But I wasn't expecting the man who's been making my life a living hell to be there. Last I knew, my stalker was behind bars, but he says he's going to be at the race watching.

I have 26 miles to figure out whether it's him, and what he wants, or I could lose more than just the race.

A taut psychological thriller, perfect for fans of Teresa Driscoll, TM Logan and Daniel Hirst.

My Opinion

This book took me a while to read, it wasn't that I didn't enjoy it, but after my last M.A. Hunter book I really felt that this book deserved being read slowly. I have never really thought about what it takes to run a marathon, but this book is definitely packed with details about training and how gruelling the race actually is. Molly is trying to qualify for the Olympics in Paris and the majority of this book takes place as she runs the 26.2 miles of the London Marathon, but there are also flashbacks explaining the stalker situation.

Whilst reading this you will easily feel the tension, and in places I actually felt like I was the one being watched. If you are looking for a psychological thriller I would recommend giving this a read.

Rating 4/5

This is a well-crafted psychological thriller with twists and turns towards it’s conclusion.
Molly has been training trying to qualify for the Paris Olympics in 2024. During this time she has thwarted the attempts of a stalker, who is now in jail and has also recently overcome a back injury.
The London Marathon is the last chance Molly will have to qualify for the GB team and attain her dreams of being at the Paris Olympics.
The novel is set in 2 different timelines which are clearly defined and easy to follow.
The plot was good and mostly enjoyable with a very classic crime thriller theme.
There was a menacing undercurrent running through the book. The mile by mile London Marathon setting added to the atmosphere. I really felt for Molly has her body started to break down, whilst at the same time her mind was dealing with messages and threats from an unknown source.
The characters were interesting, well developed and richly drawn in this intriguing and original novel.
Even though the plot is a little implausible, the constant messaging, phone calls etc, it’s so well written and well executed that it gripped me and I really needed to know what was happening.
Extremely entertaining it kept me turning pages way past bedtime.
Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley UK for the ARC.

alright. this book was real good. i super enjoyed it. the characters are chef's kiss. the plot is mr. darcy level fantastic. the writing is tortured poets department wonderful. all the things and more for this book. read it!!!

When I first started reading this, I couldn't figure out how a book that takes place almost entirely during a marathon could hold my attention, but amazingly, M. A. Hunter maintains the tension throughout. Imagine running to achieve your lifelong goal of qualifying for the Olympics, but there's a stalker who ramps up his efforts on race day! I didn't know whether to root for Molly or to shout at her to cut her losses and quit the race.

And right along with Molly, I suspected everyone in the book.

The only thing I found a little jarring was that Molly was able to take calls, make calls, take screenshots, and text from her phone and watch during the race of her life. But it definitely added to the critical scenes and the sense of nearness of her stalker.

Thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for this suspenseful thriller!

This book was very intense and very readable. I could feel the tension coming off the pages in waves as I read it. A really great thriller. I could feel the main characters pain. My thanks to netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

Molly is recovering from a serious back injury and is set to run the London Marathon in order to qualify for the Olympics. On top of that Molly has a stalker. He has been arrested and sent to prison. But why is she still getting threatening messages?

M.A. Hunter is great at sucking the reader in. I have read many of his books and this was true of all of them.

Even though I am not a runner, I could almost feel my feet pounding the pavement throughout the race. The suspense was intense all the way until the end of the book. I could feel Molly's determination, pain and fear.

This was a fast read that I finished in half a day.

Looking forward to his next book.

Thanks to netgalley and Boldwood Books for the arc.

First, I want to thank M.A. Hunter, Bookouture and NetGalley for providing me with this book so I may bring you this review.

WOW!!! My heart was literally beating out of my chest reading M.A. Hunter’s Every Step You Take! Man oh Man was it wickedly intense! M.A. created such a creative and unique storyline that was written outside of the box.

The cover graphics for this book was spot on to the concept of the book.

One of the reasons I wanted to read this book was that my Brother In Law Benton (from San Francisco) ran the London Marathon years ago. I thought it would be a fun read.

M.A. gives an inside look from a runners perspective what it is like to participate in a marathon. He shows us not tells us all the deep emotions that Molly is feeling.

Every Step You Take had its fair share of creepy vibe due to the stalker. All throughout the book I had the Police's song Every Step You Take in my head.

A mystery set in the world of competitive running, this book had a good pace and sense of menace throughout the story. The main character is a young woman named Molly who is training for the Olympics. Molly has had a difficult few years including the sudden death of her mother, a back injury requiring surgery and a stalker. The stalker was a man posing as an orthopedic doctor and it took Molly awhile to figure out the doctor sending her advice was really a scammer using the real doctor's information. After the stalker was arrested Molly is training for the London marathon but still feels like someone is watching her. The majority of the book is from Molly's viewpoint from the starting point of the race until the end and the author did a good job of showing us Molly's thoughts and actions during each leg/mile of the marathon. In between the current sections we hear about Molly's life as it was affected by the stalker and how her manager and trainer keep telling her she is imagining things.

I did find it hard to believe Molly could send and receive dozens of messages, answer texts and take screenshots of threats she received as she was running. I would think most runners would not be paying attention to calls at all. As Molly continued in the race, a person keeps sending her threats that she cannot finish the race or she will die. Has her stalker escaped from prison or is this someone else? I thought the twist was very obvious and would have liked more background on Molly and the person who was targeting her but I did like this novel. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this ARC in exchange for a review.

This is a great psychological thriller.
Molly has been living in fear as a stalker has been making her everyday life hell.
She is training to take part in the 2024 Olympics and when she’s about to leave for the London Marathon, she finds an unexpected gift outside her hotel room.
Molly knows her stalker has now been caught and is in prison but the gift really unsettles her.
When she starts the race she is inundated with calls and messages from a withheld number, so she’s convinced he’s out of prison.
The messages become more and more threatening but with her dream of the Olympics on the line, she’s determined to finish the race.
It took me a while to get into this book as running and sport isn’t really my thing, but the story soon grabs hold of you as it’s more about Molly and her fight to survive.
Thanks to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Molly's experience of the race, running and everything that leads up to it was very well written and I was concerned for her and felt invested in her life. Immersive.

Thanks to M.A. Hunter and Rachel's Random Resources for my eARC in exchange for an honest and voluntary review.

3.5 stars

Molly is determined to reach her goal of running for the Olympic team but first she needs compete in the London marathon to secure her place.
A very tough challenge indeed.
The one problem that Molly has to face is her stalker!
She thought that he had been caught but how that she is receiving gifts and threatening messages, has her stalker been released or is this someone completely different?

After a slow start I really enjoyed reading this book. I liked the way the 5 month back story was told using alternate chapters with the marathon Whicker kept the reader fully immersed in both storylines at the same time. I did find find there was a certain amount of poetic licence about Mollys running ability fro a timing aspect , but it was required for the story to work.

This was the first book by this author. It didnt disappoint and will read more from the author.

This book had an interesting plot and the main Character was easy to like. Molly is a marathon runner and is hoping to qualify for the British Olympics. When she is ready to run the marathon she finds out her stalker is out of prison and also in the marathon.

i enjoyed the story and would recommend this to other readers.

Thanks NetGalley for letting me read and review.