Five people,one hotel room,a dead body in the bathroom and only three hours for Morgan Sheppard to figure out who the killer is amongst them or they are all going to die.That's the simple premise to this intricately plotted tale of deception,secrets,manipulation and revenge.It has more twists and turns and grips the reader just as tightly as the largest,fastest roller coaster.I admit you do have to suspend your imagination at times whilst reading it but hey,it's a fictional story.You want things to be realistic and true to life,go and read a autobiography or something non fictional instead.

The main protagonist of this tale is Morgan Sheppard,alcoholic, drug addict and star presenter of a morning tv show that is a bit like Jeremy Kyle`s show.He`s upset many people over the years but what has he done that would cause someone to go to such extreme lengths to punish him and why does their tormentor insist that Sheppard must be the one who figures out who the killer is? Throughout the story we learn about Sheppard`s life both as a adult and also back in 1992 - 93 when he was a young boy.Out all the characters Sheppard`s is the most fleshed out but the reader is given enough background information about the secondary characters that they felt just as vivid and realistic as Sheppard did. I liked three out of the five other characters who where trapped in the hotel room with Sheppard despite knowing how untrustworthy they were.I felt a bit of sympathy towards the killer once the motivations behind their actions were revealed . Although I enjoyed both parts of the story,my absolute favourite parts where the chapters set in the claustrophobic,highly charged,tension filled hotel room.These parts where so intense,packed with twists,double crosses,mistrust,intrigue and suspense.

This is a very well written debut psychological thriller that had me hooked in from the first page,totally gripped by the mystery and intrigue that was unfolding before my eyes.I would love to watch a film adaptation of this book.Now I have to wait almost a year for Chris McGeorge`s next book Now You See Me which is published on the 21st of Feb 2019.

What a fantastic and thrilling read. Full of plot twists and gasp worthy moments!

This book was an absolute joy to read! I fully enjoyed it and can highly recommend this to anyone!

Chris McGeorge's debut psychological thriller drops the reader into the locked room syndrome with six people amidst whom walks a killer, and a corpse in the bathroom. Morgan Sheppard is a notoriously famous TV resident detective, in a show of a similiar ilk to the ghastly Jeremy Kyle Show, who decides who is telling the truth amongst characters accused of being cheats and more. This is a gig he acquired on the back of his history as a child, when at the tender age of 11 years old, he solved the murder of Mr Jeffries, his Maths teacher at his school, assumed to have hanged himself. His reputation as a young Sherlock Holmes and the TV show have made him wealthy, any qualms about his role are held at bay by his addictions to drink and drugs. He wakes up one day handcuffed to a bed with five other strangers in a hotel room in central London, none of them have any idea how they come to be there or why.

A man in a horse's head mask assigns the task of discovering who killed the man in the bathroom to Sheppard in three hours, and if he fails, everyone in the hotel will be killed in a series of explosions. Sheppard feels a clawing need for drink and drugs, but he has to find the resources to function without them as time presses him to try and identify the murderer amongst his motley collection of companions. The victim, to Sheppard's horror, is well known to him, it is Simon Winter, a psychologist who served as his therapist for numerous years since he was 11 years old. It turns out everyone else knows him or has a connection to him too. From the start Sheppard can feel in his bones that this entire scenario is about him, but his addled brain struggles to penetrate the dense fog of his memories, where it is difficult to discern what is fact and what is fiction in his carefully constructed personal history. Events spiral out of control amidst the occupants of the hotel room as mayhem and suspicion run rampant. Who is behind their predicament and what is their motive?

This is a fast paced, tense and addictive read that has you racing to find out who the killer is, and who is behind the horse's head. Sheppard proves to be the most unreliable of people, a man who has wanted nothing more in his life other than to be famous. As the saying goes, be careful what you wish for, you just might get it. There is twist after twist in the narrative, adding tension and suspense in spades. As the truth begins to become clear, it transpires very little is black and white, it is all dingy depressive shades of grey when it comes to identifying villains from heroes. An edgy, compulsive and entertaining read. Many thanks to Orion for an ARC.

Six people are kidnapped and locked inside a hotel room in Central London. There's a corpse in the bathroom and the killer is one of them. There's no escape. Self-styled 'TV Detective' Morgan Sheppard must solve the crime within three hours or everyone dies. The clock is counting down...

I really enjoyed this gripping debut thriller / whodunit from Chris McGeorge. There were so many unexpected twists and turns. The underlying feeling of anxiety was palpable as the tension intensified. Not all was as it appeared as our six were plunged into a claustrophobic nightmare.

The story is incredibly well-written; it's one of those books that once started, can't be put down. The plot is solid and character development is good. A perfect, modern-day Agatha Christie-esque novel.

Well, this was something a little different, and a bit strange. But surprisingly compelling and thoroughly satisfying at the end. It's a rather convoluted plot to tell the truth so you do need your wits about you, especially as the majority of the cast are, shall we say, all a bit weird in their own ways. Yes it's a bit bizarre all told, a bit of belief has to be suspended along the way, but when all was said and done, it did all work out. And the cast, well, lets just say that this book is jammed full of secrets, lies and duplicitous behaviour so I will just say, don't take anything on face value, and most importantly, don't trust anyone.
So, our main character, Morgan Sheppard, wakes up in a hotel room. He is handcuffed to the bed. As he slowly starts to come around and starts to look around him, he is shocked to find he is not alone. There are five strangers in the room with him. More than that though as they soon discover, there is also a dead guy in the bathroom. If that wasn't enough, they receive a chilling message. He, Sheppard, has just three hours to solve the crime and name the murderer. Failure would mean death for all, more than just them in fact as the intention is to blow up the whole hotel. This should be easy for Sheppard as he once solved a murder at the ripe old age of eleven when he discovered the suicide of one of his teachers to really be murder and solved it to boot. Well, that and the fact that he is currently the "resident detective" on a prime time TV show. But things don't quite go according to plan as the time swiftly ticks down with no progress being made and more questions coming than answers. Can Sheppard unmask the killer before time runs out?
Boy this book kept delivering sucker punch after sucker punch. As the Monkees once said; "today there is no black or white, only shades of grey" and it will do you good to remember this! There are clues along the way but the author does a great job of obscuring them with drama and mayhem so they are easily lost in all the noise.
As well as following the action in the present we also get flashbacks to the past which add both information and context. We start to see how all the "strangers" fit together, some links being more tenuous than others and the bigger picture soon starts to come together nicely.
And what a picture to be revealed. Oh my, how intricate and convoluted and interconnected it all turned out to be. It's a story that has many elements that separately would probably not have ended this way but, when all put together, it's easy to see how things spiralled out of control.
I am so glad that I started this book on a day when I had nothing major planned. To say that I found it hard to put down would be an understatement indeed. I had so many things buzzing round my head throughout and I got myself in such a pickle with trying to follow the clues and guess the end that I eventually just gave up and let the author and the characters just lead me towards the big reveal. And when we got there, I was gobsmacked! Well done that author, take a bow.
I'm always shocked when a really great read turns out to be a debut book but on this occasion it just blew me away. Not only is it a wholly satisfying, cracking read but, for a debut, it is also very brave and indeed impressive. He has definitely set the bar very high for his next book to follow. One that I will definitely be looking out for with eager anticipation.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.