Helen J. Christmas

It had been 12 years since a young, frightened and pregnant Eleanor had fled London to escape the men who had murdered the man she loved. She vowed to "create a society where everyone will be able to live in safety", and thought she had found just the place to raise her son until several deadly men "stepped out of one horrific chapter in her life only to jump into another without warning". They were determined to ruin the lives of the people she loved and who helped her when she needed them most. How can she repay their kindness when her knowledge of a deadly conspiracy in the 70s could put everyone in danger?

See my complete review at The Eclectic Review … (meer)

London, 1972. Sixteen-year-old Eleanor Chapman’s life of living comfortably and attending boarding school is about to change for the worst. As the daughter of Oliver “Ollie” Chapman, right-hand man to Sammie Maxwell, organized crime boss, she is in grave danger as her father goes into hiding and leaves her in the hands of strangers. Her inner strength to escape a brothel, save a prisoner there who was about to get killed, and run from the man who wants her father dead, is beyond her young years. As she hides out with the young man she saves, they fall in love, and make plans to escape London forever, but who can they trust? Will she see her father again?

Twenty-two-year-old Jake Jansen was in the wrong place at the wrong time. His band, “Free Spirit” was growing in popularity and while scheduled to play at a gala for a controversial politician, he witnesses preparations for what leads to a car bombing. Being the only witness, his life is in danger and the people involved are about to kill him when a young girl rescues him and they start fleeing for their lives. After, learning of their pursuers, he swears to protect her at all costs, but can he?

See my complete review at The Eclectic Review … (meer)

Crammed with Eighties references from Margaret Thatcher, Echo & the Bunnymen and Jane Fonda aerobics to Laura Ashley décor, Visions quickly immerses you in the world of Eleanor Chapman. ‘Visions’ is part two of Eleanor’s story which started in the 1970s in ‘Beginnings’ and will ultimately end far into the future. ‘Same Face Different Place’ by Helen J Christmas is an ambitious thriller series focussing on a single gangland incident which has reverberations across the decades. It is a study of how to react to threats and violence, the nature of victimhood, and the power of fighting back.
There are times in ‘Visions’ when it covers old ground from book one, but nevertheless the story slowly reeled me in. After the events of ‘Beginnings’, Eleanor and her son Elijah live in a caravan in a Kent village, safe from the London criminals who threatened them. Their neighbours, James Barton-Wells and his children Avalon and William become close friends. However Westbourne House, the ancestral home of the Barton-Wells family, is crumbling. When the house is declared a ruin and the repairs too expensive for James to pay, a sinister property developer offers to help. All too soon, his nasty son and equally nasty sidekick bring terror to the quiet village as the tentacles of threat from the past find Eleanor’s hiding place.
There are scenes of nasty violence which remind the reader this is not simply a story of petty crime. Eleanor, her family and new friends must face intimidation, assault, sinister stalking and abduction. At the heart of their survival is a defiance born of knowing they are right.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/… (meer)

A teenager abandoned and at the mercy of a 1970s London gang, Eleanor Chapman is the ‘same face’ in the romantic thriller series ‘Same Face Different Place’ by Helen J Christmas. London’s East End is the starting point for the first novel, ‘Beginnings’. Eleanor’s father must disappear from England after killing in a man in a gang war. Sixteen-year-old Eleanor is taken under the wing of her father’s boss, gang leader Sammie Maxwell. And from that point, her life spirals out of control.
Forced to work in a brothel, she escapes and joins up with another teenager-on-the-run, Dutch musician Jake. Together they attract the attention of organised crime gangs and the police. Unsure who is really chasing them, they run from hiding place to hiding place and lose the ability to judge who is trustworthy. Sharing their fears, spending every minute together, Jake and Eleanor live on borrowed time. They fall in love. At times the story takes surprising twists, sometimes the outcomes are a little more predictable. I found it a little difficult to keep track of how time was passing, they seem to fall in love very quickly, and it will be interesting to see if Eleanor’s father re-emerges in the next book.
Inevitably in the first book of a series, there is lots of setting-up, character introduction and exposition. Christmas does a great job creating Seventies colour, the food, the fashions, the neighbourhoods. In a fast-moving story, Christmas writes well about a teenager lost in a large and unforgiving world.
This is an interesting start to a series with a different premise. In book two, ‘Visions’, the action starts in 1985, 12 years after the end of ‘Beginnings’.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/… (meer)