A Friend In Deed – A Review

Posted on by

I reviewed G D Harper’s ‘Silent Money‘ last month, and was delighted to be invited onto Rachel’s book tour for ‘A Friend In Deed’, by the same author.

Britain: a few years from now. A new populist political party has won the recent general election.

Duncan Jones, freelance political journalist and blogger, loses his weekly column at a national newspaper and turns to investigative reporting. The chance remark of a friend leads him to suspect that the Russians are directing the new British government’s policies and decisions. As he visits Moscow and Ukraine to discover more, scandal follows intrigue, dark forces attempt to silence him by whatever means possible and he turns to an unlikely ally for help.

A Friend in Deed is a fast-paced psychological thriller set in an all-too-believable near future. It is also the story of how one man confronts the traumas in his past and works out how to resolve them.

Review

I delayed starting this book. I enjoyed the last G D Harper novel so much, that I anticipated another page turner. A Friend In Deed was even better than I’d hoped.

An immersive plot takes the story from London to Moscow to Ukraine as journalist Duncan Jones pursues a story of political intrigue. A topical plot line in the current climate, Duncan investigates whether British politics are being influenced by Russian sources. A Friend In Deed draws together a diverse group of characters, each with a part to play. The tension builds slowly, and as the story progresses, a menacing shadow stalks Duncan as he seeks answers. 

The action is set in the near future, and there are links between this story and Silent Money (reviewed here). It’s not essential to read Silent Money first, as G D Harper ensures that the novel stands alone. Consider the connection a bonus thread between the two books. I do commend both stories if you enjoy carefully structured plots which move at pace, grab you from the beginning, and offer emotional depth to the characters.

A Friend In Deed gripped me from start to finish; it is a book which compels you to keep reading, until the conclusion nears. At which point you feel torn between maintaining a brisk reading pace, or slowing down so as not to finish too quickly.

If you’d like to try this one, purchase links are: 

UK – Amazon

US – Amazon

Or UK readers can win copies of all three of G D Harper’s books; details follow below.

Author Bio

I was placed third in the 2015 Lightship Prize for first-time authors, won a 2016 Wishing Shelf Award Red Ribbon, been shortlisted at the UK Festival of Writing for Best First Chapter, longlisted in the 2017 UK Novel Writing Competition.

In 2017, I was one of twelve authors selected for Authors in the Spotlight at the Bloody Scotland book festival in Stirling, showcasing who they considered to be the best emerging talent in crime fiction, and was the only self-published author to be chosen. I have spoken at numerous other book events, including Blackwells’ Writers at the Fringe at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe; a stand-alone slot at the Byres Road Book Festival in Glasgow, and the Aye Write! Book Festival, also in Glasgow. 

I went to Glasgow University in 1975 and lived in the city’s West End, the time and place for the setting of the majority of Silent Money.

Website: www.gdharper.com

Facebook: @gdharperauthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/harper_author

Competition

Giveaway to Win all 3 paperbacks of GD Harper’s Psychological Fiction Trilogy (Open to UK Only).

Prize features all three books, Love’s Long Road, Silent Money and A Friend in Deed

*Terms and Conditions – UK entries welcome.  Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below.  The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure notice: I was gifted a copy of this book in return for a review. All views expressed are my own.