Scoop

by Eva Reddy

Scoop ………. Lesbian Thriller (2015) Elkie Kransky was just six years old when a man grabbed her older brother, Bryan, from a playground near their home in Perth, Western Australia. He’d yelled for her to run and not to look back and she’d done as he’d ordered; running straight home to tell her mother. Bryan was never seen again and Elkie’s distraught mother was unable to cope with his loss. She sent Elkie to boarding school and told her “…it was for her own safety.” A six-year-old Elkie assumed this meant the man might come back for her, too. Now a grown woman. Elkie has become a nationally respected investigative reporter, writing for newspapers across Australia and internationally. She investigates and exposes pedophiles and paves the way for the justice system to deal with them. But the ‘law is an ass’ and in Elkie’s opinion so is Detective Sergeant Steven Jolly of the Major Crimes Squad. Legal trickery and police bungles provide a means for some of these men to slip through the legal system and receive minimal if any punishment. A new investigation leads Elkie to mother of two, Leila White with whom she falls instantly and hopelessly in love. Unfortunately, the door is slammed shut on what might have become a beautiful friendship when Leila’s son dies from an overdose of veterinary tranquilizers. Elkie later discovers the overdose the young boy took had been traded for sex with a pedophile veterinarian. The vet insists the drugs had been stolen and it’s difficult to prove otherwise. Incensed and frustrated by the injustice of it all, Elkie begins to plot how she might dispense justice on behalf of the victims. Unable to save her own brother, perhaps she can save someone else’s. She’s not afraid of bad men anymore – bad men are afraid of her. And so they should be. Available from Amazon and all reputable book outlets. www.amazon.com/author/evareddy

Genres: LGBT, Lesbian, Fiction, Mystery

530 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 18, 2015

About the author

Available from - amazon.com/author/evareddy

".... Eva Reddy has written a hot erotic book that will get your heart pumping....." - Heather Bennett - Curve Magazine & Lesbians on the Loose Magazine

"'Coffee Breaks' is a book which plunges you into lesbian erotic art. ...the hottest book I ever read..." - E-Li - The Lez Review - Lezbelib Magazine

"This delicious and well written collection of lesbian erotica is as yummy as a well-blended latte." "...there are plenty of plot twists in this unique, sexy book." - Marissa Cohen - On The Shelves, She Magazine

Eva lives in a small city in the south of Western Australia where she enjoys an early retirement and lives with her soul mate and life-partner of 30 years.
Writing serves as a distraction from her daily humdrum and provides for useful conversation topics when chatting with her best friend and Beta-reader, (who lives almost 2,500 miles away) via the Internet.
Her interests include: her wife, woodwork, gardening, reading, writing and lovingly renovating their little cottage.

Reviews

[AnnMaree Of Oz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is currently free/0.00 on amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Scoop-Eva-Redd...

This was a hard one to rate, there were things I liked, but a lot I didn't, but the journey and reveals toward the end, were also brave and heart-wrenching, so it's a mixed bag.

My biggest issue is seemingly the blurb not really telling us properly about the story. While it gives us a backstory for our MC, quite a lot about it isn't much acknowledged in the actual plot. It's almost like it's always there, but it never goes deeper. Then there's an end reveal, but it doesn't quite make sense. (I have many questions.)

I basically hated the 'best friend' character of Julie, who was constantly having sex with anything that moved, and bragging in detailed ways about it to MC Elkie - often times she felt predatory herself. The relationship that our MC Elkie ends up having, doesn't even start until welllll over halfway in the story, and I personally felt didn't get explored enough and went from zero to full on very quickly. It also rubbed me the wrong way that the love interest seemingly didn't really know Elkie, truly. There's reveals that are simply left hanging, and I honestly wouldn't trust Elkie to stop what she was doing.

We get heaps (and I do mean HEAPS) of tiny minutiae details of Elkie's everyday goings on, to the point I often skimmed. How many times do I have to read her going for a run, verbally abusing the local swan at the pond, dealing with a bruise that seems to stick around for half a year - and having her special Colombian Coffee. I get there are quirks and idiosyncrasies, but this just didn't come off fully for me. Something about how it's written just not hitting for me?

This deals with horrible things, paedophiles and our MC is an investigate journalist who really has a bee in her bonnet about them, because of her abducted brother. But the thing is, I didn't feel we really got her insight there. How it really effected her. How it has monopolized her entire life. How it became an obsession. Again, I get that is probably part of the story, the MC's own lack of understanding on her part, and how she's spiraling into more desperate territory with the story.

But I found her very difficult to root for. Or even care about. I didn't really see her as self-sacrificing, or noble. It just didn't ever fully 'work' for me.

So I'll leave it there.

[Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now *that* was an interesting book. Takes guts to write what was written here IMO. Around the halfway mark things take a decidedly downward turn in terms of morality. If it weren't for the ending this would have been a 2-3 star book for me. But the twist at the end was one I never saw coming so I have to bump it up just for the pure brilliance of it. I would have liked this a *whole* lot better if the MC's were on the same page for more than a minute or two every 50 pages. As far as the crime drama aspect of it, it does drag at times but overall wasn't bad. I will say though, it was a pretty unique read.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75⭐️

[karen fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book in an unusual way.
I found a lot to like about this book but also a lot that did not quite work. There were parts that I felt needed a lot more expanding upon so that the reader could fully understand why Elkie was doing what she did. Also the ending, I felt, that although there was an unexpected twist, was a bit rushed. Nothing about this book had been rushed until the end so it didn't sit quite right. It made a pleasant change to read a lesbian thriller as thrillers are a go to genre for me but I don't particularly want to be reading about the male dominated heterosexual relationships in them.
Overall I would say we'll done Eva Reddy and I shall be trying another of your books.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

good read!

I wish I had not put reading this book off for so long because it was quite good. It turned into a faster read than I anticipated. I could not put it down. AND, it certainly did not end in the way that I expected. Good book Eva Reddy!

[Frances Bell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book

The 1st Book a read from this author I like to storyline In the characters It was a Book I will read more of this authors books I like her writing I read it in 2 days And I wasn't expecting the ending I recommend this book