Zooloo's Book Tours | Legacy of Guilt by L.J. Morris

 

Today I join the wonderful 

to talk about a new book out this week, Legacy of Guilt by L. J. Morris. A bit of a departure for me in that this is an espionage thriller. The book is out on 2nd August 2022 and is published by Dead Edge Press. 

So, let's take a look at what the book's about:

Overview

The latest espionage thriller from L. J. Morris, the best-selling author of the Ali Sinclair series.

When photographs of a missing Russian missile scientist show he is still alive, and a Soviet era nuclear warhead goes missing in Iraq, ex-marine Logan Palmer must track them both down before the Plutonium can be turned into a devastating, terrorist weapon. But, with thousands of lives at risk, Palmer doesn’t realise that the only person in the world he cares about is the one that’s in the most danger. Neither does he know whether he'll survive long enough to save anyone.

As you can guess with the name, thriller novels are not particularly my forte, but for some reason I was quite drawn to this one. Now I do read outside the genres that I mainly read and will like anything if it's good. And guess what? Legacy of Guilt is pretty good! I enjoyed it!

The story revolves around our main two heroes, Logan Palmer, a security specialist who in the prologue is the security detail for a famous climate change scientist who gets assassinated, and subsequently drops off the face of the earth when he retires.

The second protagonist is Anna Riley, an MI5 data analyst who has fallen on hard times, engaged in problematic alcohol and substance use, and is basically a wash up on the verge of getting fired, but finds herself given one more chance by the head of MI6, Edward Townsend, and his second in command Vicky Thomson. Anna gets given the chance to prove herself by bringing Logan Palmer out of retirement and hopefully infiltrating his old Security Company as they have some possible links to a terrorist plot.

Now, throughout the book there are plenty of twist and turns, but in all honesty, they didn't come across as big shockers, and the plot was kind of familiar. However, this is not a criticism, but for me was one of its strengths. It didn't try to introduce outlandish plot twists, it was solid and it worked!

I think one of the things that the book had in its favour, was the fact that the characters were likeable and I immediately engaged with them. Palmer is a typical action hero, but he comes with no frills. He does the job and gets things done. He shows respect to his counterparts and is just generally nice. He does muck up early in the book, but he recovers and goes back to his normal self. Similarly, with Anna Riley. Yes, she has her problems, she similarly mucks up, falls down but then gets back up again.

Now when it comes to the antagonists of the story, again they are quite predictable, and not that nuanced in their motives, but sometimes life is like that. There isn't a subtle reason for the deeds of others, sometimes it is just plain and simple, and I think this worked well in the book,

Now, I thought that one of the things that I have to mention is LJ Morris's writing style. The prose is quite clipped and there is not long descriptive pieces about motivations or the different environments that the characters were in. However, as Palmer zips around the world, you were never lost in the book.. The world building wasn't particularly elaborate, and I have to say I really liked that aspect, as on the whole LJ Morris focused on the plot of the story. In addition to that, the supporting characters were equally good (or bad) and they maintain their roles throughout the story. I liked the addition of Finn later in the story and she added to the dynamic of the two main characters.

In terms of plot, again, LJ Morris didn't really deviate from point A to point B. It was always mapped out for the reader and in that it added to my enjoyment. I always knew where the story was going and LJ Morris keeps the pace and the action quite constant throughout the book, and I never felt that at any point the plot lulled.

In conclusion, I really enjoyed this book, and it had me turning the pages at a rate of knots to find out what happens next. Good plot, good characters, good book. Job done!

Author Bio 

L. J. Morris was born in Cold War, West Germany, but grew up in the North of England. During his childhood, books were always an important part of his life. He read everything he could get his hands on but always found himself drawn towards the thriller genre. At 16, eager to see the world he had read about, he left school and spent most of the 80s and 90s serving in the Royal Navy.

After his military service, he continued to live and work across Europe, The USA, and Southeast Asia for several more years. It was during this time that his love of storytelling resurfaced. He jotted down ideas, using the locations he found himself in as a backdrop, and added in details from his own experiences to make the stories feel authentic.

He now lives back in the North of England, with his wife and two sons, where he still works in the defence industry. His short stories have appeared in several anthologies and the first of his Ali Sinclair thriller novels, Desperate Ground, was published in 2018 by Bloodhound Books. The sequel, Hunting Ground, followed a year later.

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If you are interested in the book you can buy it here