Choked

Brennan & Esposito #4

by Tania Carver

Choked is the fourth high concept thriller from Tania Carver, the international bestselling author of The Surrogate, The Creeper and Cage Of Bones.

Detective Inspector Phil Brennan and criminal psychologist Marina Esposito have just returned from their honeymoon and are spending the Easter weekend in Suffolk with their baby daughter Josephina and Phil's adoptive parents.

But their rural idyll is cruelly destroyed. After a devastating arson attack on the cottage, Josephina goes missing. With Phil in a coma, Marina is alone when she receives the first phone call. The kidnappers say that if Marina ever wants to see her daughter alive again, she has to do exactly what they say ...

Genres: Crime, Thriller, Fiction, Psychological Thriller, Mystery, Mystery Thriller, British Literature

480 pages, Paperback

Published September 13, 2012

About the author

Tania carver is the pseudonym for the husband and wife writing team of Martyn and Linda Waites.

Reviews

[Victoria · Rating 2 out of 5]

After adoring the third book in the Brennan/Esposito series, Cage Of Bones, I eagerly awaited the arrival of my copy of the fourth installment of the series all the way from England. Unfortunately, I set my hopes a bit too high, and this one fell rather flat to me. I simply did not enjoy it nearly as much as I had hoped to. A large part of that was directly due to Phil Brennan’s absence in the book, and the sole focus set on Marina Esposito. Her character’s development never felt very plausible to me (in The Creeper, her second appearance especially) and with her primary role here, I never fully connected to the novel. Marina’s choices in going after her kidnapped, three-year-old daughter never felt very genuine for a woman who works as a police psychologist. And the plot itself - though certainly with its unpredictability - quickly began to feel more ridiculous than realistic. So many extra elements were thrown in - from upping the body count, to random, violent sex. The new characters bordered on the cartoonish - particularly the Golem and the inclusion of the graphic murder of two dogs just pushed the book into a distasteful area. It felt like the authors were reaching to re-create that haunting, eerie and genuinely frightening atmosphere here, but it really missed the mark. I never felt that spine-tingling suspense, just disgust and again, eye-rolling distaste at the “romance” blossoming between two more minor series characters, Anni and Mickey.

The most upsetting part of the entire novel was the way that an obviously mentally handicapped individual was treated - not only by his family, but by the governmental systems as well. This added to some of that unrealistic quality to the plot. And though - with any story that puts a child in danger - there were definitely some suspenseful moments - and more mystery to the plot than previous books in the series - this dramatic tension fell flat because of the characters. Marina continued to annoy rather than engage my interest and though I do plan on continuing on with the series, I am not as anxious for next fall as I originally thought I would be when I first started reading. I hope that this husband and wife team are able to better maintain the atmosphere and plots that the series started out with for future installments.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Will keep this short & sweet Tania Carver is an exceptional writer in this genre , this series gets better each book. Even though I read out of order due to being a library loan I still loved every minute, whatever you do if you have not read Miss Carver yet do yourself a favour & read this series. The Characters are real & believable the suspense is right up there.

[Shona]

The author's writing style is different that most authors I read, especially since they're from England, but I still like it. Their arguments were very clear even with the British slang in there. But the book being a mystery thriller book, it did get confusing every once in awhile with the plot, yet I understood it after awhile. I love how the author balanced how the internal character development if his character Marina Espoito, being a mother who's daughter just got kidnap, with her husband Phil in the hospital in a coma. They made sure to give her the right amount of sadness and anger, to keep the story flowing. They made sure she became stronger and gave her more of a will to get her daughter back as the story went along. But not just her internal character development move the story also her action, when she try to talk to the kidnappers, trying to be logical, and standing up to them. Not just trying to follow their orders but see how far she could push them and how she was gonna get help. I can't wait to see what happens next with the story.

Even though the story's is usually about Phil Brennan, and what he goes through when trying to solve a case seeing it from Marina point of view was interesting. Her being a psychologist gave me a closer look to how their minds work. Her being a psychologist gave me a closer look in her strengths, so knew how to talk to people, know not to freak out when talking to people no matter the situation. But everyone has a weakness, hers was her family. She didn't mind getting kidnap or almost shot, but as soon as you involve her family her mind is clouded and all she can think about is saving her family, no matter what she goes through. Her speaking habits we're believable, because any mother who's child just got kidnap wouldn't care about anything else except for getting their child back. They would even try to negotiate with the kidnappers. Having her husband the a coma also made it believable because she didn't know who she could tell things to and was just trying her best to stay herself and get her daughter back. She was trying to stay strong for her daughter, as she said on page 297 "'we'll meet tonight,' She said, voice as strong as she could make it. 'I got a location.'" This shows how she tried to also stay strong for her daughter. The ending of the story was a bit different from what I was expecting but it flew perfectly with what you learned about the characters from the past four books.

I also love all the Doctor Who references in the book.

[Rick Brindle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the fourth of the Brennan and Esposito series. And it was the most difficult to follow. It starts with an explosion and marina and Phil's daughter is kidnapped. Marina is blackmailed into doing what the bad guys want if she wants her daughter back. And so the story goes on.
I think what was difficult with this one, is that it was hard to work out all of the villains. I think there were three separate sets of bad guys, and that's the problem. Trying to differentiate between them, working out who was who. That aside, there are the usual Tania Carver good bits. I still like the characters, they are believable and everyday. There is lots of suspense and she pulls no punches in illustrating human depravity.
A good read, but hard to follow at times. The first three are better than this one, but it's good enough to make me want to read the next one.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this under the title The Black Road, which I prefer, even if a fair bit of choking happens. Marina, Phil and their daughter are on holiday with his parents when their cottage blows up. Marina is slightly injured, Phil is in a coma, his father is dead and their little girl has disappeared. How is this all connected to an old crime, the perpetrator of which has just been released from prison? It takes a long time to sort out all the threads and some are a bit weak, but it's a page turner and I liked it, though I'm getting a bit tired of the ongoing gruesomeness.

[Sabine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marina Esposito und ihr Mann Phil Brennan sind mit ihrer dreijährigen Tochter Josephina und Phils Eltern Don und Eileen übers Osterwochenende nach Suffolk gefahren, wo sie ein Cottage gemietet haben. Eigentlich sollte es eine schöne Zeit werden für die Familie, doch auch hier findet sie der Terror. Das Cottage fliegt in die Luft und als Marina zu sich kommt liegt sie im Krankenhaus. Phil ist mit schweren Verletzungen im OP und niemand weiß ob er durch kommt - und die kleine Josephina ist verschwunden.

Da klingelt plötzlich ein Telefon in ihrer Handtasche und eine fremde Stimme teilt ihr mit, dass, wenn sie ihre Tochter jemals lebend wieder sehen möchte, sie absofort tut was man ihr sagt. Keine Polizei! Und so stiehlt Marina das Auto einer Kollegin und macht sich alleine daran, ihre Tochter zu retten..


Das Buch verwirrte mich anfangs sehr, denn der Prolog kam aus der Vergangenheit. Das Autorenpaar Martyn und Linda Waites alias Tania Carver hat ihren vierten Teil mit vielen Handlungssträngen eröffnet. Die ersten 100 Seiten war ich sehr verwirrt und wusste mit dem gelesenen Input teils nicht viel anzufangen. Doch mit jeder Seite die ich umblätterte begannen die Puzzleteilchen an ihren Platz zu fallen und nachdem ich die letzte Seite gelesen hatte war ich ernsthaft verblüfft.

Ich hatte Bedenken, dass die Autoren es nicht schaffen, am Ende einen logischen Bogen zu schlagen, doch genau das ist gelungen. Meisterhaft! Nach dem Prolog beginnt das Buch mit dem ersten Teil an Karfreitag und zieht sich über vier Teile hinweg bis Ostermontag. Spätestens ab Teil 3 in der Mitte des Buches konnte ich kaum aufhören zu lesen. Angenehm gemacht haben es die teils nur 1-3seitigen kurzen Kapitel.

Hauptperson ist dieses Mal aber Marina, da Phil nach dem Brandanschlag im Krankenhaus um sein Leben kämpft. Es bleibt an Marina hängen, ihre Tochter zu finden und dabei die Hoffnung nicht aufzugeben, dass sie auch ihren Mann zurückerhält am Ende der Mission. Dieses Mal hat sie es mit extrem vielen durchgeknallten Verrückten zu tun; ein junger Mann bei dem mehr und mehr klar wird, dass man es hier mit einem geistig verwirrten Menschen zu tun hat und dazu Menschen mit seltsamen Neigungen und einem verdrehten Verstand. Lange weiß man gar nicht, wer jetzt hier das Zepter in der Hand hält und am Ende kommt eine - zumindest für mich unvorhersehbare - Wendung, die noch mal ein ganz eigenes Licht auf die Sache wirft.

Quereinsteiger werden sich etwas schwer tun, da die Hauptpersonen eigentlich alle eine Vorgeschichte haben. Sicherlich kann man das Buch alleinstehend lesen aber ich würde dennoch empfehlen auch die drei vorherigen Bände zu lesen:

1) The Surrogate (Entrissen)
2) The Creeper (Der Stalker)
3) Cage of Bones (Stirb, mein Prinz)
4) Choked (nicht übersetzt)

Ein fünfter Band ist bereits angekündigt für September 2013 (The Doll's House) und die kurze Inhaltsangabe lässt mich in freudiger Erwartung auf den Herbst zurück.

Fazit: Ein gelungener und spannender englischer Krimi - Daumen hoch und unbedingte Leseempfehlung!

[Cleopatra Pullen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tania Carver is the pen name of award-winning author Martyn Waites and his wife Linda, and Choked is the fourth book about Detective Inspector Phil Brennan and his wife Marina Esposito, a criminal psychologist. Be warned these books are gruesome but balanced out by flowing storylines so that reading doesn't become a series of bloody events.

This book concentrates more on Marina than Phil, out of necessity since he got caught in a huge explosion at their holiday cottage, an event that coincided with the kidnap of their young daughter, Josephina. Marina is desperate to know what happened to their daughter and the instinct to protect her daughter overrides everything else.

There is complex mixture of characters including the newly released convicted killer, Stuart the man that collects him, Jimmy Cricket, a brother and sister with more than hint of incestuous love and Golam who is paid to kill amongst others. With this mix of characters comes several strands of the story, each time one mystery is solved another is revealed.

So if you like your thrillers with plenty of thrills this is well worth a read.

[Jennifer Nolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. Toward the end even though I knew that Josephina was going to survive I still got nervous about her fate.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was really surprised when I read other reviews for 'Choked' because quite a few were negative. Yet, I would say that this is the book that I have enjoyed most in the series. Yes, there were some elements that were 'lacking' but overall it was well paced, progressive and different to those before and after it.

I really enjoyed that characters other than Phil were able to have their own voices and more of a role. It was great seeing how they reacted without Phil constantly around. There is usually a lot of internal hero worship of Phil, so it was great to take a break from that for a while.
I don't like Marina as a character, but I still found the plot interesting because I got to see other sides to her. She lost her polish and she became more relatable in her panic.

The 'bad guys' were a little off in this novel and were the element that let it down. The whole plot seemed to be quite tenuous and on weak foundations. The bad guys were more like cartoon villains than bad guys suitable for the crime concerned in this novel. The 'twist' was not much of a twist, because I'd already guessed at it. The introduction of The Golem was really superfluous. He even had a full backstory and traits but he added nothing. His only purpose was to rip things, people and animals apart and to be a physical bad guy because the others were too rich to dirty their hands.

My favourite element of this book, and this whole series, is really that no one is safe. It doesn’t matter if you are a main character, a supporting character or even an only mentioned once character. You can be killed off. I've read later novels in this series before these earlier ones, so I know that many others have suffered the same fate. It keeps the book genuinely interesting. You don't know if they are in a truly dangerous situation and could be killed, or whether they will make it out alive. I love that. It is very George R.R. Martin…

Loved the novel, and I cannot wait to read more about Phil, Marin and the team.

[ROBERT KINGHAM · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extraordinary work

This is for all four of the special work of Tanya Carver. These we are told are revised, renamed works of Brennan, Dr Esposito and there friends and Challenges. They are long books. Long on plot and character. Thank goodness this is so. They allow rich and intricate and delicious detail. I begin to wonder why women are so good at writing male detectives. There are several, including Ms Carver and Jane Adams, who do so most convincingly. This tells me they are good writers. Out of the ordinary for sure. Ms Carver assures us there are more to come in this series. I hope so. So do read them, enjoy, and as this author reminds us, eat all the sandwiches.

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Boy did I have a hard time trying to find the 4th book in the series. Finally was able to find it.

This book had a lot of disturbing events in it but I just find it so crazy how well the authors tie everything together.

THis book didn't really involve Phil, which was a nice change, since it focused on Marina. I loved how they brought back an old case to have a new story. Definitely very twisted.

Overall a hard to put down book even with some of the cringy parts. This series gets twisty like a Dean Koontz book but with a thriller/mystery aspect to it.

[Rick Brindle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book number four in the Brennan and Esposito series. In this one, a ghost of Marina's past comes back to haunt her, leading to the usual murders and complicated dynamics. At least in this instalment, though, there aren't any bent coppers, although there is the usual body-count among the good guys is as high as ever. These books certainly don't advertise a long career in policing.
As with the earlier novels, the interior monologues could do with some major pruning, and Phil's music tastes while driving, we kind of get the message.

[Rebecca Fowkes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fantastic book from Tania Carver.
I'm not reading them in order I just read them as I get them but I really enjoy the books.

Because I've read her latest one The Lost Girl and I know that Phil and Marina's girl Josephina is it that one so I knew that their daughter would be alright, but as I started to read this book I forgot about The Lost Girl book and was on tender hooks hoping that theybget their little girl back and that Phil would be alright.

Really enjoyed it.

[Lyndsey Gollogly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew it was going to be a good book! Didn’t have the grit the 3rd one did but still didn’t disappoint. It starts with a bang literally the cottage Phil , Marina their daughter and Phil’s parents were staying in explodes. Killing Phil’s dad and leaves little Josephine missing, all parents worst nightmare especially with a past like Marinas. This was another explosive instalment in the series. A few twists at the end and full on drama. Really recommend this series it always delivers.

[Julie Round · Rating 3 out of 5]

I couldn't really get into this book and only realised when I had finished that it was part of a series. Perhaps this is why I did not really care what happened to the characters. I liked the description of the geographical areas and the old house and the large man was an interesting personality but without starting from book one I could not say I felt moved by the story.

[jo freeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A real page turner, on the edge of your seat thriller. A new author for me and was hooked from the start. Absolutely great meaty characters and a plot that itches to be unravelled till two thirty in the morning.
Will definitely be looking for Cage of Bones, The Surrogate and The Dolls House on the bookshelves locally.

[Tertia · Rating 2 out of 5]

The further along this series I get, the more disappointed I am. This book has too many characters to get a hold of, many with similar names too, confusing at times. And Marina is simply the most annoying character of them all. The ending seems rushed as if the author was in a hurry to just get it over with.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely need your brain working on this one. An explosion at Phil and Maria's holiday cottage leaves 1 dead and their daughter missing. Who are the kidnappers and what has a just released prisoner got to do with any of it. Always pretty fast paced, Tania Carvers Brennan and Espositi series just gets better.

[Alicia Gard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall I'm giving this 3 and a half stars due to the somewhat predictable plot and the killing of a character I liked. But I also liked that they brought Marina's brother into the story and the supporting characters were featured. Onto the next book in the series!

[Charity · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the 4th book in this series and I’ve read the first three as well. It’s kind of hard to give a fair rating because I’ve grown to love the characters so much that I’m invested in what’s happening next. I’m still anxiously turning pages which says something!

[Es the Book Hoarder · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one, but it was difficult to follow. I was torn between 'how can this happen after everything they've been through' and 'oh ffs this is ridiculous' but in the end it is a good story. Enjoyable, good pace and a good sequel

[Rosherzzz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. It was so gripping right from the off, with plot twists and cute romance snuck in. This book didn’t mess about. Would recommend to anyone who likes the fast paced, addictive novels.

[mkbeard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Keep you up at night,

Read all 4 of these ,unputdownable books in sequence ,once you open them you have to finish them they grip you,long may they continue ,they left me wanting more.

[Sarah Staddon-Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great page turner of a read. The short snappy chapters kept the book flowing and wanting you to read just one more. Fast paced. Only disappointment was the predictable ending

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly frightening story of fear and loss
Highly recommended!

[Nicky Mottram · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW 😯 another fantastic read!! This series just gets better and better! Highly addictive and unputdownable!!!

[Lise · Rating 4 out of 5]

ok,, this book was so confusing as to who was who in the beginning,, I was wondering if maybe the author had forgot some parts,,but it ended up being an interesting book,,

[Judy Nel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favourite author of crime after Chris Carter

[Cordula · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5

[Paula Atkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fabulous novel by this husband and wife team