A Penny for the Hangman by Tom Savage + a Giveaway

Hi, readers! Today I'm a stop on the TLC book tour for Tom Savage's A Penny for the Hangman. There is a tour wide giveaway on this one so be sure to read through to the end to enter.

On the fiftieth anniversary of a shocking crime, a young reporter is sought out by someone who claims to have new information. 

It was Friday, March 13, 1959 when Rodney Harper and Wulfgar Anderman killed five people on the paradise island of St. Thomas. The victims were Rodney and Wulfgar's parents and a maid working in the Harper household. The boys were convicted and served their time in the United States, ordered never to return to the island again. 

With the anniversary of the murders and a new movie based on the case right around the corner, the crime that shocked the nation has once again captured people's attention and so, when Karen Tyler begins to receive strange calls implying there's more to the story, she can't possibly resist. 

In spite of the concern of her boyfriend (and her conscience), Karen flies to St. Thomas where she is to be met by her mystery caller. But Karen's scoop - a potential career maker - could also be the death of her. 

Do you remember the 2001 movie Valentine? It starred David Boreanaz (and of course topped my must see list when it was released). It was based on a book that I also bought and read at the time of the movie's release. Imagine my surprise this week in realizing that Tom Savage was the author of that book!

A Penny for the Hangman is, admittedly, somewhat better executed than Valentine. The story is broken up by pieces of Karen's journal, Rodney's diary, and other text (passages from a book written by the original investigator, Karen's piece, etc). This might hang up some readers, but I welcomed the slowing of the pace. Thrillers do beg to be read quickly but each piece fit quite well within the overall story and it allowed me to spend a bit more time with the book.

The twist - you knew there was one, right? - is a bit predictable. I have no complaints about it, I'm simply pointing out that it's easy to spot early on if you're looking. I suspect many readers will find this to be the case, and yet watching the story unfold as the author meant it to be was still quite enjoyable.

All in all, A Penny for the Hangman, was a riveting read. I am curious about its inspiration (if there is one in particular) as it did bring to mind a certain case I read about recently. Likely there's no connection but...

A Penny for the Hangman is officially due out October 7.

Rating: 3.5/5

And now for the giveaway. To enter, simply fill out the Rafflecopter below. Again this is a tour wide one so you can enter on any of the tour's posts.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


To see more stops on the tour be sure to check out the official TLC tour page here. For more on Tom Savage and his work, you can visit him on the web here.