A short while ago I blogged about the brand new crime fiction subscription service for lovers of crime fiction – the Goldsboro Crime Collective, – in a post you’ll find here. Today, it’s my absolute pleasure to share the unboxing of the first month’s subscription for September 2024 as the lovely folk at Goldsborough have kindly sent me a sample box.
I must apologise for the poor quality of the images. My weird bendy sight is not good at getting straight or effective close up photos, but rest assured, the subscription box is brilliant!
Firstly, the box that arrived was robust and 48 hour tracked so that it, and the contents, reached me in pristine condition. I think it’s always reassuring when something sent through the post has been carefully packaged.
Whilst I was anticipating a book inside, I hadn’t reckoned on all the little extras in the box too. I don’t know if they will form a regular aspect of future boxes but I thoroughly enjoyed their inclusion.
Inside I found samplers of ‘The Mercy Chair’ by M.W. Craven (I’ve read ‘The Mercy Chair’ and reviewed it here) and of ‘The Cut Throat Trial’ by S.J. Fleet (which I now want to read in full!), bookmarks featuring Blake Crouch’s ‘Famous’, ‘The Examiner’ by Janice Hallett (which is waiting for me on my TBR), ‘Leo’ by Deon Mayer, and ‘Getting Away With Murder’ by Lynda La Plante along with a badge, and finally a post card depicting ‘A Serial Killer’s Guide to Marriage’ by Asia Mackay.
But whilst those items were lovely to have, the star of the show was, of course, September’s Goldsboro Crime Collective choice of ‘A Reluctant Spy’ by David Goodman. The book was incredibly well protected in both bubble wrap and a cellophane wrap (which was impossible to photograph), keeping the slip cover of the hardbacked book well protected and in mint condition.
September’s Book of the Month
I loved the way this hardbacked edition of ‘A Reluctant Spy’ has been turned into the book of the month for September. It has the special Goldsboro Crime Collective logo on the endpaper and is signed by the author.
It has a blood red silk marker so readers don’t need that old bus ticket, slice of ham or whatever other strange bookmark they usually grab to keep track of their reading.
So what makes ‘A Reluctant Spy’ such a good choice for the first Goldsboro Crime Collective choice? Let’s find out more about the book:
A Reluctant Spy
Jamie Tulloch is a successful exec at a top tech company, a long way from the tough upbringing that drove him to rise so far and so quickly.
But he has a secret…since the age of 23, he’s had a helping hand from the Legend Programme, a secret intelligence effort to prepare impenetrable backstories for undercover agents. Real people, living real lives, willing to hand over their identities for a few weeks in return for a helping hand with plum jobs, influence and access.
When his tap on the shoulder finally comes, it’s swiftly followed by the thud of a body. Arriving at a French airport ready to hand over his identity, Jamie finds his primary contact dead, the agent who’s supposed to step into his life AWOL and his options for escape non-existent.
Pitched into a deadly mission on hostile territory, Jamie must contend with a rogue Russian general, arms dealers, elite hackers, CIA tac-ops and the discovery of a brewing plan for war. Dangerously out of his depth, he must convince his sceptical mission handler he can do the job of a trained field agent while using his own life story as convincing cover.
Can Jamie play himself well enough to avoid being killed – and to avert a lethal global conflict?
****
I think we can see why ‘A Reluctant Spy’ by David Goodman has been chosen, don’t you?
‘A Reluctant Spy’ was published by Headline on 12th September 2024 (the very day I received it from Goldsboro)
If you’ve had your interest in Goldsboro Crime Collective piqued, do click on the name and find out more. I have a feeling this is going to be a crime fiction subscription readers of teh genre are going to adore!
English (US) · 