Wasp Latitudes – Allan Watson
Against a background of brutal attacks on people and property by a rag-tag group of homeless men whom the media quickly dub Berserkers, DI Will Harlan is juggling with a head-in-a-bucket patricide, a lethal wife-swapping session, a sex-tape scandal involving the Royal Scottish National Orchestra – and perhaps most discomfiting of all – a spate of late night phone calls from his favourite serial killer, Howie Danks.
As the wife-swapping investigation spirals into a glut of cold-blooded slayings carried out by a mysterious pair of killers known as the Wasp Queen and the Priest, Harlan has to look into the past where a cold case may contain uncomfortable answers. But it’s in the present where the real danger lies as he follows a twisted path of mind control and madness leading to a cruel land some call the Wasp Latitudes.
My thanks to Sarah Hardy for the chance to join the blog tour
My introduction to DI Will Harlan was Wasp Latitudes – the second book to feature Harlan. It was clear as I was reading that there had been an earlier book but it didn’t stop me from enjoying Wasp Latitudes.
Harlan is having a busy old time of it – multiple incidents are commanding his attention and it seems his colleagues are not the cohesive and united team which he may hope them to be. Of course disruption in the masses and professional rivalries (along with hopeless careerists) make for entertaining reading.
Entertainment is high if you are not after a genteel story. A wife-swapping party goes horribly wrong for one couple. Just down the road a man is found dead with his head in a bucket and a foreign object inserted into his…erm, well lets just say, into him. A gang is terrorizing Glasgow with random violent acts and a young woman has been publicly shamed when a video recorded while she was enjoying a drunken evening in company goes viral.
With dogged determination and a great deal of people manipulation Harlan will split his attention to each of these crimes. His input is not welcomed and attempts will be made to ensure he does not look into the “bucket man” investigation – other forces are interested in that death and Harlan is warned to keep away. Of course that is not how Harlan works and, if anything, he becomes more determined to uncover the truth.
Police politics, fascinating investigations, dark murders and lots of dry Glasgow humour – this was a cracking read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Another series I will enjoy following and that can only be a good thing.
Wasp Latitudes is available as a digital download here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wasp-Latitudes-Will-Harlan-Book-ebook/dp/B07GZYY6D1/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542541330&sr=8-1&keywords=wasp+latitudes
