20/20 – Carl Goodman

Can you see a killer before it’s too late?

On the first day of her new job, D.I. Eva Harris is called to the scene of a brutal murder at the heart of Surrey society. A shocking crime by a meticulous killer – who escaped with the victim’s eyes.

With the body drained of blood and no forensic evidence left at the scene, Harris’ efforts to find the killer becomes desperate. But as her investigation is complicated by corruption at the heart of the police, she doesn’t know who to trust on her own team.

As the pressure mounts, Eva realises the murder is even more horrific than it seems, and her own dreadful history threatens to be drawn out with it…

 

My thanks to Sarah Hardy at Book on the Bright Side Publicity for the opportunity to join the blog tour.

I received a review copy from the publisher through Netagalley.

 

DI Eva Harris is starting her new job.  It’s the first day in her promoted role and before she can even get to her desk she is called out to a murder scene. A nasty murder scene and one which Eva’s  background has not really prepared her for as she had spent much of her formative time in her career working with computers and cyber crime, dead bodies are not quite the same when they are pixels and binary constructs.

Eva more than holds her own and with her dependable sargeant by her side she navigates the crime scene, befriends the medical examiner and manages to find a significant clue which puts her face to face with the killer – a balaclava obscures their face and a fight ensues to make sure capture is avoided.

It’s a terrific opening to the book and the grim manner in which the victim has been killed makes for a fascninating read. I always think there is always something more primal and disturbing whena victim’s eyes are attacked (or in this case, removed).  Back at the police station Eva finally meets her team, she is shaken from the start to her day and the encounter with the killer but the reader cannot help but note that Eva seems to know quite a lot about her team before she even meets them.  All soon becomes clear, however, as it emerges Eva has been placed into her new role to help identify a bent copper who operates out of her new station.

Carl Goodman is treating readers to a thriller which is focused on several angles. The police corruption, a cracking police investigative story, Eva’s own backstory is extremely enjoyable and her relationship with the officer who is controlling the corruption investigation is not one of mutual respect and there is a cold case from a few years previous which shares similar traits to the current murders.  With many elements to focus on I was a very happy reader and found myself enjoying 20/20 immensly.

I found 20/20 to be an intelligent and engaging read, the motive behind the killer’s actions was perfectly in keeping with the story which I had been enjoying and I loved the progression of Eva’s investigation and the hurdles she had to overcome during the course of the book. Pacing and tone of 20/20 were spot on for me, there was always something which kept me reading and when the book came to a close I knew I wanted more books featuring DI Eva Harris – that’s a sure sign of a good book.

 

 

20/20 is published by Hera and is available in digital and audiobook format.  You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0936GWTHN/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0