Brian Sheridan may be losing his mind.

Asleep, he’s plagued by dreams of murder, women strangled with a red velvet rope then left with a playing card tucked in the corpse. While awake, he’s hallucinating that he’s being stalked by a man painted like a skeleton. It’s getting hard to know what’s real. He hopes all this is driven by his cold turkey withdrawal from a lifetime of anti-anxiety medications.

But when one of his nightmare’s victims shows up on the news, dead, Brian fears he himself may be the unwitting killer…

I received a copy from the publishers so I could join the blog tour and provide a review. My thanks to Anne at Random Things tours for the opportunity to participate.

My previous experience of Flame Tree Press books have been of horror tales and ghost stories.  The Playing Card Killer is a crime thriller, an engaging murder mystery story.

The principle protagonist is Brian Sheridan. He is going to experience some unpleasant and vivid dreams which will determine how events in The Playing Card Killer will play out.  Unfortunately Brian does not know this so when we meet him at the start of the novel he is making the important (if misguided) decision to stop taking his medication.  Brian’s girlfriend Daniela has made it clear to him that if he doesn’t take his meds then she will not stick around – but Brian knows best and wants the fog removed from his brain so he can think for himself.  Yup all the warning signs are there and it is not too long before Brian’s decision comes back to haunt him.

Remember those dreams I mentioned?  Brian is having very real dreams about murders. He hopes they are dreams. He is sure they are dreams. But how can he know so much about these deaths and visualise them so clearly when they are occurring in places he has never been yet can describe perfectly?  When one of the deaths from Brian’s dream becomes a real news story Brian begins to question his sanity even further – could he be killing strangers in his sleep?

Russell James sets up the reader nicely for this solid detective thriller.  Once it is clear there are real-life murders to be investigated the cops enter the tale. A great “good cop/bad cop” combo entertained me here.  The two are not partnered, the good cop is exactly that – a determined and focused detective in pursuit of the truth (and a killer).  The bad cop is a schmuck. He takes the easy route, steals credit for other people’s work and we know not to like him.  The dynamic and the squad-room competitiveness added a nice layer of detail to the story.

To share too much more detail about Brian’s problems would be to share too many spoilers. So that isn’t going to happen.  What I can share is that The Playing Card Killer was a fun read which I enjoyed over a couple of days. Russell James has a nice writing style which kept the pace of the story nipping along without any dips or excessive padding. Keep the story going and you will keep me happy while I read – job done!

The real test of a good story is to ask myself if I would pass the book to friends for them to enjoy…in this case I certainly would.  And I know they would enjoy it.

The Playing Card Killer is published by Flame Tree Press and is available in paperback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Playing-Killer-Fiction-Without-Frontiers-ebook/dp/B07L9JWH94/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1551128200&sr=8-1&keywords=the+playing+card+killer