Headline – Grab This Book

The Housekeepers – Alex Hay

UPSTAIRS, MADAM IS PLANNING THE PARTY OF THE SEASON.

DOWNSTAIRS, THE SERVANTS ARE PLOTTING THE HEIST OF THE CENTURY.

When Mrs King, housekeeper to the most illustrious home in Mayfair, is suddenly dismissed after years of loyal service, she knows just who to recruit to help her take revenge.

A black-market queen out to settle her scores. An actress desperate for a magnificent part. A seamstress dreaming of a better life. And Mrs King’s predecessor, who has been keeping the dark secrets of Park Lane far too long.

Mrs King has an audacious plan in mind, one that will reunite her women in the depths of the house on the night of a magnificent ball – and play out right under the noses of her former employers…

THEY COME FROM NOTHING. BUT THEY’LL LEAVE WITH EVERYTHING.

My thanks to the publishers for a review copy which I recieved through Netgalley. Thanks also to Anne Cater of Random Things Blog Tours for the opportunity to join the tour for The Housekeepers.

It’s 1905 and The Housekeepers is bringing readers a mashup of Gosford Park and Oceans Eight – I am here for that! This is a glorious piece of historical crime fiction, grand in its ambition and delivering some engaging subplots and distractions which all threaten to derail the characters from the successful execution of their ambitious plans.

A word of caution though, this book starts with a bit of a slow burn while characters are introduced (there were a few and I frequently mixed them up) while backgrounds are established and while territories are determined. Keep going! Once the slow burn fully ignites the main event there is plenty of sizzle to enjoy.

In one of London’s exclusive family homes there’s a period of mourning underway. The master of the house, a self-made man who had shaken up London society has passed away. But the new lady of this manor (Miss de Vries) isn’t following conventions – she decides she must host an elaborate party, a grand ball and she wants the guest list to be filled with the great and good (and rich) of the town. Naturally there’s a shocked and scandalised reaction that Miss de Vries would even consider such an event during the official mourning period she is expected to observe.

Below the stairs there’s a very different scandal when Mrs King, the housekeeper, is fired from her post for being with a man. Mrs King isn’t one to retreat and lick her wounds – she’s on a mission to extract revenge and to do this she’s going to need some very special people to help her.

And so begins Mrs King’s recruitment and planning challenge. She wants to rob the house, strip it right down and leave Miss de Vries with nothing. It’s wonderfully excessive and she knows she’s facing huge challenges but the grand party will provide the cover she needs.

With the date set and the plan revealed in stages for readers it’s fun to follow this story and see how the various players in this elaborate heist fit into their respective roles. We see them find places of employment in the house, recruit the brute strength needed to move heavy furniture and arrange costumes, drivers and equipment to make sure they have the tools they need.

Unfortunately for Mrs King there are too many random variables which are out of her control and this is where the fun and thrills will creep in. Her team will keep secrets from her, the staff in the house unwittingly thwart ideas, there are more secrets in the household that Mrs King can’t know and Miss de Vries is an astute and observant lady – she’s hard to distract.

The Housekeepers offers readers a highly entertaining period thriller. The social history elements of the book feel nicely balanced with that gloriously extravagant crime which is being planned. There are several key characters to follow and you’ll likely enjoy some more than others but you’ll also find yourself sympathetic to these characters too – everyone has their own burden to shoulder.

All in, this was a fun read. Definitely not one I took too seriously but with lots of nice touches and some fascinating characters that I was willing to see succeed.

The Housekeepers is published by Headline and is available now in hardback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-housekeepers/alex-hay/9781472299338

Category: From The Bookshelf | Comments Off

November 2

Good Cop Bad Cop – Simon Kernick

BRAVE HERO OR CRIMINAL MASTERMIND?

TONIGHT WE FIND OUT.

Undercover cop Chris Sketty became a hero when he almost died trying to stop the most brutal terror attack in UK history. With the suspects either dead or missing, the real motive remains a mystery.

But someone is convinced Sketty is a liar.
A criminal mastermind.
A murderer.

Blackmailed into revealing the truth, Sketty will share a twisting tale of betrayal, deception and murder…with a revelation so shocking that nothing will be the same again.

My thanks to the publisher for my review copy and to Anne Cater at Random Things Blog Tours for the opportunity to join the Good Cop Bad Cop blog tour.

I’ve always enjoyed the Simon Kernick books I have read in the past, his name on a book is an early guarantee of a cracking read. I finished Good Cop Bad Cop last night and it has immediately become my favourite of all the Simon Kernick novels. What a rush this book was!

Chris Sketty is a cop. When his story begins in Good Cop Bad Cop he is recently single after splitting with his wife following the death of their young daughter. Sketty has his work and not much more so he throws himself into his job. But Sketty is young and headstrong and he also struggles to control his temper and exercise caution when the red mist descends.

This lack of control is evidenced when he uses excessive force to bring down and subdue a suspect in a domestic abuse incident. Sketty’s prospects look bleak as the investigation into his use of force looks likely to rule he over-reacted which would mean expulsion from the force.

Then comes a chance at salvation. Sketty is invited to go undercover as there is suspicion an officer in another division is part of a secretive criminal gang with wide ranging influence and a remorseless, ruthless destruction agenda. Sketty is to try and get close to the suspect and bring down the network. To Sketty it seems the perfect opportunity to redeem himself but it turns out to be one of the biggest mistakes of his life. Or does it?

Good Cop Bad Cop sees Sketty recounting where his life went wrong. This discussion takes place years after he was asked to go undercover and he is speaking with the widower of a murdered woman who died during a terror incident during which Sketty was himself injured but emerged as a hero for killing some of the instigators.

There is a suspicion Sketty is not the hero he is made out to be and that he got too deep in his undercover role and turned criminal – responsible for countless deaths and horrific violence. Truth will out but who can you trust?

I inhaled Good Cop Bad Cop. Simon Kernick does a magnificent job of blurring the lines around Sketty’s actions and I struggled to convince myself if Sketty was an evil operator or just desperately unlucky and cursed with making poor choices.

This is a book laden with excitement, thrills and tension. By the end you have lived Sketty’s life with him and you will have decided if he is indeed a Good Cop or perhaps a Bad Cop. But I don’t think we will all reach the same conclusion.

This is a must read book for any thriller fan.

Good Cop Bad Cop will be published by Headline on 11 November and will be available in Hardback, Digital and Audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08P6VVFTZ/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

Category: Blog Tours, From The Bookshelf | Comments Off

March 30

The Late Train to Gypsy Hill – Alan Johnson

Something a little different from me today which I am really excited to share with you. I am usually the last person to hear about new books but I am delighted to bring you an early notification of a forthcoming release which will be hitting our bookshelves in September. The author will be familiar name to many but not (yet) as a crime writer.

Alan Johnson is the former Home Secretary and, more recently, political commentator. Alan currently hosts a brand new Podcast series called How To Change the World, guests will include Caitlin Moran, James Dean Bradfield and Stuart Lee. Alan has a monthly column in Saga Magazine acting as their first ever Agony Uncle, as well as a regular slot on ‘Steph’s Packed Lunch’, Steph McGovern’s show on Channel 4.

Due for release on 2 September 2021, The Late Train to Gypsy Hill is Alan’s first crime novel. Alan himself will be along in a moment to tell you about his new novel but first the important details…cover and blurb.

The Late Train to Gypsy Hill

Gary Nelson has a routine for the commute to his rather dull job in the city. Each day, he watches as a woman on the train applies her make up in a ritual he now knows by heart. He’s never dared to strike up a conversation . . . but maybe one day.

Then one evening, on the late train to Gipsy Hill, the woman invites him to take the empty seat beside her. Fiddling with her mascara, she holds up her mirror and Gary reads the words ‘HELP ME’ scrawled in sticky black letters on the glass.

With a little bit of internet trickery and the kind support of Vicky at Headline I can also bring you this short video of Alan introducing his first crime novel: The Late Train to Gypsy Hill

You can get your order in early with this handy pre-order link: https://smarturl.it/TheLateTrain

Keep abreast of updates through social media by searching for the hashtag or keeping an eye on the publisher social accounts:

#TheLateTrain

@headlinepg

@CrimeFilesBooks

I love how the cover has the feel of an old railway poster and the teaser blurb had me hooked – that was before the extra detail which Alan shares in the video!

Get your orders in early as I suspect we will be hearing a lot more about this one as September draws near.

Category: From The Bookshelf | Comments Off

October 13

Come and Find Me – Sarah Hilary

On the surface, Lara Chorley and Ruth Hull have nothing in common, other than their infatuation with Michael Vokey. Each is writing to a sadistic inmate, sharing her secrets, whispering her worst fears, craving his attention.

DI Marnie Rome understands obsession. She’s finding it hard to give up her own addiction to a dangerous man: her foster brother, Stephen Keele. She wasn’t able to save her parents from Stephen. She lives with that guilt every day.

As the hunt for Vokey gathers pace, Marnie fears one of the women may have found him – and is about to pay the ultimate price.

My thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things for the chance to join the Come and Find Me blog tour.

I have read all the Marnie Rome novels and enjoyed each one immensely. Come and Find Me is my favourite. So far…

We join Marnie and her colleague DS Jake at a very difficult time. A prison riot saw several men brutally attacked, some prisoners died from their wounds. A fire took hold during the ensuing chaos and many prisoners suffered smoke inhalation. The man responsible has escaped confinement and the police are frantically hunting for him.

Marnie’s team are leading the manhunt but she has the added distraction that her adopted brother was in the prison but is currently unconscious in hospital after the incident in the prison. If he dies then Marnie may never learn why Stephen Keeps killed her parents.

DS Jake has his own personal problems. He has arrested his own brother to try and keep him away from the street gang which was threatening to take control of Saul’s life. While Jake feels he has done the best thing he could to protect his brother their mother is devastated and family tensions are high.

Personal drama aside the hunt to find prison escapee, Michael Vokey, makes for great reading. He was receiving letters from women who wanted to save him or who wanted to be with him. Will Vokey seek out these letter writers? Will they be safe? Vokey was in prison for entering the home of a single mum and terrorising her.

The investigation into Vokey’s escape is frustrating for the police and the women they are trying to protect are not minded to assist the police on finding Vokey.

Sarah Hilary has written a blinder. One interview Marnie conducted during this book made for one of the very best audio book chapters I have ever listened to. Masterful dialogue and amazingly narrated by Imogen Church who gave the scene so much more heart and feeling than I would have ascribed to it had I been reading it alone.

I do need to give special mention to the audio book as it was one of the best I have listened to this year. Imogen Church narrates Come and Find Me wonderfully. The story had me hooked but the narration, hearing the characters every day for two weeks, made this feel more real and I got totally drawn into Marnie’s complicated world.

I cannot wait to see what comes next. If Sarah Hilary keeps true to past form then more compelling reading shall follow and we will be guaranteed more jaw-dropping moments.

Come and Find Me is published by Headline and is available in paperback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Come-Find-Marnie-Rome-Book-ebook/dp/B072M1ZZX1/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1539282536&sr=1-1

Category: 5* Reviews, Audiobook, Blog Tours | Comments Off

September 13

The Coffin Path – Katherine Clements

Maybe you’ve heard tales about Scarcross Hall, the house on the old coffin path that winds from village to moor top. They say there’s something up here, something evil.

Mercy Booth isn’t afraid. The moors and Scarcross are her home and lifeblood. But, beneath her certainty, small things are beginning to trouble her. Three ancient coins missing from her father’s study, the shadowy figure out by the gatepost, an unshakeable sense that someone is watching.

When a stranger appears seeking work, Mercy reluctantly takes him in. As their stories entwine, this man will change everything. She just can’t see it yet.

My thanks to Headline for my review copy which I received through Netgalley

A ghost story and a historical chiller (which was the first unexpected twist). I hadn’t realised that The Coffin Path didn’t have a modern day setting and I enjoyed the mental shift moving the already remote Scarcross Hall back through time.

Scarcross Hall houses Mercy Booth, she lives with her father and they farm sheep on the inhospitable land. As we first encounter Mercy a stranger has approached the edge of their property – he is looking for work and gets taken on as shepherd and farmhand.

Life is tough at Scarcross and the sheep are precious – their sale will provide the coin to keep the household fed and warm through the hard winter months. It is of considerable concern, therefore, when sheep and lambs start to disappear – their bloody bodies to be found ripped and slashed…valuable resources callously ruined.

Mercy faces other problems. Her father’s health is failing and she is increasingly reliant upon the farmhands. As a single child Mercy expects to inherit Scarcross but property and land is not left to daughters – in England of olde the son inherits. Mercy’s father would see her married if he could – Mercy has other ideas and is relying upon her father’s promise that he will leave her Scarcross.

Adding a chilling twist to events is a series of unexplained phenomenon plaguing Scarcross Hall. Mercy’s father is missing his treasured inkwell and some ancient coins. Their housekeeper seems to have a sixth sense and foretells of problems which shall accompany the finding of the coins. Strange sights at night, moving furniture in locked rooms and other unexplained incidents add a delightful chill to The Coffin Path.

A great read this one, ghost story, mystery, social commentary and a thumpingly good historical thriller makes The Coffin Path well worth seeking out.

The Coffin Path is available in paperback, digital and audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Coffin-Path-perfect-ghost-story-ebook/dp/B06WLQLCKH/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1536693665&sr=8-1&keywords=the+coffin+path

Category: From The Bookshelf | Comments Off

July 23

Skyjack – K. J. Howe

When Thea Paris’s flight is hijacked over the Libyan Desert, her first priority is the two former child soldiers she is escorting to a new life in London.

As an international kidnap specialist, Thea Paris negotiates for hostage release as part of her job. She knows one wrong move could lead to deadly consequences.

After she is forcibly separated from the boys and the other passengers, Thea and her tactical team quickly regroup. And in their desperate search for the hostages that follows, unearth a conspiracy involving the CIA, the Vatican and the Sicilian Mafia, and a plot far more sinister than Thea could ever have imagined

My thanks to Sophie at Midas PR for my review copy and the chance to join the blog tour

K.J. Howe first introduced us to Thea Paris in the action packed thriller The Freedom Broker. Now Thea returns in Skyjack and there is no let-up in the thrills and danger which she will have to face.

Housekeeping first – reading The Freedom Broker will ensure you know a bit more about Thea and you will have a bit of a heads-up on the backstory – not having read the first novel will not stop you enjoying Skyjack!

Thea is traveling to London in the company of two young boys who are heading to the UK to start a new life after events in The Freedom Broker). However, the plane which Thea is traveling on is hijacked mid-flight – the pilot diverts his course and locks himself in the flight cabin. Working with the co-pilot but not knowing who else on the plane she may be able to trust Thea has to find a way to use her extensive training and regain control of the situation.

Why has Thea’s plane been targeted? Is it a random chance or could one of the other passengers be a strategic target for the hijackers?

What follows is a tension packed thrill-fest which is sure to delight readers that enjoy their action adventures to be tightly plotted but with a global reach. K.J. Howe gives us an international tale and she taps in to some very relevant modern themes with one of the main villains of the piece motivated by an obsessive desire to target a specific race.

I will admit to flying through my read of Skyjack. Events just keep coming and the “one more chapter” dilemma was very much in play while I was reading. There seemed to be loads going on and as the narrative switches around between various characters you know that K.J. Howe is pulling the strings to ensure all her players will deliver a cracking pay-off as the book reaches its conclusion.

Breathless entertainment across a large scale it has all the feel of a Hollywood summer blockbuster and should be a definite summer holiday read to keep beside you at poolside.

Skyjack is available in hardback, digital and audiobook – you can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Skyjack-Full-Throttle-Hijacking-Thriller-Never/dp/1681443015/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Category: Blog Tours, From The Bookshelf | Comments Off

November 2

Cathi Unsworth – First Monday Crime (November)

Monday 7th November sees Goldsboro Books bring another First Monday Crime night to London’s Library Club. This month events are sponsored by Headline and there are rumours of goodie bags – and who doesn’t love a goodie bag?

The guests for the latest evening will be Belinda Bauer, Cathi Unsworth, Jenny Blackhurst and Adam Hamdy and the event will be chaired by Barry Forshaw.

Details on how to get your tickets are below but first: Cathi Unsworth steps into the Author Spotlight.

Cathi Unsworth is a novelist, writer and editor who lives and works in London. She began her career on the legendary music weekly Sounds at the age of 19 and has worked as a writer and editor for many other music, film and arts magazines since, including Bizarre, Melody Maker, Mojo, Uncut, Volume and Deadline.

Her first novel THE NOT KNOWING was published in 2005, followed the next year with the award-winning short story compendium LONDON NOIR, which she edited, and in 2007 with the punk noir novel THE SINGER. Her third novel, BAD PENNY BLUES, inspired by the unsolved ‘Jack the Stripper’ murders of 1959-65 was published in 2010 to great critical acclaim. Her 2012 book WEIRDO, a tale of teenage trauma and female transgression set on the Norfolk coast was shortlisted in many ‘best of the year’ lists including the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year and named Book of the Year 2012 by Loud and Quiet Magazine and crimesquad.com

Cathi’s new novel, Without The Moon, releases on 10th November

Hush, hush, hush. Here comes the Bogeyman…

London during the long, dark days of the Blitz: a city outwardly in ruins, weakened by exhaustion and rationing. But behind the blackout, the old way of life continues: in the music halls, pubs and cafes, soldiers mix with petty crooks, stage magicians with lonely wives, scandal-hungry reporters with good-time girls – and DCI Edward Greenaway keeps a careful eye on everyone.

Out on the streets, something nastier is stirring: London’s prostitutes are being murdered, their bodies left mutilated to taunt the police. And in the shadows Greenaway’s old adversaries in organised crime are active again, lured in by rich pickings on the black market. As he follows a bloody trail through backstreets and boudoirs, Greenaway must use all his skill – and everything he knows about the city’s underworld – to stop the slaughter.

First Monday Crime is on 7th November at 6.30pm. The event is held at the Library, 112 St. Martin’s Lane, London, WC2N 4BD

Tickets are £5 per head and you can order tickets here: https://www.goldsborobooks.com/event/november-first-monday-crime/

Category: From The Bookshelf | Comments Off

April 19

Tenacity: Naval Toasts – Tuesday to “Our Men”

Tenacity by J. S. Law was one of my top reads of 2015. It made the Top Three and in my review I said “I don’t remember being this captivated by a debut novel since Lee Child published Killing Floor” it is that good!

To celebrate the paperback release of Tenacity (Thursday 21st April) we are having a Naval Toasts Blog Tour. Tuesday is the toast to “Our Men” so charge your glass while I pass this to Mr Law:

If you’ve followed my blog tour, you’ll already know that at mess dinners in the Royal Navy, immediately after the Loyal Toast of ‘The Queen’, the youngest officer present will normally offer the traditional drinking toast of that day.

The toast for Tuesday is traditionally “Our Men”. This toast was changed in 2013 by the then Second Sea Lord, Vice Admiral David Steel, to become “Our Sailors”, to rightly reflect the contribution of females at sea, though the traditional toast is still widely used.

It takes a certain personality type to function on a submarine and there are those who can do it, and those who enjoy it. The one thing I still enjoy is the camaraderie with like-minded people. The vast majority of my friends are either Navy/submariners, or are connected to the Navy and the forces in some way, and that shows in their acceptance of very dark ‘gallows’ humour that the armed forces is well known for.

But it also takes a certain type of person to leave their family for extended periods, bearing in mind that on submarines, there may be no, or very little contact at all for weeks and months on end. It tests relationships at home and on board, and submariners very quickly have to learn how to live in very close proximity to each other, but still to give each other space when needed – knowing when it’s time to have a joke and when it’s time to back away and leave someone alone.

When Dan boards HMS Tenacity, she states to John that she thinks getting away from people will be her biggest problem, given the physical confines of the submarine, but she quickly realises that these men on Tenacity are tightly bonded by their experiences and that even when she is surrounded by a hundred men inside the ship’s hull, she can still be made to feel very, very alone…

Two hundred metres below the surface,
she will have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.

A sailor hangs himself on board a naval submarine. Although ruled a suicide Lieutenant Danielle Lewis, the Navy’s finest Special Branch investigator, knows the sailor’s wife was found brutally murdered only days before.

Now Dan must enter the cramped confines of HMS Tenacity to interrogate the tight-knit, male crew and determine if there’s a link.

Standing alone in the face of extreme hostility and with a possible killer on board, Dan soon realises that she may have to choose between the truth and her own survival.

The pressure is rising and Dan’s time is running out…

You can order Tenacity here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tenacity-J-S-Law/dp/1472227913?ie=UTF8&keywords=tenacity&qid=1461015549&ref_=sr_1_2_twi_pap_5&sr=8-2

Category: 5* Reviews, Blog Tours | Comments Off

March 9

Tastes Like Fear – Sarah Hilary

You’ll never be out of Harm’s way

The young girl who causes the fatal car crash disappears from the scene.

A runaway who doesn’t want to be found, she only wants to go home.

To the one man who understands her.

Gives her shelter.

Just as he gives shelter to the other lost girls who live in his house.

He’s the head of her new family.

He’s Harm.

D.I. Marnie Rome has faced many dangerous criminals but she has never come up against a man like Harm. She thinks that she knows families, their secrets and their fault lines. But as she begins investigating the girl’s disappearance nothing can prepare her for what she’s about to face.

Because when Harm’s family is threatened, everything tastes like fear…

My thanks to Elizabeth Masters at Headline for my review copy.

The third Marnie Rome thriller and another triumph for Sarah Hilary. Tastes Like Fear is a gripping read and is helping cement Sarah Hilary’s place amongst the best of the current crop of UK crime writers.

Tastes Like Fear has a focus on teenage runaways, girls who have left home and found themselves living rough on the streets of London. The girls have found that they become almost invisible, doing whatever it takes to survive. Yet for a select few there comes an offer of a place of safety – a home where food and shelter will be provided. All you have to do is live by the house rules, his rules…Harm’s rules.

Marnie Rome and DS Noah Jake have been investigating the disappearance of May Beswick a teenage girl who left home (for no apparent reason) and has been missing for several weeks. We are first reunited with Marnie and Noah when they are called to the scene of a road traffic accident – a teenage girl in a state of disarray has walked into the traffic causing a crash. The girl has left the scene, heading towards one of London’s more notorious housing schemes, yet there appears to be some doubt between the survivors of the crash as to what the girl looked like or even if she was ever there!

I enjoyed the shifting focus in Tastes Like Fear, the story follows Marnie and Noah and their investigations into May’s disappearance and the attempts to track down the girl from the crash scene. Then the narrative switches into the ‘haven’ that Harm is providing and we see how the girls who are living under his protection are dealing with day to day life under Harm’s watchful eye. There is a real feeling of unease as you read these scenes – an unpredictability – as Harm does not seem to act how you expect him to (yet you are also not quite sure how he SHOULD be acting).

However, as you may expect trouble lies ahead for the girls as rules have been broken, some girls have not behaved the way Harm expected and there will be…repercussions.

With all the twists and turns, shocks and surprises that I have come to expect from one of Sarah Hilary’s books I found that I could not put Tastes Like Fear down. The story flows brilliantly, the characters are the perfect blend of likeable, unpredictable or deeply deplorable and we get more insights into Noah and Marnie’s personal lives giving loved characters even greater depth.

There is also the added anticipation of what I am beginning to think of as ‘The Sarah Hilary Jaw-drop Moment’…one scene where everything I thought I understood about the story is crushed and I am blind-sided by a twist that I can never see coming. LOVE IT, nobody else consistently messes with my brain in their books the way Sarah Hilary can – she has the golden touch.

An easy review score for Tastes Like Fear…5/5 and a reader desperate for more.

Tastes Like Fear is published by Headline and is released on 7 April 2016 – you can order a copy here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ebooks-Tastes-Like-Fear-D-I-Marnie-ebook/dp/B011786B4W/ref=dp_kinw_strp_1

Category: 5* Reviews, From The Bookshelf | Comments Off

December 31

A Killing Moon – Steven Dunne

For the young woman kidnapped on her way home from the pub, the nightmare is about to begin…

Weeks after Caitlin Kinnear goes missing, the police are unable to break her case. Worse they are not even certain harm has come to her. But determined to pursue all leads, DI Damen Brook and his team begin to trawl through the murky world of cheap migrant labour. Convinced that the answers lie hidden within its depths, Brook soon begins to realise Caitlin is in terrible danger.

When the body of another young girl turns up it becomes clear that Caitlin’s abduction might not be an isolated incident and the race is on to save her. But with time running out, can Brook put the pieces together and find Caitlin before it’s too late?

Thanks to Headline for my review copy

As 2015 drew to a close I realised that there were books in my TBR pile which had been sitting too long. I decided I would try to spend the last few weeks of the year catching up on some of the titles that had released earlier in the year – 2016 titles will take care of themselves.

So many books to choose from but following his appearance on the Britcrime Christmas Blab chat (which you can see here) I moved Steven Dunne’s A Killing Moon to the top of the queue – and what a great decision that turned out to be!

A Killing Moon was my first introduction to Steven’s books and is the 5th DI Brook novel. For a first time reader I can confirm that I had no problems picking up the storyline, did not feel that there was too much reliance upon backstory and (knowing that there are 4 books before A Killing Moon) am delighted that there are more books with DI Brook that I can look forward to catching up on in the New Year.

Events in A Killing Moon are dark, sinister and frequently disturbing – basically everything that I enjoy in a good crime thriller. And this IS a good crime thriller…a very good one. DI Brook is a strong lead character and his fellow officers form a good unit which make you want to read about them. This investigation is a nasty one though – Caitlin Kinnear has been abducted but rather than the murder investigation that the reader may expect to ensue Caitlin’s abduction is just the beginning of her ordeal.

Frequently chilling and always compelling – the investigation into Caitlin’s abduction kept me gripped and I could not get to the finale fast enough. A great story to bring my reading year to an end.

A Killing Moon is published by Headline and is available in paperback and digital format: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1472214897?keywords=a%20killing%20moon&qid=1451605970&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

Category: From The Bookshelf | Comments Off