Innocent people are dying. Who will be next? Find out in the second Detective Mark ‘Heck’ Heckenburg from #1 ebook bestseller Paul Finch.

A vicious serial killer is holding the country to ransom, publicly – and gruesomely – murdering his victims.

When a man is burnt alive on a bonfire, it seems like a tragic Guy Fawkes Night accident. But with the discovery of a young couple on Valentine’s Day – each with an arrow through the heart – something more sinister becomes clear. A ‘calendar killer’ is on the loose.

Detective Mark ‘Heck’ Heckenburg is up against it. With a rising body count and the public’s eyes on him, Heck must find the killer before he executes more victims.

Because this killer has a plan. And nothing will stop him completing it.

A couple of months ago I read Stalkers by Paul Finch. It was my introduction to Detective Mark ‘Heck’ Heckenburg and I loved it. My full review was posted back in June if you want to see how I enthused.

As there were only three Heckenburg books available I tried to pace myself and not just rip through them all in a week. Sadly my self-restraint lasted just a couple of weeks and I turned to the second book Sacrifice.

People are being murdered – in particularly nasty ways – and on days which coincide with festivals and holidays (Christmas Day, Valentines, May Day). Pressure mounts on the police and even the more obscure festival days are dreaded.

While Stalkers was very much about Heckenburg, I got a feeling from Sacrifice that there was a real Police team in place within Sacrifice and the dynamic between the members of the squad really added to the story. I have a fondness for the squad that Stuart MacBride created in his Logan McRae novels and I found myself comparing Heckenburg’s team with that of McRae’s – both with formidable women in charge!

Sacrifice was everything I wanted as it entertained, shocked and thrilled in equal measures (and I was genuinely surprised where the story wound up when the net started to close in on the culprit).

I cannot recommend Sacrifice enough: it is a great read and sadly I reached the end long before I wanted the story to end.

Now I am trying my best not to read the third book The Killing Club too soon (I want to have something to look forward to).

As an afterthought it is worth mentioning that when I finished Sacrifice I then felt compelled to read Batman: The Long Halloween. One of my favourite Batman stories which played out in the comics over a 12 month run and features most of the high profile Batman villains (let down only by a rather weak Joker plot line). If you read The Long Halloween you will see why Sacrifice brought it back to mind.