He thought she was safe. Then the past came knocking.

Seventeen years ago, Inspector Ewert Grens was called to the scene of a brutal crime. A family had been murdered, with only their five-year-old daughter left behind. The girl was moved out and placed under witness protection, but while the case went cold, Grens is still haunted by the memory. When he learns that the apartment where the crime took place is now the scene of a mysterious break-in, Grens fears that someone is intent on silencing the only witness. He must race to find her…before they do.

My thanks to Rhiannon Morris at FMCM Associates for the opportunity to join the Knock Knock blog tour and for the review copy of the book I recieved to allow me to participate in the tour ahead of publication day.

I picked up Knock Knock assuming his would be a gritty, Scandi Noir tale which saw the lead character dwelling on an old investigation and trying to work out how events from seventeen years ago were connected to a current case.  How wrong I was!   This is a fast-paced action thriller with a high body-count, characters under constant threat of death and a story where you never know what’s coming next or who you can put your trust in.

It’s a dark one too.  The book opens with the murder of a family, executed in their homes with a trademark/signature two shots to their heads by the killer or killers.  But the killers missed one of the family and a five year old girl was locked in her house with her dead parents and her siblings.  Inspector Ewert Grens was first on scene and he was shocked by what he found, he made sure the young girl was placed safely into protective custody and rehomed with a new family and a new identity. That was seventeen years ago and now there are murders taking place where the victims are found with the same signature shots to their heads.  It appears someone may know of the existence of the young survivor and Grens is worried they may come back to find her.  The problem is, he doesn’t know her name or where to find her now.

A more pressing and intense issue lies with the second thread to this story – a police officer (Hoffman) who worked undercover for many, many years discovers that his secret identity has been discovered by all the wrong people.  A full file of his background has been taken from police headquarters and now seems to sit with gangsters who intend to use their knowledge to gain leverage over Hoffman for their own gain.  His family are targetted to ensure he cooperates and Hoffman receives instruction he is to recover a rare weapon and use it to attack a gang in Sweden whilst ensuring a different gang take the blame for the attack.  If he stirs up this in fighting then his family may be spared.

Hoffman is under constant surveillance and feels backed into a corner – he has very little time to deliver on the demands or his family will be killed.  But when backed into a corner Hoffman becomes very dangerous and his fightback is going to have to be conducted very carefully as the consequences of a single mistake will be catastrophic.

This is a pacy thriller which felt edgy, tense and exciting to pick up.  I hadn’t encountered Inspector Ewert Grens prior to this book but it seems to be the 9th book in which he has featured.  It made not a jot of difference to my enjoyment that I didn’t know about the first eight books – this is a story anyone could enjoy and you should absolutely give it a blast if you like the books of Simon Kernick, Neil Lancaster or Jo Nesbo.

I am thrilled to be kicking off the Knock Knock blog tour ahead of publication date on 10 June.  You can order a copy of the book here:  https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08HTV95L2/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i2

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