Matching the Evidence is, I think, the first novella that I have read. I’m really not sure that it has converted me but I did enjoy it.
Evans is a cop who does things his way, before he is forced into retirement Evans and his team are facing the consequences of his unconventional ways in their previous case. Snatched From Home is the first book in the Harry Evans series and I believe this book follows straight on from that. As punishment Evans and his team are given the job of policing a football match where there is predicted to be a lot of trouble between the home team fans and the away team, Millwall.
Of course all is not as it seems, but Evans sniffs out the problem and once again ignores protocol to ensure that the baddies get caught.
Matching The Evidence is well written and can be read as a standalone book although I’m sure that it would be better being read after Snatched From Home. I would happily read the other books in the series as I’d like to find out more about the characters and the author is clearly a good writer. My only gripe about Matching The Evidence is that it felt like Smith had tried to pack too much into it, one strain of the story seemed pretty irrelevant in the end and could easily have been removed without losing anything from the book. It also ended pretty suddenly and I wanted to know what was going to happen next, but I guess that is probably done on purpose so that I’ll read the next Harry Evans book.
I received a copy of Matching The Evidence in exchange for an honest review.
Matching The Evidence will be released on 8th September 2016 and is available for pre-order now from Amazon UK and Amazon US.
Blurb:
Carlisle United are playing Millwall and the Major Crimes Team are assigned to crowd control as punishment for their renegade ways. Typically, DI Harry Evans has other ideas and tries to thwart the local firm’s plans to teach Millwall’s notorious Bushwhackers an unforgettable lesson.
Meanwhile an undercover cop is travelling north with some of the Millwall contingent. His mission is to identify the ringleaders and gather evidence against them.
Three illegal immigrants have been transported to Carlisle and are about to meet their new employers.
Nothing is as it seems for Evans and his Major Crimes Team as they battle to avoid a bloodbath while also uncovering a far more heinous crime.
Before I Let You In tells the story of three women, Karen, Bea and Eleanor who have been friends since they were young. Through thick and thin and plenty of ups and downs the three have remained firm friends and supported each other. But is all as it seems?
Well no, of course not. From the beginning the reader knows that something awful has happened, but has no idea what. Gradually as the book progresses we are given possible explanations for what happened but are kept guessing until the final pages.
The character development is excellent, all three main characters are well rounded and believable. The author clearly has knowledge of psychology and this adds to the believability of the story and characters.
I actually found the first half of Before I Let You In a little slow and at times confusing. The story was told from alternating viewpoints, but sometimes we were not told whose voice we were listening to and I found that difficult. I think that I need to know who it is to help me remember the story and what is going on. I found that by the time I got to the end there were parts explained that I’d forgotten about happening in the first place. This is highly unusual for me so I’m not sure quite why it happened in this book, and can only put it down to the events happening to a nameless person.
The last 30% was great, I just wanted to keep reading and to find out what was happening and who did what. I’m pleased to report that I had not worked it all out!
Thank you to the publishers, Headline, and Netgalley and TBC for an ARC of Before I Let You In.
Blurb:
Karen is meant to be the one who fixes problems.
It’s her job, as a psychiatrist – and it’s always been her role as a friend.
But Jessica is different. She should be the patient, the one that Karen helps.
But she knows things about Karen. Her friends, her personal life. Things no patient should know.
And Karen is starting to wonder if she should have let her in . . .
Before I Let You In is out on 28th August and is available from Amazon UK and Amazon US.
I’m having a really good run of books at the moment, this is my third 5* read in a row. Lets hope it continues!
My 5* Review:
Having read See How They Run by Tom Bale in May this year I really wanted to read his new book, All Fall Down. I really enjoyed See How They Run (SHTR), it gripped me from the first chapter and was a thoroughly enjoyable read.
So All Fall Down had a lot to live up to. I was interested to see whether Tom Bale would be able to suck the reader in like he’d done so well in SHTR. The first chapter was good, I wanted to know what was going on but it didn’t have the ‘hit me with a sledgehammer’ feel of the first chapter of SHTR. Was I going to be disappointed?
No. Thankfully not. Although the first half of the book was at times quite slow, once you hit 50% you barely have time to breathe, let alone eat and sleep. All Fall Down felt far more realistic and I felt that the writing was better than SHTR.
I thought that the character development was great, all the main characters had interesting things about them. The plot was full of twists and turns and you were never quite sure what was going to happen next.
The big finale was great, it was so hard to put All Fall Down down once I got half way through. One night it kept me up until gone 2am as I just had to know what was going to happen, and it is a rare book that keeps me up that late. Once I finished the book I felt like I needed to catch my breath and recover. I am writing this review two days after I finished because I needed to digest the book and let my adrenalin settle.
All Fall Down is a great book. It’s easy to read and pulls you in, tosses you about and then spits you back out again. It isn’t a masterpiece, but if you want an enjoyable read that will be hard to put down then you would be pushed to find something better than All Fall Down.
I received an ARC of All Fall Down from the publisher, Bookouture, via Netgalley in return for an honest review.
Blurb:
You tried to save a life. Now you’re fighting to save your own.
It should have been an idyllic day for the Turner family – until a dying man, beaten beyond all recognition, arrives at their home, uttering the words, HELP ME.
Rob and Wendy Turner and their children try to explain away the horrific scene as being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but in the days that follow their lives are threatened in ways they could never imagine.
The family is unaware that they are being watched by someone with their own terrifying agenda, who will stop at nothing to fulfil their own twisted desires.
But when hidden secrets come rushing to the surface, it’s clear not everything is as it seems in this happy family. Are the Turners a victim of circumstance – or does the key to their fate lie closer to home?
Forced to fight for everything they hold dear, can they save themselves before time runs out – or will their act of compassion see them paying the ultimate price…?
A heart-stopping, shocking and tense thriller that will keep you guessing to the very last page.
All Fall Down will be released on 1st September 2016 and is available to preorder from Amazon UK and Amazon US now.
This is such a well written book that skillfully tells the horrors of alcoholism. I hope that readers who do not struggle with addiction will see things differently and gain some understanding and compassion after reading Nina is Not OK. I really enjoyed it and I know that I will be thinking about Nina for some time to come.
My Review:
There are lots of books and movies out there that glamorise addiction, even unintentionally. Nina is Not OK is not one of those books.
Having worked in the field of addiction I was unsure about how I’d find this book, as so often inaccuracies frustrate me, and recovery is made to look very easy. Impressively I found none of this in Nina Is Not OK.
Nina is 17, her father is dead, her mother is married to a new man and has a half sister, Katie aged 6. Nina loves Katie in an adorable way, but she struggles with her relationship with her mother and step dad, Alan. This, combined with the fact that Nina’s boyfriend has dumped her for someone he just met prove to be too much for Nina. She descends into a world dominated with alcohol and sex with men she just met. Nina is consumed by anger and the only way that she can cope with this is to drink herself into oblivion.
Despite her awful treatment of her family and friends they stick with her, eventually showing her the tough love that she needs and taking her to rehab. While the author doesn’t go into a lot of detail about her time in rehab, what is there is in my experience, fairly realistic. Once out Nina attempts to put her life back together, she throws herself back into her A-Levels and rebuilding her relationships with her friends and family. Without alcohol to skew her thinking she is able to come to terms with things that previously consumed her and with the quiet and steady support from her 12-step sponsor she begins to rebuild her life.
The author, Shappi Khorsandi, writes a painfully accurate portrayal of alcoholism. It isn’t sensationalised or overdramatised. I would think that the author must have experience of alcoholism in some form or other.
I think that Nina is Not OK is a good book for anyone to read, but for those with family or friends who struggle with addiction it is good insight into the thinking that goes on in the addicts mind, and how powerless they are over their addiction. I couldn’t help but wonder while reading whether this would be a good book for people in early recovery to read. I think Nina is Not OK would be a good book to give to someone in active addiction, especially a young person, but I don’t think that someone in early recovery should read it due to the risk of being triggered. There is also frequent reference to a rape that some readers should be aware of.
I received a copy of Nina Is Not OK from the publishers via Netgalley in return for an honest review.
Blurb:
Nina does not have a drinking problem. She likes a drink, sure. But what 17-year-old doesn’t?
Nina’s mum isn’t so sure. But she’s busy with her new husband and five year old Katie. And Nina’s almost an adult after all.
And if Nina sometimes wakes up with little memory of what happened the night before , then her friends are all too happy to fill in the blanks. Nina’s drunken exploits are the stuff of college legend.
But then one dark Sunday morning, even her friends can’t help piece together Saturday night. All Nina feels is a deep sense of shame, that something very bad has happened to her…
I rarely get to read a book that I have bought, but I was hearing so much about The Optician’s Wife that I really wanted to read it, so when I was on holiday I took a break from reading ARCs.
I do like crime books and I do read a lot of fairly gruesome things, but The Optician’s Wife was really very graphic. I didn’t have a problem with that, but some might, others will love it!
Deborah is just your normal teenager, she doesn’t have many friends and doesn’t like living at home. So when she meets Larry who treats her like she’s something special Deborah can’t quite believe it. Soon they’re married and living what appears to be a perfect life together. But of course all is not as it seems.
This book is great, it’s full of twists and turns and just when you think you’ve worked it all out something happens and you realise that you had it all wrong. That happened again and again in The Optician’s Wife, right to the very end.
The Optician’s Wife is not for the faint hearted but it is a compelling read that will make you question everything. I thoroughly recommend it.
Blurb:
Can you ever really know someone?
When Deborah, an unpopular seventeen-year-old, meets the charming and handsome Larry, he sweeps her off her feet. The trouble is Larry has a secret.
Then a series of grisly murders cast a shadow over everything.
As Deborah’s world starts to fall apart she begins to suspect the man she loves of a terrible betrayal. And to keep their marriage alive, sacrifices must be made.
A compelling, psychological thriller that unpicks what goes on behind closed doors and reminds us that sometimes the worst crimes can take place closer to home than you think.
The Optician’s Wife by Betsy Reavley is available now from Amazon UK and Amazon US.
After The Lie tells the story of Lydia and a secret that she has been forced to keep by her mother for many, many years. A secret that has consumed her and affected every part of her life. A secret about a mistake that she made as a teenager that changed her life forever. Now married with teenagers of her own Lydia is obsessed with keeping them safe so that they don’t repeat her mistake.
The book is told from Lydia’s point of view, we get to hear a lot of her thoughts and fears. Some of them quite funny, some of them annoying. Lydia is obsessed with people’s weight for example. I don’t think that there is a woman mentioned in the book that I don’t know whether they’re overweight or underweight. She is also extremely self obsessed!
Once the big secret was revealed I have to admit that I thought ‘is that it?’ Although things were more complicated than they first seemed I did spend the majority of the book thinking that it was a lot of fuss about nothing.
After The Lie was easy to read and the characters were well formed, I liked Kerry Fisher’s writing style. I just had a few niggles with the book and plot that stopped me from giving it 4*s.
I was given a copy of After The Lie by the publishers in return for an honest review.
Your past will devastate your family. But your lies could destroy them. What would YOU do?
Sometimes a lie can split your life in two. There is “before”, and there is “after”. Try as you might – you can never go back.
When Lydia was a teenager, she made a decision that ruined her family’s life. They’ve spent the last thirty years living with the consequences and doing their best to pretend it never happened.
Lydia’s husband, the gorgeous and reliable Mark, and her two teenage children know nothing about that summer back in 1982. And that’s the way Lydia wants it to stay. The opportunity to come clean is long gone and now it’s not the lie that matters, it’s the betrayal of hiding the truth for so long.
When someone from the past turns up as a parent at the school gates, Lydia feels the life she has worked so hard to build slipping through her fingers. The more desperate she becomes to safeguard her family, the more erratic her behaviour becomes. But when the happiness of her own teenage son,Jamie, hangs in the balance, Lydia is forced to make some impossible decisions. Can she protect him and still keep her own secret – and if she doesn’t, will her marriage and family survive?
I think that most followers of If Only I Could Read Faster know that I love author Angela Marsons. Her crime book series about DI Kim Stone are, without a doubt, my favourite crime series so I was excited to read a non crime book by the author. I give The Forgotten Woman an easy 4*.
‘I am a huge Angela Marsons fan, her crime series Kim Stone books are brilliant in so many ways. I knew that she had written two book before her Kim Stone series and had bought them both but had yet to read them. When I heard that Bookouture was re-releasing them I was excited, I heard there had been some tweaking and editing so decided to read the newer version.
The Forgotten Woman tells the story of Kim and Fran, two women who appear to have nothing in common. After meeting in an AA meeting the two forge an unlikely friendship, helping and supporting each other to rebuild their lives.
Both women have complex histories involving prostitution and a brief mention of sexual child abuse. They learn to deal with their past and move on in their lives. I really liked Kit and Fran, they worked really well together and were both believable as characters. I felt that it was a shame that the AA meetings weren’t portrayed more positively, and that they appeared to play no part in Kit and Fran’s recovery from alcoholism.
At times while reading The Forgotten Woman I couldn’t help but wonder how much of it was based on the author’s own experience. There was something about it that felt so real and raw that at times it made for uncomfortable reading.
While The Forgotten Woman didn’t blow me away like Angela Marson’s Kim Stone books it was still a really good read. It will open your eyes and make you think. For a first novel this book shows that Angela Marson’s is a talented author who definitely has more to tell us. I can’t wait to read more books by her and hope that she keeps writing for a very long time.
I received The Forgotten Woman from the publisher, Bookouture, via Netgalley in return for an honest review.’
The Forgotten Woman is out now and available from Amazon UK and Amazon US.
Blurb:
Two ordinary women. Two damaged lives. One friendship that would save them both
Kit Mason has lived a life of unimaginable pain. An ex-prostitute, she has fled the clutches of an abusive pimp and now finds herself living hand to mouth in a new city, without anyone to help her.
Frances Thornton seems to be living the perfect life. A lawyer from a privileged background, her perfect façade hides the painful secrets that still haunt her.
Brought together by their attempts to conquer their addictions in an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, the two women strike up an unlikely friendship.
But can they find strength in each other – or will the demons of their past catch up with them?
A compelling, moving and ultimately uplifting novel about overcoming the very worst life can throw at you and starting over. The perfect read for fans of Jodi Picoult and Amanda Prowse.
I really struggled with this book and in the end I gave it 2*, I don’t know why this book just didn’t work for me when it has so many good reviews.
Blurb:
‘I can’t take my eyes off the water. Can you?’
It’s summer when Elm Hill lido opens, having stood empty for years. For Natalie Steele – wife, mother, teacher – it offers freedom from the tightly controlled routines of work and family. Especially when it leads her to Lara Channing, a charismatic former actress with a lavish bohemian lifestyle, who seems all too happy to invite Natalie into her elite circle.
Soon Natalie is spending long days at the pool, socializing with new friends and basking in a popularity she didn’t know she’d been missing. Real life, and the person she used to be, begins to feel very far away.
But is such a change in fortunes too good to be true? Why are dark memories of a summer long ago now threatening to surface? And, without realizing, could Natalie have been swept dangerously out of her depth?
Review:
‘I was quite excited to read The Swimming Pool. Another author that I really like had such high praise for it that I was sure it was going to be good. The book started well, and then it just kept going and going and going, but it wasn’t really going anywhere.
I do read a lot of thrillers, which tend to start with a bang, so I do have to remind myself when reading other genres that they have a slower pace. But The Swimming Pool didn’t actually get anywhere at all. At 26% things seemed to pick up and I thought here we go, and so I read and I read and I read and I thought that I must surely be nearly finished, and then I checked and was only 56% in. It was only my belief that the author that loved it wouldn’t let me down that made me keep going, I normally give up on books that are like this.
While The Swimming Pool is very well written and I felt that the author was particularly good at setting scenes meaning I can picture in my head many of the places from the book very clearly, and there are many reviews praising the writing, but for me there was something missing. I often read books with characters in that I do not like, but the main character in The Swimming Pool was not just unlikeable but so loathsome that I struggled to tolerate reading about her. Her behaviour and thinking were so bizarre for someone of her age that it just made no sense. The other characters were better, and all believable and well written, but those that could have been more interesting often had small parts.
The Swimming Pool generally gets really positive reviews, for whatever reason this book and I just did not click. It took me nine days to read it which is slow for me, even though I’m a slow reader. But everyone else can’t be totally wrong, so maybe don’t take my word for it?
I received a copy of The Swimming Pool from the publisher via Netgalley in return for an honest review.’
The Swimming Pool is available now from Amazon UK, it will be released in America in January 2017 but is currently available on audiobook now.
From the author of the Harry Martinez thrillers comes a gripping psychological suspense novel. Perfect for fans of Elizabeth Haynes and Gone Girl.
Two quick shots. One for him. One for you.
After the death of her three-year-old daughter, Jodie has nothing left to live for – or almost nothing.
She has one task to fulfil before she takes her own life. And that’s to kill the man she holds responsible for her daughter’s death – her seemingly perfect husband, Ethan.
But Ethan is hiding more than just his true nature. And as more horrifying secrets from his past emerge, Jodie’s strength will be pushed to the limit…
My 4* review:
Dead Secret is the first book that I’ve read by Ava McCarthy, and I’d be more than happy for it not to be the last.
I really enjoyed Dead Secret. It wasn’t brilliantly written, with amazing characters and the most amazing storyline ever. But that didn’t stop it being a damn good read. I just enjoyed reading it, I wanted to know what happened and I enjoyed the twists and turns that the book took.
Dead Secret is a good, easy and enjoyable read. You don’t need to think too hard but it will make you think.
I was given a copy of Dead Secret by the publishers via Netgalley in return for an honest review.
I’m delighted to have Carol and Bob aka RC Bridgestock on If Only I Could Read Faster today as part of their blog tour for When The Killing Starts which was released yesterday. First I have a guest post from them followed by my 4* review. Enjoy!
From Fact to Fiction – A job like no other…
It is often said that we should ‘write what we know’ and so far that method has worked for us. But then again we write crime fiction, and between us we have nearly 50 years of police experience. This unique combination has enabled us to create our down-to-earth character Detective Inspector Jack Dylan, with warmth and humour because he is loosely based on Bob. Dylan’s partner Jen is also loosely based on me, very loosely I might add… And some traits of characters you meet in the Dylan series are also taken from those we’ve met ‘in the job’ – a profession often regarded as ‘a job like no other’.
It is one thing reading or writing fictional crime novels or watching them on TV; but why would anyone want to deal with the aftermath of man’s inhumanity to man, or be able to? Questions like this makes me wonder if ‘life’ prepares us for what’s to come …
Bob spent his school holidays on his grandparent’s farm, he had a paper round before and after school and his Saturday job was in a butchers. Leaving Grammar school before the mock exams, because he was offered an apprenticeship, meant that he had no academic qualifications, and he soon realised after qualifying as a butcher that unless he owned a shop there was little money in it. So, with a young family to provide for he went to work in a dye works. He stuck it our for two years. The money was good but when he saw colleagues with terrible burns, and when he blew his nose it gave off the colours of a rainbow, he knew enough was enough.
He had encountered three runs-in’s with the police in his young life. Once when he was five; his brother gave him a fog detonator that he had taken from the railway line. Bob being smart knew it wasn’t the watch his elder said it was and he threw it away. His railway inspector father found out what he had done and knowing how dangerous the detonators could be, immediately called the police. A short ride in a blue and white Morris 1000 police van took him to the ‘scene of the crime’, in the company of a stern looking police officer. Bob got a clip round the ear for wasting police time and another from his dad when he got home. The second incident was in his butchering days. Returning home on the bus one dark night, over the moors, from the slaughter house, the bus was stopped and a police officer climbed onboard. After speaking to the driver the officer walked slowly down the aisle, his eyes only for Bob. He grabbed the young butcher boy by the scruff of the neck and escorted him unceremoniously off. Apparently an eagle-eyed passenger had caught sight of Bob’s blood splattered smock which was tucked neatly under his arm, and on alighting promptly informed the police. Bob assumed the blue and white apron might’ve given the police officer a clue as to his profession, but nevertheless he was given a clip around the ear for wasting police time and told to put it in a plastic bag next time. He and was left by the side of the road to walk the four miles home – his allocated bus fare already spent! On the third occasion he was quietly enjoying his ‘pie and peas’ from the van in Birstall market square after a night out, when a copper barked at him to ‘move’! Before Bob could say, ‘Bob’s your uncle,’ he was thrown into the back of a police van with a dog that, if it wasn’t called Bite, it should’ve been. Luckily on this occasion the officer got an urgent call and Bob was released promptly with another clip around the ear.
So he decided, if he couldn’t beat them he might as well join them…
But please don’t despair if you haven’t walked the walk and talked the talk. You already know more than you think…
Eight years ago we had never put pen to paper – some confidence for those just about to start writing their first novel. The bad news is on hearing the wordswrite what you know I have seen faces immediately show defeat. But, these four short words can be misleading, build barrier as well as impose limitations on the imagination, and breed uncertainty.
The good news is that we all know a lot more than we think we do. Funny, it took me years to realise that little snippet of wisdom! What we ‘know’ isn’t just what our everyday material life we live. It is so much more…
For instance, we all know what scares us, what being frightened feels like, how we react if we touch something hot or cold, or smell something rancid. It’s that knowledge that we, the author has to draw upon to make our stories believable to others. Your fears of the dark, pain, the unknown, are other people’s fears too. You know what prompts these feelings just as much as the other primal emotions of happiness, sadness and anger; for these are a range of feelings that we all share as human beings. Just remember that when you are writing your story to make those emotions/reactions real to your reader.
Everyone knows what it feels like to have the sun on your back, to sit in front of a nice warm fire and feel snuggled, warm, safe; to fall over and scrape your knee – you probably did that hundreds of times as a child.
Think also of the other senses. What do you hear?
You know full well how you react to a loud bang and how others do too. Or what your body does when you put something tart in your mouth. By sharing those sensations the reader will immediately know how your character is feeling too. For example, Daisy put a slice of lemon in her mouth and pulled a sour face. We don’t need to add, she recoiled and cringed at the tangy taste because we, the reader, can imagine it.
So, by drawing upon what you share with others you’ve instantly created a rapport between you, your reader and your character, and this trigger in turn will help share emotions. This in turn will help you build a place. What do you see? The place is irrelevant you could be in a garden, a lounge, a bedroom… Now, as you move on you’ll begin to realise that the situations that you ‘know’ does not necessarily have to happen where it happened to you. This experience could happen anywhere you want – even in another time, or in a fictional world.
The next step is to create a character – someone who we want people to remember whether they love, hate or feel indifferent towards. Give them a look, a trait, a catch-phrase that is unforgettable – for instance, do you remember Kojak the big, bald, hard-nosed detective with a lollipop addiction who constantly said, ‘Who Loves Ya Baby’? See what I mean?
To make characters in stories in the past or the future come alive we do our research to find out what the fashion was, transport, the technology of the time. Research is another form of knowing.
You will need to know how to make them real today.
Remember people are people, no matter where or when they lived. They will all have experienced love, hate and curiosity just like you and me. Even if your characters are from another planet, or exist in some futuristic land you’re going to have to give them traits that your readers can identify with, here and now so the story will work.
So, taking what you have and what you know, from experience and research you can make-believe….
A story’s success is only waiting to be shaped by your imagination.
Now what are you waiting for?
We often get asked how we write together.
Bob writes the police procedural which is the main storyline for each DI Jack Dylan novel. All the Dylan books stand alone in terms of the crime story. He writes this with the ‘mask’ of the detective clearly on, as he doesn’t concentrate on the victims background until the evidence is given to him by way of it being revealed to the investigation team. The initial crime scene in mind he writes through the enquiry. The reader of a Dylan book is firmly sat on the detectives shoulder throughout both in his professional life and at home treating them to all the highs and lows of any case he takes charge of.
Once the crime has been solved I get the narrative and I start from the beginning – Bob doesn’t do a re-write – that’s my job. I write the home-life storyline, the emotion. I draw out of Bob his ‘real’ feelings and write the scenes from his sometimes harrowing descriptions. Personally I think writing has been cathartic for Bob. Bob says its work! We’re lucky to write procedurals as there is never a case of not knowing how to move the story forward.
However, we don’t write about factual murders. We have too much respect for the victims, or the relatives of the victims who have already suffered enough; but every crime scene we write about Bob has seen. Every post-mortem is etched in his sub conscious forever: all he has to do is draw on the memory of the incident. He will never forget. The family saga which ties the books as a series also allows a new storyline in each book so the books do truly stand alone and this is due to us watching the couple grow, as well as their family with all the drama that brings…
‘When The Killing Starts’ Di Jack Dylan (Book 7) released 30th June 2016
When the Killing Starts is the seventh book in the D.I. Jack Dylan series. However, it is the first book in the series that I have read and I had no problem keeping up so it can easily be read as a standalone book.
RC Bridgestock is in fact two people, a husband and wife team who now write together (and do a huge amount of amazing charity work).
Perhaps because it is written by an ex police officer, this book felt really real and true to life. Dylan’s relationship with his wife felt particularly genuine which may well be down to the real life experience of the other half of the writing team.
The main storyline in When the Killing Starts is focused on the frankly evil Devlin brothers. I found their part of the story really good, and I enjoyed reading about how Dylan was tracking them down. While Dylan is running that investigation he is also overseeing another murder investigation. I found that a bit of a distraction really, I would have preferred it if Dylan had focused on one investigation. Although I do recognise that no doubt in real life they do run multiple investigations at the same time.
If you are new to police procedural books then these are great books to start with. The assumption is made that the reader has little to no knowledge of how police investigations work, so things are explained clearly.
When the Killy Starts is a really good book, it is well written and I will definitely be reading more from RC Bridgestock and D.I. Dylan.
I received a copy of When the Killy starts from the authors in return for an honest review.
If only I could read faster 