Tuesday 21 May 2019

Book Review - Never Be Broken by Sarah Hilary

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Title: Never Be Broken
Author: Sarah Hilary
Format reviewed: Ebook
Source: Netgalley
Publisher: Headline
Publication Date: 16th May 2019
Rating: 4 Stars



Children are dying on London's streets. Frankie Reece, stabbed through the heart, outside a corner shop. Others recruited from care homes, picked up and exploited; passed like gifts between gangs. They are London's lost. 

Then Raphaela Belsham is killed. She's thirteen years old, her father is a man of influence, from a smart part of town. And she's white. Suddenly, the establishment is taking notice.
DS Noah Jake is determined to handle Raphaela's case and Frankie's too. But he's facing his own turmoil, and it's becoming an obsession. DI Marnie Rome is worried, and she needs Noah on side. Because more children are disappearing, more are being killed by the day and the swelling tide of violence needs to be stemmed before it's too late.

NEVER BE BROKEN is a stunning, intelligent and gripping novel which explores how the act of witness alters us, and reveals what lies beneath the veneer of a glittering city.

Kicking off with a prologue that will instantly draw fans of the series straight into the pages, and make you wonder just what Sarah Hilary has come up with for us this time, , with such a clever opening that had me worried. 

In fact I was worried about DS Noah Jake throughout the book, as he is not handling the events at the end of the previous one that well, although its hardly surprising. 

I would say that this book can't be read as a standalone, and that if you are new to the series to pick it up from Book 5 at the very least, just so that this, book 6, will make that much more sense. The story lines that have been running through the series are incredibly apparent in this instalment. but we also have fresh crimes to turn our attention to. 

This is where I struggled slightly initially as there were a bunch of names that kept cropping up, for deaths that we didn't fully learn about but seemed relevant somehow.  And then there are two deaths within 24 hours, seemingly at first unconnected, but as crime readers know its very rare for their not to be a connection, the question was what and how. 

And that is what stumped me and kept me reading, while I learnt along with the police just what was happening. Because the Marnie / Noah dynamic was different in this book, I felt less connected, as it was so hard seeing Noah like he was,  yet there was still evidence at how great a policeman he his. 

This is another solid book in the series, I just didn't feel it was the best, but still very enjoyable and had me wanting to continue reading even when real life intervened.  

Thank you to Netgalley and Headline for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 

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