Author: Noelle Holten
Format reviewed: Ebook
Source: Netgalley
Publisher: Killer Reads
Publication Date: 31st May 2019
Rating: 4.5 Stars
A dark and gripping debut crime novel – the first in a stunning new series – from a huge new talent.
The killer is just getting started…
When three wife beaters are themselves found beaten to death, DC Maggie Jamieson knows she is facing her toughest case yet.
The police suspect that Probation Officer Lucy Sherwood – who is connected to all three victims – is hiding a dark secret. Then a fourth domestic abuser is brutally murdered.
And he is Lucy’s husband.
Now the police are running out of time, but can Maggie really believe her friend Lucy is a cold-blooded killer?
The killer is just getting started…
When three wife beaters are themselves found beaten to death, DC Maggie Jamieson knows she is facing her toughest case yet.
The police suspect that Probation Officer Lucy Sherwood – who is connected to all three victims – is hiding a dark secret. Then a fourth domestic abuser is brutally murdered.
And he is Lucy’s husband.
Now the police are running out of time, but can Maggie really believe her friend Lucy is a cold-blooded killer?
What a debut this is, and I can easily say I'm looking forward to book 2.
To start with I was struggling a bit as it seemed like a new character was introduced every chapter - and if you are a book blogger you may find a lot of the character names were incredibly familiar. In fact that was possibly what I had the most trouble with initially, as every time a familiar name appeared, I felt pulled out of the book, and was just laughing.
Well that lasted for the first stint of reading the book which took me to 30% and when I returned to it on the return train journey, I was fully into the story, and I had clearly taken in all of the background, and key scene setting, character introductions, as I found myself completely hooked by it.
I needed to know what was happening in poor Lucy's lift, given the marriage she has and then the not overly easy day job. I enjoyed getting to know a new police team, and in particular DC Maggie Jamieson.
It was interesting to see how her new team, the DAHU was working, its the team investigating Domestic abuse and homicide - while Lucy herself is a probation officer for domestic abusers.
To say a lot of the subject matter is on the heavier side, would not be too much of an understatement, but it wasn't any more graphic than strictly needed in order to illustrate the horrificness of the situations.
I felt no sympathy at all towards any of the murdered people, but I'll admit I was fairly positive who had done things relatively early on for me, and I was in some respects correct, but still even after the police worked that out there were still some shocks, that did surprise me.
Written with a short, snappy writing style, I loved the very short chapters, the flicking of viewpoints between each one, and getting insight into a whole range of people's lives.
This is the first book I've read in absolutely ages where I disregarded all my piles of work, in order to make sure I was able to sit and read the remainder of it in one sitting, with complete obliviousness to my surroundings.
I wouldn't be surprised if elements of this book make it very hard for me to sleep this evening, and I suspect I could be thinking about Lucy for a good while longer. In part because although the main character in theory is Maggie, as she is the detective, I found I was reading more about Lucy, and getting to know her the best out of the whole myriad of characters.
Noelle Holten is definitely a rising star in terms of crime books, and I honestly can't wait for book two to be released, to be able to hopefully jump straight in and feel at home with the writing, and some of the characters at least.
Thank you to Killer Reads and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.
Please do follow along all the other stops on this fabulous blog tour
To start with I was struggling a bit as it seemed like a new character was introduced every chapter - and if you are a book blogger you may find a lot of the character names were incredibly familiar. In fact that was possibly what I had the most trouble with initially, as every time a familiar name appeared, I felt pulled out of the book, and was just laughing.
Well that lasted for the first stint of reading the book which took me to 30% and when I returned to it on the return train journey, I was fully into the story, and I had clearly taken in all of the background, and key scene setting, character introductions, as I found myself completely hooked by it.
I needed to know what was happening in poor Lucy's lift, given the marriage she has and then the not overly easy day job. I enjoyed getting to know a new police team, and in particular DC Maggie Jamieson.
It was interesting to see how her new team, the DAHU was working, its the team investigating Domestic abuse and homicide - while Lucy herself is a probation officer for domestic abusers.
To say a lot of the subject matter is on the heavier side, would not be too much of an understatement, but it wasn't any more graphic than strictly needed in order to illustrate the horrificness of the situations.
I felt no sympathy at all towards any of the murdered people, but I'll admit I was fairly positive who had done things relatively early on for me, and I was in some respects correct, but still even after the police worked that out there were still some shocks, that did surprise me.
Written with a short, snappy writing style, I loved the very short chapters, the flicking of viewpoints between each one, and getting insight into a whole range of people's lives.
This is the first book I've read in absolutely ages where I disregarded all my piles of work, in order to make sure I was able to sit and read the remainder of it in one sitting, with complete obliviousness to my surroundings.
I wouldn't be surprised if elements of this book make it very hard for me to sleep this evening, and I suspect I could be thinking about Lucy for a good while longer. In part because although the main character in theory is Maggie, as she is the detective, I found I was reading more about Lucy, and getting to know her the best out of the whole myriad of characters.
Noelle Holten is definitely a rising star in terms of crime books, and I honestly can't wait for book two to be released, to be able to hopefully jump straight in and feel at home with the writing, and some of the characters at least.
Thank you to Killer Reads and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.
Please do follow along all the other stops on this fabulous blog tour
