Heads Or Tails by Damien Boyd

Heads Or Tails by Damien Boyd
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

A man has been mutilated and left to drown on the incoming tide, handcuffed in his van. With the murder bearing a striking resemblance to a string of sadistic killings carried out with surgical precision in 1990s gangland Manchester, it can mean only one thing: the killer is back.

Transferred to the Major Investigation Team, DI Nick Dixon is assigned a new partner and sent to Manchester. Meanwhile, the gruesome murders in Somerset continue.

Convinced of a connection with the unsolved gangland killings, and with the odds stacked against him, Dixon takes the ultimate gamble, determined to bring the killer to justice before it’s too late.

But is it the same killer? If so, why has he resurfaced now? And how many more must die?

DI Nick Dixon is transferred temporarily over to the Major Investigations Team when a mutilated man is left to drown inside his van, handcuffed as the tide comes in. The case has eerie similarities to a spate of murders carried out back in the 1990s. When another murder quickly follows Nick needs to uncover what’s really going on before more people die.

I enjoyed this British police procedural story. While Nick still had some support from his regular police team and the usual characters in this series, I strongly feel this book can be picked up and read by itself. Many of the usual characters are in the background and the murder plotline is definitely well contained in this story. Readers who have no prior knowledge of the other characters can easily follow along I feel and there’s none of that usual weight of history and previous ties or cases here. This would be a good story to read to discover if you like the author’s style and tone and then decide if you wanted to go back to the beginning of the series and join along.

I also really thought the plot was well handled. There were a few red herrings and enough threads to keep my interest and I didn’t guess what was going on too early in the book. Even when I (and the characters) began to piece together what was happening there were still enough questions and tension to maintain my interest and I thoroughly enjoyed the book in its entirety. This is certainly more of a police procedural style of story – not an action/adventure book that’s just go-go-go, but I greatly enjoyed the mystery and putting the pieces together.

Readers who enjoy a more classic who-dun-it style of mystery should find this an excellent book that is easily picked up and well worth a try.