Gone To Ground by Bronwyn Hall

September 28, 2023 By Leave a Comment


Gone To Ground by Bronwyn Hall
Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers Australia
Genre: Contemporary, Action/Adventure, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by Fern

HUNTED. ALONE. AFRAID…
A heart-in-the-mouth and utterly addictive adventure thriller from a phenomenal debut Australian talent.

UN surgeon Rachel Forester is posted at a remote medical clinic deep in the jungle of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. With violence escalating in the region, Dr Forester risks her life by remaining to tend an injured child while the rest of her team evacuates. On the cusp of her final desperate chance to leave, a soldier is carried into the camp by three other members of his unit, his condition so critical, his airlift must take priority over hers.

With no help coming, and in the path of warring militias, this small unit must flee through the heart of the jungle to reach the safety of the province capital. But in the dark wilderness lies a strangling web of crime and corruption. As they get deeper, they discover a sinister mining operation and stolen children with evidence indicating shadowy ties to the UN. But aren’t those the people Dr Forester works for? The only people who know she’s still lost out there? And now, the people who want her dead?

The further they delve, the more the web closes around them. Will they make it out alive?

Dr Rachel Forester is an Australian working with the UN deep in the jungles of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. What was meant to be one week delivering much needed vaccines to the tribal children living in the remote jungle areas has turned into more than a month. But with the violence escalating she and her one remaining nurse, Michael, are about to be evacuated when the fighting suddenly explodes and – while saving a Canadian soldier – Rachel finds herself fleeing with the military team into the jungle in a rush for their lives.

I picked up this book on a whim having never heard of the author but the blurb and first few pages really captured my attention. I’m so glad I listened to my instincts as this is absolutely one of the best books I’ve read this year – and possibly a new “must read” author for myself. I found this book had a really wonderful blend of action, adventure, military plotline combined with medical attention and a small hint of romance amongst the mystery/suspense. I never would have guessed this was the authors debut novel – but Google assures me this is Ms. Hall’s first novel. I found the plotlines, pacing and writing exceptional and really enjoyed this read.

Readers who like very strong military (ie loads of description about the guns/weaponry/helicopters etc) might not find this quite to their tastes. While there is ample description for me – I’m more of a reader who enjoys the plot/character lines and I am very satisfied with enough description for me to imagine what’s going on without needing to go overboard on the army/military angle. I was pretty pleased there were a few plots interweaving throughout the whole story – as well as a very slowly simmering romance which is given very little screen time but just enough to keep you guessing will they/won’t they.

I feel this story should appeal to a wide range of readers and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I’ve already noted for myself that I want to buy the next book (another stand alone it appears) and I am eager to see if Ms. Hall’s second book matches the highly satisfactory outcome of her first. A really enjoyable book and one I will reread very soon.

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The Furthest Station by Ben Aaronovitch

September 26, 2023 By Leave a Comment


The Furthest Station by Ben Aaronovitch
Publisher: Gollancz
Genre: Contemporary, Paranormal, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

There have been ghosts on the London Underground, sad, harmless spectres whose presence does little more than give a frisson to travelling and boost tourism. But now there’s a rash of sightings on the Metropolitan Line and these ghosts are frightening, aggressive and seem to be looking for something.

Enter PC Peter Grant, junior member of the Metropolitan Police’s Special Assessment unit a.k.a. The Folly a.k.a. the only police officers whose official duties include ghost hunting. Together with Jaget Kumar, his counterpart at the British Transport Police, he must brave the terrifying crush of London’s rush hour to find the source of the ghosts.

Joined by Peter’s wannabe wizard cousin, a preschool river god and Toby the ghost hunting dog, their investigation takes a darker tone as they realise that a real person’s life might just be on the line.

And time is running out to save them.

When PC Peter Grant is contacted by a friend in the Transit Police about people being harassed on the Metropolitan line in the subway, he’s curious but doesn’t think too much of it. After a bit of investigation, he discovers that there absolutely are a various number of ghosts, all with a purpose, on the early morning commuter trains. With Abigail lending a hand, and Nightingale as back up can Peter decipher their message and unravel everything before things get critical.

I really enjoyed this short story and was exceptionally pleased that despite it’s shorter length there is a quite solid and intricate plotline and a few of our favourite characters front and center. I was particularly pleased with the movement and maturing of Abigail’s character and plot arc, I’m thinking there are definitely much bigger things in her near future. I also really enjoyed seeing Peter doing what he does best and it was a pleasure as always to see Nightingale in action.

Readers who enjoy a strong element of magic and paranormal rolled along in with their mysteries should find this an excellent book – and a great series as a whole – I’d happily pick up this shorter book as a brief introduction to the magical world Aaronovitch has created. This is a great, shorter taste of his writing style and the series, but readers who do enjoy this should go back to the beginning and enjoy the story from the start. I don’t feel readers who start here should be too confused though it’s quite clear there are a number of books preceding this one and why miss all the fun?

A quick read and loads of fun with a strong mystery and some exceptional magic and paranormal beings, this is a good time and I recommend it.

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Crooked River by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

September 25, 2023 By Leave a Comment


Crooked River by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing, New York
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Fern

A startling crime with dozens of victims. Appearing out of nowhere to horrify the quiet resort town of Sanibel Island, Florida, dozens of identical, ordinary-looking shoes float in on the tide and are washed up on the tropical beach—each one with a crudely severed human foot inside.

A ghastly enigma with no apparent solution. Called away from vacation elsewhere in the state, Agent Pendergast reluctantly agrees to visit the crime scene—and, despite himself, is quickly drawn in by the incomprehensible puzzle. An early pathology report only adds to the mystery. With an ocean of possibilities confronting the investigation, no one is sure what happened, why, or from where the feet originated. And they desperately need to know: are the victims still alive?

A worthy challenge for a brilliant mind. In short order, Pendergast finds himself facing the most complex and inexplicable challenge of his career: a tangled thread of evidence that spans seas and traverses continents, connected to one of the most baffling mysteries in modern medical science. Through shocking twists and turns, all trails lead back to a powerful adversary with a sadistic agenda and who—in a cruel irony—ultimately sees in Pendergast the ideal subject for their malevolent research.

Special Agent Pendergast is taking a well earned rest down in Florida after closing an unusually nasty case. But when over a hundred severed feet wash up on shore in equally baffling green shoes Pendergast finds himself drawn to the case despite his best intentions. With the Coast Guard blustering around and a whole bunch of other authorities trying to stick their oar in can Pendergast uncover what is really going on?

I have been a big fan of this series for ages so I was really pleased with this latest addition. With a complicated and well woven plot there were a number of angles to this case and it wasn’t until well over the half way mark of the full length novel that I began to unwind which pieces were red herrings and which were related to the main case surrounding the feet. There were a number of strong secondary characters who I felt really added to the tension and plotlines – but Pendergast really was front and center doing exactly what he always does and I loved this.

I was particularly pleased to see Agent Coldmoon return – albeit recovering and not the pushover he was in the previous book. I am really growing to love this character and I sincerely hope he makes more appearances in future books. Roger Smithback also makes a strong appearance in this book. While he will never take over my love of William Smithback I have to admit Roger made a solid contribution to both the tension and moving forward of the plotlines. He really was a positive addition – I just sadly feel he can never come out from under his brother’s shadow in my personal perspective.

Readers who enjoy a solidly plotted and well woven mystery with a few unusual twists and turns (usually very faint paranormal or “other” illusions to the plot) and characters that are definitely outside the usual box should find this entire series an absolute hit. This book can certainly be read very easily on it’s own. There are a few subtle hints that the characters have had previous adventures together but the entirety of this book and particularly the plot stands utterly on it’s own merits in this book and readers can be comfortable picking this up having never read a Pendergast book previously.

A smashing adventure and one I really loved.

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The Funeral Boat by Kate Ellis

September 20, 2023 By Leave a Comment


The Funeral Boat by Kate Ellis
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
Genre: Contemporary, Historical, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

When a skeleton is discovered on a Devon smallholding, DS Wesley Peterson, a keen amateur archaeologist, is intrigued by the possibility that it is a Viking corpse buried in keeping with ancient traditions. But he has a rather more urgent crime to solve, when a Danish tourist is reported missing.

Wesley finds disturbing evidence that the woman has been abducted. His boss Gerry Heffernan believes that Ingeborg’s disappearance is linked to a spate of brutal robberies and that she witnessed something she shouldn’t have.

But is her disappearance linked to far older events? For it seems that this may not have been Ingeborg’s first visit to this far from quiet West Country backwater . . .

A skeleton is discovered on a small farm and DS Wesley Peterson’s boss is convinced it’s the remains of a criminal that had lived on the land then mysteriously disappeared three years ago. But the skeleton appears to have been buried in a boat – one of the rituals many Viking graves have. Wesley’s archaeologist friend, Neil, is convinced the body is extremely old, but a number of questions remain. Then when a Danish tourist goes missing, Wes and his team have to juggle both cases as well as a spate of robberies that have occurred with the local farms.

I have been enjoying this series of police procedural mysteries and am feeling the author is starting to hit her stride. I find there is a decent balance of police procedure and murder mystery – though I do admit readers looking for a heavily historical or strongly archaeology based series might find this side of the plot is often not as front-and-center as the more modern mystery and police aspects of the plot.

I am also enjoying the fact Wesley’s police colleagues and team are definitely being fleshed out a little more and the team is knitting together very well. This has been more of a slower paced arc covering the series as a whole but I am really starting to enjoy it all. This book can absolutely be read by itself and while I am enjoying the longer arc having read each of the previous books in the series, it definitely isn’t necessary to thoroughly enjoy this story on its own merits.

A fun and well written British police procedural murder mystery I enjoyed this book and can definitely recommend the series as a whole.

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Deadweight by Paul Forster

September 18, 2023 By Leave a Comment


Deadweight by Paul Forster
Publisher: Self-published
Genre: Contemporary, Paranormal, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Horror
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

It was hailed as the answer to the obesity epidemic; a pill that allows you to eat anything you like and still lose weight. Millions were attracted by the promise of a leaner, fitter body, but there was a fatal and unforeseen flaw in this new panacea. A tiny microbe, lurking within, slowly infects the users. In turn they pass the infection to others with a sneeze, a cough or a simple kiss, and before long tens of millions are infected and turned into mindless, shambling wrecks, with the sole purpose of existing to eat. The virus is rampant, reaching into every corner of the globe. Governments collapse and shut down, unable to contain the outbreak, while the army works hard against the unending assault in a desperate bid to stop the dead from total victory. But there are even greater dangers to be faced. A few unfortunate souls suffer with the hunger of the dead but the mind of the living. They are neither dead nor alive, but something in between; something far more dangerous to the surviving humans. And amidst this carnage of the end of the world, in the south east of England, a small group of survivors are fighting on, against all the odds, as they try to stay one step in front of the dead, trying to avoid being the next item on the menu. The question is, in a world now claimed by the dead, what will they have to do to survive?

When a new weight-loss pill comes onto the market no one thinks too much of it. Obesity is a global epidemic and millions of people are looking for a quick pill to make themselves thinner. And this pill becomes extremely popular as it proves to work perfectly in everyone – millions all over the world are quickly losing weight no matter what they eat. But no one knows that the microbe that’s being used in this
pill quickly becomes infectious through a cough, a sneeze, and soon the whole world becomes infected.

I found this to be a really well written and scarily believable book. I think some readers mightn’t like how a lot of the start of this book flips between the present – after the zombies are out there – and how the research and science behind the pills was discovered and let loose. I personally didn’t mind this jumping back and forth because I feel the author has done an amazing job in thinking through the background of the pill and making a really interesting, logical and believable plotline behind it. I felt this really set up the story as a whole and it was such a different spin on the whole “zombie apocalypse” thing that I really enjoyed it.

I also enjoyed how the past and present came together and then merged into the rest of the story. Readers who enjoy longer running series like Walking Dead and Last Of Us should find that this book really fills a gap that these series can leave behind. I found the main characters relatable and interestingly drawn and most importantly for me I found the plot to be gripping and interesting. There are a few sex scenes in this book and while there is some gore it’s kept to a fairly low level to my mind and neither overtakes the story. I would mainly declare this an intricately plotted zombie apocalypse style of book with a fair bit of action and a really good plotline.

Readers looking for an interesting and freshly written zombie-style end of the world book should find this a really good read.

Filed Under: Horror, Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , ,

The Chalk Pit by Elly Griffiths

September 14, 2023 By Leave a Comment


The Chalk Pit by Elly Griffiths
Publisher: Quercus
Genre: Contemporary, Historical, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Far below Norwich is a maze of old mining tunnels. When Ruth Galloway is called to examine a set of human remains in one of them, she notices the bones are almost translucent, a sign they were boiled soon after death. Once more, she finds herself at the helm of a murder investigation. Meanwhile, DCI Nelson is looking for a homeless woman who he hears has gone “underground.” Could she have disappeared into the labyrinth? And if so, is she connected to the body Ruth found? As Ruth and Nelson investigate the tunnels, they hear rumors of secret societies, cannibalism, and ritual killings. And when a dead body is found with a map of what seems to be the full maze, they realize their hunt for the killer has only just begun—and that more bodies may be underfoot.

Dr Ruth Galloway is called in when a local contractor discovers bones in an old miners tunnel. They expect the bones will be mediaeval and date back to when the tunnels and old chalk pits were last in use – but they are all very surprised to find the bones are not just modern, but less than ten years old and show signs of cannibalism. DCI Harry Nelson is called in, but he already has a lot on his plate with a number of murders of local rough sleepers, and then things get even harder when a young mother also mysteriously disappears. Can Ruth and Harry work out what’s behind all this?

I’ve been really enjoying this series and found this to be an excellent addition to the series. There is some progress in the rather complicated relationship between Ruth and Harry – though very clearly this is a long-running plotline that might never actually reach a full conclusion. I did enjoy seeing the many strong secondary characters as well. While I do feel a reader can pick this book up and both understand and enjoy the plotline having not read any of the previous books there is a lot of history between a number of the characters and I feel for a really richer enjoyment at least some of the previous books should have been read first.

I did really enjoy though how the plotlines and police procedural aspect to the mysteries were written. There is a good pace to the plot – with plenty of forward momentum but still enough time for the reader to try and figure everything out themselves as well. I feel readers who expect a high level of action or a really fast pace to their stories might feel this is a somewhat slower paced book – but I think most British police procedural fans will enjoy the many layers to the plot and the chance to try and sort it out for themselves as well.

I was also pleased that while the archaeology definitely took more of a back seat in this story it was not forgotten nor did it feel to me like something just added in for the sake of it or half-hearted. I really enjoyed the extra level it added to the story as a whole and while it wasn’t as front-and-center as I enjoy in some of the other books in this series, it definitely added properly to the story in my opinion.

A good read and a well written mystery; this was an enjoyable book.

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Death In The East by Abir Mukherjee

September 12, 2023 By Leave a Comment


Death In The East by Abir Mukherjee
Publisher: Penguin Random House UK
Genre: Historical, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

1905, London. As a young constable, Sam Wyndham is on his usual East London beat when he comes across an old flame, Bessie Drummond, attacked in the streets. The next day, when Bessie is found brutally beaten in her own room, locked from the inside, Wyndham promises to get to the bottom of her murder. But the case will cost the young constable more than he ever imagined. 1922, India. Leaving Calcutta, Captain Sam Wyndham heads for the hills of Assam, to the ashram of a sainted monk where he hopes to conquer his opium addiction. But when he arrives, he sees a ghost from his life in London—a man thought to be long dead, a man Wyndham hoped he would never see again. Wyndham knows he must call his friend and colleague Sergeant Banerjee for help. He is certain this figure from his past isn’t here by coincidence. He is here for revenge . . .

After finally admitting his addiction problem, Captain Sam Wyndham has headed into the remote countryside of India at his doctor’s advice, to stay at an Ashram well known for its success in curing addicts. While there, Wyndham has many demons to face, and not all of them drug related. After finally coming out the other end, Wyndham realizes what he first mistook to be hallucinations caused by his getting clean are actually very, very real. Wyndham calls for his friend and colleague, Sargent Banerjee and together they can hopefully make things right again.

I was quite pleased the author didn’t skimp on the complexities and serious nature of Wyndham fighting – and beating – his addiction. This has been a slow burning plot from the very first book of the series and while I can understand some readers mightn’t be pleased that nearly the first three quarters of the book revolves around the Ashram and Wyndham fighting this particular battle I strongly felt such a long running – and life altering for Wyndham – plot deserved a good chunk of the story.

Indeed, the author managed to blend this “current” timeframe of Wyndham in 1922 with one of the very first cases the freshly minted police constable Wyndham ever came across back in 1905. At times I grew a little frustrated with the back and forth between the two timelines – I’m usually not a fan of this style of storytelling – but for the final quarter of the book it became crystal clear why the author had laid everything out in exactly this manner and I was quite pleased with how the two storylines dovetailed together and drew to the climax of the story.

I really love how this series crosses quite a few genres – it is a very well written historical series, also set in Colonial India, which has quite an injection of exoticness about it. It is also a very well plotted British police procedural style of murder mystery which is always a favourite of mine. I definitely feel this book – and the series as a whole – should appeal to quite a wide range of readers. This particular book might be better read in conjunction with at least a few others in this series. I do feel for the best emotional investment and appreciation of how hard this fight and resolution was for Wyndham – getting rid of his drug addiction – some of the background in previous books should give the reader a stronger attachment to this conclusion, but I have to be honest and I do feel this book would read quite well just by itself as well. Readers who find this book by itself shouldn’t hesitate to read it simply because it is one in a series – it holds up I feel exceptionally well just by itself.

Readers looking for a different style of murder mystery or police procedural definitely should give this a go. I enjoyed the plotting, characters and different setting and feel it’s a good book and well worth the read.

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An Unhallowed Grave by Kate Ellis

September 6, 2023 By Leave a Comment


An Unhallowed Grave by Kate Ellis
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
Genre: Contemporary, Historical, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

A twisted murder mirrors a dark legend . . .

When the body of Pauline Brent is found hanging from a yew tree in a local graveyard, DS Wesley Peterson immediately suspects foul play. Then history provides him with a clue. Wesley’s archaeologist friend, Neil Watson, has excavated a corpse at his nearby dig – a young woman who, local legend has it, had been publicly hanged from the very same tree before being buried on unhallowed ground five centuries ago.

Wesley is now forced to consider the possibility that the killer knows the tree’s dark history. Has Pauline also been ‘executed’ rather than murdered, and, if so, for what crime? To catch a dangerous killer Wesley has to discover as much as he can about the victim. But Pauline appears to have been a woman with few friends, no relatives and a past she has carefully tried to hide . . .

DS Wesley Peterson is called to investigate when the body of a young woman is found hanging from a yew tree in a local graveyard. They quickly realise this death was not suicide – but certainly murder and Wesley is further confused when his archaeologist friend, Neil, points out that the yew tree the woman was hung from was previously known for public hangings and the bodies then buried in unhallowed ground nearby. Just as Wesley feels he may be getting a handle on the case, yet another dead body turns up. Can he solve what’s really going on before disaster strikes again?

I’ve been enjoying this series and found this a particularly well written addition. I am becoming familiar now with all the main characters and feel the team is beginning to really gel together and work cohesively as a unit. I also found this mystery both layered and interesting – not easy to guess at a first glance and well woven enough that it kept my interest all the way through the book.

I was pleased with the balance between police procedural work and archaeology. I felt that while the mystery and murder investigation definitely took a greater share of the storyline, there was regular and important involvement from the archaeology side of the plot and for this book I felt the balance between the two was really good and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I feel readers wanting a book really steeped in history or focused more on the archaeology rather than the mystery mightn’t find the balance as enjoyable as I did – but for readers mainly after the mystery/murder aspect and with just a good amount of seasoning with the history and archaeology this book should be very satisfying.

And enjoyable and well plotted read, I absolutely will be reading more books in this series.

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Firebreak by Richard Stark

September 5, 2023 By Leave a Comment


Firebreak by Richard Stark
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Action/Adventure
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Between Parker’s 1961 debut and his return in the late 1990s, the whole world of crime changed. Now fake IDs and credit cards had to be purchased from specialists; increasingly sophisticated policing made escape and evasion tougher; and, worst of all, money had gone digital—the days of cash-stuffed payroll trucks were long gone.

But cash isn’t everything: Flashfire and Firebreak find Parker going after, respectively, a fortune in jewels and a collection of priceless paintings. In Flashfire, Parker’s in West Palm Beach, competing with a crew that has an unhealthy love of explosions. When things go sour, Parker finds himself shot and trapped—and forced to rely on a civilian to survive. Firebreak takes Parker to a palatial Montana “hunting lodge” where a dot-com millionaire hides a gallery of stolen old masters—which will fetch Parker a pretty penny if his team can just get it past the mansion’s tight security. The forests of Montana are an inhospitable place for a heister when well-laid plans fall apart, but no matter how untamed the wilderness, Parker’s guaranteed to be the most dangerous predator around.

Parker is brought in on an interesting heist by two colleagues he’s worked well within the past. This time it’s the Montana refuge of a dot com billionaire and his very well secured mini art gallery that’s in the team’s sights. With plenty of security the team’s tech is positive he can overcome they’re keen to get the many priceless paintings. Only someone is on Parker’s tail and the team is on a tight timeframe. Can they make it work?

I’ve found the Parker heist series to be an absolute gem. Tersely written and somewhat gritty, this series might have been around for a while but it solidly holds up to time. Some things – like heisters planning and executing a heist – simply doesn’t go out of fashion to my mind. Parker himself also holds true. Focused, driven and coldly professional he’s an anti-hero but one of the absolute best to my mind and still somehow the character you’re rooting for most. Even if I’d not want to try and carry out a conversation with him.

Stark’s usual formula is also at play here. The book is divided up into four sections and they each weave perfectly together. Readers who pick this up and are new to the series are in for a treat – these are like a block of the very best chocolate or a packet of your favourite treats. Once you start you simply want another then another. The pacing is excellent – fast enough you get carried away by the action and heist itself, but not so fast you can’t work out exactly what’s happening. The characters are leanly written and there’s virtually no flourishes at all to the writing – it’s like an older, hard-boiled kind of detective novel in all the best ways.

An excellent heist story with a small but intriguing set of characters and an exceptional writing style that gives you everything you need and a few good twists in the plot I found this to be a wonderful story and another addition to a series that’s one of my absolute favourites. Recommended.

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The Woman In Blue by Elly Griffiths

September 1, 2023 By Leave a Comment


The Woman In Blue by Elly Griffiths
Publisher: Quercus
Genre: Contemporary, Historical, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

A vision of the Virgin Mary foreshadows a string of cold-blooded murders, revealing a dark current of religious fanaticism in an old medieval town in this Ruth Galloway mystery.

When Ruth’s friend Cathbad sees a vision of the Virgin Mary—in a white gown and blue cloak—in the graveyard next to the cottage he is house-sitting, he takes it in his stride. Walsingham has strong connections to Mary, and Cathbad is a druid after all; visions come with the job. But when the body of a woman in a blue dressing-gown is found dead the next day in a nearby ditch, it is clear Cathbad’s vision was all too human—and that a horrible crime has been committed. DCI Nelson and his team are called in for the murder investigation and soon establish that the dead woman was a recovering addict being treated at a nearby private hospital.

Ruth, a devout atheist, has managed to avoid Walsingham during her seventeen years in Norfolk. But then an old university friend, Hilary Smithson, asks to meet her in the village, and Ruth is amazed to discover that her friend is now a priest. Hilary has been receiving vitriolic anonymous letters targeting women priests— letters containing references to local archaeology and a striking phrase about a woman “clad in blue, weeping for the world.”

Then another woman is murdered—a priest.

As Walsingham prepares for its annual Easter re-enactment of the Crucifixion, the race is on to unmask the killer before they strike again…

When a young woman is murdered in a pilgrimage town near to where Dr Ruth Galloway lives DCI Harry Nelson is quickly on the case. While this time there isn’t much need for Ruth’s archaeological talents, she is still drawn in by the disturbing similarities to the case and some threatening letters a priest friend of Ruth’s also in the town for a conference has been receiving lately. The case grows more complicated however when a second woman is murdered and all too soon both Harry and ruth find this case hits even closer to home than either is prepared for.

I have been really enjoying this series and found this book to be an exceptional addition to it. Readers who are picking this book up by itself should be able to follow along with everything fairly easily – the links and history between the main character’s is fairly well described without too much info-dumping, though I must admit the previous books are all well worth a read in their own right. Readers shouldn’t be worried though about not understanding some of the cross-overs between the characters and their history though.

The plot itself was quite good though also I found it quite straightforward. Usually I enjoy the history of the archaeology or the links to Ruth and a dig site or something similar and that side of this book was a bit thinner than I’ve found previous. The small town is a massive local pilgrim’s site though so the history and such is there, just in a bit of a different context. I feel many readers might feel that this is refreshing and a different take – but I admit I missed some of the archaeology, just personally.

I did however like that there were some important changes and truths exposed personally with Harry and Ruth – and Michelle, Harry’s wife. A lot of the complexities surrounding their relationship and history has been bubbling under the surface for the last few books and I was pleased there was finally some decisive steps taken. I still definitely feel these relationships will remain complicated – and a part of me wishes a few different decisions had been made – but I was very pleased that things didn’t remain in a status quo as they have for the last few books. That was lovely to read and see finally happen.

For an interesting and enjoyable murder mystery this was a good book and is an excellent series I’m thoroughly addicted to.

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