Holding by Graham Norton.

Follow Sergeant PJ Collins as he tries to solve the mystery behind the body uncovered by builders in Duneen, a village in rural Ireland.

This is not a regular mystery or crime thriller novel. I found the plot very lacking. The story is told in the same style that Graham uses at the start of each of his television chat shows. Yes, it is witty and very pleasant but is awfully polite and never hits hard. Graham builds his story by developing the police investigation along the lines of a romantic comedy. The whole novel is soft and more like a situation comedy, for all the wrong reasons. This story does not grab your imagination and is very easy to put down.

Characterization is fair and it is nice the characters are ordinary people rather than glamorous style icons. Fans of crime thrillers will be disappointed in the police work of solving the mystery of the body. Forensics do not play much of a part but cosy chats between Sergeant PJ Collins and the villagers saves the day.

I found Holding rather weak and I got little enjoyment from reading this book. The whole plot was flimsy and when everything was solved, I was disappointed by the shallowness of the story. This is Graham’s debut novel and I feel that had it been by an unknown author, it would not have been published. Graham Norton is a successful television presenter and is very good at that job but his novel is a big disappointment. This book should sell well because of his name, think lazy Christmas presents for people who enjoy his television chat shows. I found this book a POOR read and can only vote it 2 stars. Don’t give up the day job Graham because there are plenty of good debut mystery novels out there but yours is not one of them.

Holding is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook and was written in 2016.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Hodder & Stoughton for giving me a copy of this book on the understanding that I provide an honest review.