Blood Lines by Angela Marsons.

Follow Detective Kim Stone in the 5th book of the series as she is on the hunt for a single stab wound killer.

This book can be read as a stand-alone and I have not read any other book by Angela. It is set in the West Midlands and is a mix of Police procedurals and a psychological thriller.

Although many of my friends on Goodreads really enjoyed this book, I found it rather run of the mill. Nothing really hit me about this book, I thought the plot was average and the psychological elements rather far fetched. I did not gain an empathy for the police officers and found the characterisation slim. I did not find Blood Lines to be an entertaining or gripping read.

I found this book quite ordinary and even the dialogue between the characters did not brighten it up. The odd bits of workplace humour were shallow and only raised a small smile, for example…

She found her colleague and friend outside, staring down in amazement. ‘You bought a patio set?’

‘It’s hardly that,’ she said. ‘It’s a bistro table with two chairs. If they’d sold it with just the one chair I’d have bought that,’ she said honestly.

‘But it’s garden furniture,’ he said, putting the drinks down. She looked at the table and chairs aghast.

‘Damn it, they never told me that in the shop,’ she said, sarcastically.

… Blood Lines for me was just a 3 star okay read. I would not recommend this book although it did fill the time. I know Angela has lots of fans who love her books but sorry, I will not become one of them. There was just one point in the story that made me gasp but the rest was just a plodding police story.

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