Turn a Blind Eye by Vicky Newham.

Turn a Blind Eye is a police procedural set in the Tower Hamlets district of London. This is a debut novel and features DI Maya Rahman, who was born in Bangladesh. A school headmaster is murdered and Maya is on the hunt to find the killer.

I found this novel different to most police procedural crime thrillers. Although it is Maya’s day job to catch the killer, most of this story is focused on the politics of school governance. It will appeal to readers of the Guardian newspaper but I found the droning on about diversity and minority ethnic groups rather dull. I think Vicky overplayed the race card in her novel. Exploring at great length her mother’s use of the regional language of Sylheti quickly became a bore.

The characterization of Maya is good but the focus of the story gets confused when a number of chapters are from the point of view of the teacher who found the dead headmaster. This interrupts the flow of the story and reduced my enjoyment of this book.

The plot was okay but somewhat unrealistic. It was regular “lets point the finger at every character” as they all could have a motive. The police investigation was routine with no surprises. There was the usual obsession with computers, mobile devices and social media.

I think Turn a Blind Eye is an okay, 3 star read. It has a social message but is not an entertaining or thrilling read. It was like spending the day at the Labour Party conference, although Jeremy Corbyn tells a far better tale than Vicky Newham. For lovers of regular crime fiction, Turn a Blind Eye is a disappointment. I feel that Vicky has exaggerated the differences between people of different ethnic backgrounds living in London and that irritated me as her story went on. But it does give you something to ponder, rather than the hunt for the killer.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Harlequin UK/Harper Collins for giving me a copy of this book on the understanding that I provide an honest review.