The Broken by Casey Kelleher.

Nancy Byrne is just 20 years old when her father Jimmy Byrne is murdered. He was a leading light in the London criminal underworld and now Nancy steps up to the plate to continue the family business involving drugs and sex.

The Broken is a gritty tale of criminal life with a large portion of violence woven into the story. This story is told from many points of view but each character has a dodgy moral code.

I did not like any of the characters in this book. They all had a dodgy side to them, were happy to be involved with illegal activity and also to take the law into their own hands.

I did not like how very early on in this novel you were told who murdered Jimmy Byrne. So the story revolved about how Nancy dealt with the family business after her father’s death.

The violence was extreme and the treatment of Reece was very graphic indeed. I can very easily imagine the pain he went through and the poor quality of life the assault put him into.

I did not think the plot was great but more of a “bad day at the office” scenario. I found the whole story quite miserable and there seemed no hope for any of the characters as they continued to be nasty to each other.

I was really looking forward to reading The Broken because I have read Casey’s earlier novel The Promise, which I thought was brilliant and got the top score of 5 stars from me. However I was disappointed with The Broken and did not think it was a thrilling or thought provoking read. I took nothing away from this novel and had it been a television series, I would have given up within the first episode, like I have with The Split, starring Nicola Walker. I thought The Broken was a POOR 2 star read and if Casey continues with Nancy Byrne into another novel, count me out.

There was a very small bit of gay sex which was okay but Casey really fails with her tiny bit of hetrosexual sex. It was so short and brief that it will not even raise your pulse, never mind those muscles further down. I can’t see why Casey bothered to write the scene as it was such a throwaway paragraph…

It all happened so quickly, so passionately. Seconds later, they were merely two bodies writhing as one. Entwined together. Jack could feel Nancy’s nails digging into his back, tearing down his skin as she moved beneath him. An arch of her back, and then a long, trembling shudder. Jack came then too, before collapsing on top of her.

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

Cold Heart (Detective Kate Matthews Book 3) by Stephen Edger.

Follow Detective Kate Matthews around Southampton as she investigates the disappearance of 15 year old Daisy.

Although this is the 3rd novel in the series, it can be read as a standalone and I was not put at a disadvantage. Cold Heart is a regular British police procedural crime thriller. The investigation into the disappearance of Daisy and some body parts that are found, all follow standard procedures. The team of police officers have regular meetings in the incident room, which bring no surprises. You can easily guess what will happen next. The whole story revolves around regular police work and becomes a little bit of a drag. I started to get a little monday morning feeling as another meeting was starting in the incident room. One officer would be told to get a search warrant, enter a house and bring back every computer, mobile and tablet. Another officer would be told to walk somewhere, spot any CCTV cameras, find the owner and demand the footage. Other routine tasks would be given to other officers, leaving the reader with an unexciting read.

The characterization of Detective Kate Matthews and her fellow police officers was average. The private lives of the police were included but those parts were of standard soap opera quality. The was no special chemistry binding the police team together.

The plot developed slowly with no dramatic twists and turns. When I got to the end of Cold Heart I felt rather robbed, purely because the bad guy’s actions appeared to be unrealistic. I feel the plot lacked realism and the investigation broke no new ground in activity or specialist police skills. I found Detective Kate Matthews bringing her daughter onto the side lines of this story a frustrating nuisance in the same way as when adults are talking and a child interrupts or screams.

I consider Cold Heart to be a run-of-the-mill police procedural. It was an okay, 3 star read that gave my daily reading fix but there was nothing special about it. If there becomes a 4th Detective Kate Matthews novel, I shall not be bothering because there are so many other authors who give the reader a lot more content, pleasure and unique scenarios.

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

Finding Gobi by Dion Leonard.

This is a true story of an ultramarathon runner who comes across a small stray dog whilst running across the Gobi Desert in China.

I loved this story and the way it was told. I liked the format of this book, how it is a first person narrative and that it starts off letting you know whatever you read, there will be a happy ending. You are let into Dion’s private life and history very gently as his story unfolds. He has made his past and thoughts very public, you really get to know the man by the end of the book. There are no boring bits in this story and it is not about making the author look big.

You do not need to be a fan of running to enjoy this book. This is all about human nature and how we relate to dogs. This book is very well written in an adult and intelligent way. Dion fully explains the relationship that develops between a man and a dog. He has done a wonderful job at putting this into words.

I got tremendous pleasure from reading this book. I understand what Dion was going through. I loved how he put everything into perspective. He managed to put over exactly how you can feel when you are befriended by a small dog. I have a cross-breed Pug X Shih Tzu so relating to Gobi, a small stray Terrier was very, very easy for me.

Finding Gobi is a remarkable book on both dog and human levels. It was simply a joy to read and gets the top score of 5 stars from me.

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

The Lying Kind (Detective Rachel Prince Book 1) by Alison James.

Follow Detective Rachel Prince as she searches for a missing 6 year old girl in Surrey. This is a regular British crime thriller, full of police procedure and the lives of the police officers involved.

I found The Lying Kind to be a GOOD read with strong characterization of the main investigating police officers and the girl’s parents. I liked all the extra bits thrown into this story concerning the private lives of the police officers. I liked the contrast between Detective Rachel Prince’s healthy eating and Detective Sergeant Mark Brickall’s love of junk food. In every scene he would devour more tasty convenience food. They also enjoyed a lovely banter together.

I liked how this story unfolded and how the police had difficulty verifying the information they had gathered. Some leads led to dead ends, others needed following up. It was nice how many of the characters could get the wrong end of the stick. There were plenty of secrets and lies in this story keeping the reader on their toes.

The plot was not wonderful but sadly reflected true cases from the past. There was not a wonderful twist or any specialist investigative skills employed. There was nothing outstanding about this book but it was a steady story. Overall I found The Lying Kind to be a bread and butter, GOOD 4 star read that featured enough drama to keep me entertained.

For all the gritty realism of this story, having been married for over 26 years, I found one little anecdote rather silly and difficult to believe. Detective Rachel Prince is searching the home of the missing 6 year old girl and goes into the mother’s bedroom.

...This too was extremely tidy, the frilly cream duvet and pillows neatly arranged, the bedside tables bare of clutter, and dresses and tops ordered by descending length in the wardrobe, shoes arranged by heel height below them…

Yeah, right, not in my home Alison or in any of my wife’s friends homes either!

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

Creep by R.M. Greenaway.

This is the third B.C. Blues crime novel featuring career cops Cal Dion and David Leith. It can be read as a standalone.

Creep is an odd mix of a novel. There is regular police procedurals and strong characterization of Cal Dion and David Leith. But we do not have a simple murder, as there are some accidents plus supernatural elements surrounding Halloween. Putting all these factors into this story, made it rather a muddle.

I did like the workplace humour and found it spot on, making me chuckle often. This humour is very similar to and of the same high quality as Collateral, a four-part British television drama serial, written and created by David Hare, and directed by S. J. Clarkson. It first broadcast on BBC Two on February 12, 2018.

I really enjoyed her two previous novels Cold Girl and Undertow, voting them both the top scores of 5 stars. However, I found Creep to be very disappointing with the plot. I thought the references to Halloween were childish. There was nothing outstanding about the bad guy, the nature of the offences or the detective skills of Cal Dion and David Leith. This novel is still an okay, 3 star read because it was brightened up by two wonderful and charismatic women, Farah Jordan and Jackie Randall.

There was a kind of surprise in the acknowledgements at the end of this book. It then made sense of why I feel like I do about this novel. I feel that Creep has weakened her brand and that she would have been better off releasing this book under another name and replacing Cal Dion and David Leith with new names.

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

The Drowned Girls (Angie Pallorino, #1) by Loreth Anne White.

Follow Detective Angie Pallorino of the RCMP as she is on the trail of a violent rapist and killer.

The Drowned Girls is a well put together crime thriller where the central character is Detective Angie Pallorino. Many other police officers take a large role in this story and their characters shine through. But Angie is the star and her job and life is not made easy by many, many things.

The character development of Angie is superb. She is a full on woman, working hard in a man’s world. Angie has a mysterious backstory which unfolds throughout the book. She is not a nun and does enjoy an exciting sex life.

The plot of the story is very good and the backstory of the victims is brilliant. We not only have murder but violent rape, rough sex and the horrors of FGM.

As usual Loreth puts a dog into her story. This time the featured dog is a 3 legged Jack Russell, which brought back memories of my pet Barney who died when he was 13.

I liked how characters were put up that raised your suspicions that they were the bad guy committing these crimes. I also liked how the bad guy had chapter’s written from their point of view.

This is the 4th Loreth Anne White novel I have read on the trot. I like how it has echoes of her other books. There are the problems of memories, problems when sex goes wrong, scenes involving wandering about with hand held torches, trekking through the wilderness and lots of adverse weather.

I like how yet again some romance was woven into the plot. This time it was rather sexed up but did not make me feel uncomfortable, just “rather them than me”!

I found The Drowned Girls to be an outstanding read, all the little bits added up together to bring me just what I want from my leisure time reading. There are even little bits of subtle humour woven into the story, for example: the public house were police officers meet after work is called The Flying Pig. So, there you have it, another 5 star read from Loreth.

The Drowned Girls was published in 2017 and is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook.

In the Barren Ground by Loreth Anne White.

Rookie cop Tana Larsson is the only RCMP officer manning Twin Rivers, which has a population of 320. Her patch is in the Northwest Territories and covers some 17,500 square miles, a huge area for a single police officer to service. A call comes in reporting the fatal wolf mauling of two students in a remote area of this barren wilderness.

In the Barren Ground is a great mixture of a story. There is suspense, mystery, gothic elements, romance and a regular tale of police procedures that you get in most crime thrillers. The writing is first class with a huge vocabulary and great attention to detail. Loreth’s descriptions of her scenes and the surrounding environment is top rate. You really feel you are on an outdoor adventure holiday.

In the Barren Ground is a creepy tale with lots of suspense. From very early on you wonder about the fatal wolf maulings and every character you meet raises your suspicions. Character development is spot on and each character has a good and a dodgy side to them.

There is lots of mystery in this novel as the chapters chart the history of this remote region. The culture of living in the bush is fully explored and I loved the details of hunting and surviving in this wilderness.

There are some gothic elements woven into this story. I do not read books in the gothic genre, so these elements came as a surprise to me. But these gothic elements added so much more to the story. They fitted in really well and added to the mystery a great deal. Then to add a character who happened to be an author of a gothic novel, was just icing on the cake.

As with Loreth’s other novels, romance takes a part in the story. It should appeal to both genders and adds so much to the fullness of this novel. Again like her other novels, the love is not just shown between humans but between dogs and their owners too.

The police procedure and job frustration parts are great. How can you preserve a crime scene when you are the only police officer around AND there is falling snow to contend with? Throw in the problem of wild animals eating the evidence and it is a huge challenge for Tana to deal with on her own.

Each character has the ability to be a criminal and you can point your finger at every one of them. The plot of this novel is very good indeed. There is no need to second guess if there is a bad guy or if the fatal wolf maulings were simply an accident, just enjoy this novel for what it is. I found this book a pleasure to read, it gave me plenty to think about. I really engaged with this story and felt I was there. Loreth makes great mention of her characters wearing Baffin boots. She wrote about them as commonplace. I love wandering about and I live in the UK but have never come across these Baffin boots. So involved I became in this novel, I felt I had to check these boots out online. Oh yes, they are the genuine item, roughty, toughty, snow hiking boots!

I found In the Barren Ground to be an outstanding read. It coupled regular reading enjoyment with a sense of adventure and a cultural learning experience. No risk of frostbite as I sat back in my favourite armchair with this top scoring 5 star read.

In the Barren Ground was published in 2016 and is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook.