Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for the latest in the series featuring DI Eve Hunter – ‘From the Ashes’ by Deborah Masson.
Thanks to Compulsive Readers/Random Things Tours for inviting me onto the tour and for my copy of the book in exchange for an honest review – as always, opinions are entirely my own. The paperback will be published in August 2022 by Penguin Books, although I believe the Kindle edition is available before this.
From the Publisher:
As the house burns, the hunt for a killer begins…
In the dead of night someone starts a fire in a home for underprivileged children in Aberdeen. The flames spread quickly, and one person doesn’t make it out alive. But the victim wasn’t found in their bedroom; they were discovered locked inside a secret basement underground. As DI Eve Hunter and her team search the blackened ruins, the case takes them into even darker territory.
Soon Eve unearths a horrific discovery at the heart of the property – one that turns the whole investigation on its head.
Everyone in this home has something to hide, but who has a secret worth killing for?
‘Taut and gripping, with a pace that never slows, ‘From The Ashes’ is a masterclass in police procedurals.’ Andrea Mara
‘Harrowing, absorbing – you won’t put this down until the secret of the book’s magic is revealed. A triumph for Deborah Masson.’ Denzil Meyrick
‘Pacy, intelligent and so so satisfying. Another brilliant outing for Eve Hunter who is fast becoming my favourite detective. I can’t get enough of Deborah Masson’s writing.’ Marion Todd
‘From The Ashes is a tense and intriguing mystery, expertly delving into the darker side of the Granite City, hooked from from the first page and kept me guessing to the very end!’ G. R. Halliday
My Review:
For those of you who haven’t yet met DI Eve Hunter, you’re in for a treat!
I’ve loved this pacy crime series from the start – the rather gory ‘Hold Your Tongue’, followed by the brilliant ‘Out For Blood’. I couldn’t accept this tour invitation quickly enough!
This story begins with a fire in a children’s home in Aberdeen and the heartbreaking death of one of the residents. DI Eve Hunter and her team are called in to investigate, but the tragedy is felt by some of them more personally than others. It’s a harrowing case, made worse by further discoveries and revelations along the way – and a case that brings the danger close to home for Eve and her team.
This is another excellent instalment in an excellent series. It does mark a bit of a shift from the gory and gritty start to the series – here, the deaths are less bloody but pack quite an emotional punch given the setting of a home for underprivileged children. The backstories – when they emerge as part of DI Hunter’s investigation – are sad and serious, making this hit some poignant notes not always present in police procedurals.
As the series progresses, the reader is given much more insight into the team around Eve – here, other team members come to the fore and it makes for an engaging read. DI Eve Hunter is a fabulous lead, but I love that her team are coming to life too.
The plotting of this novel is also well done. Given the tragedy of the initial death, it is appropriate that the novel begins quite slowly and in a fairly low-key way. However, don’t take that as a move away from the tense, thriller style that we’ve come to expect from Masson – the events quickly ramp up and the twists come thick and fast when the novel hits its stride later on. I did foresee a few of the twists but that wasn’t an issue – I raced through the end of the book with a stomach-churning sense of foreboding and the fervent wish that I was wrong! I wasn’t, but I also wasn’t short of surprises!
I’d recommend this to those who enjoy well-plotted and engaging police procedurals. DI Eve Hunter is a great central figure in this book which has twists, turns and some really moving moments.
About the Author:
Deborah Masson was born and bred in Aberdeen, Scotland. Always restless and fighting against being a responsible adult, she worked in several jobs including secretarial, marketing, reporting for the city’s freebie newspaper and a stint as a postie – to name but a few.
Through it all, she always read crime fiction and, when motherhood finally settled her into being an adult (maybe even a responsible one) she turned her hand to writing what she loved. Deborah started with short stories and flash fiction whilst her daughter napped and, when she later welcomed her son into the world, she decided to challenge her writing further through online courses with Professional Writing Academy and Faber Academy, where she wrote her award-winning debut novel ‘Hold Your Tongue’, the first in the DI Eve Hunter series. Since then she has published two more books in the series, ‘Out For Blood’ and ‘From the Ashes’.
If you’d like a copy of this book, please use my affiliate link below – thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases.
If you’d rather start at the beginning of the series, here’s the affiliate link for ‘Hold Your Tongue’. Watch out – this one is gruesome as well as brilliant!
Thanks for the blog tour support x