Today, I’m delighted to share my review of ‘Hidden Killers’, the second in the series to feature the early career of Jane Tennison.
Thanks to Simon and Schuster for my review copy of the book – opinions are entirely my own. Thanks also to Compulsive Readers for asking me to join #TeamTennison and read the whole series!
The first book in this series, ‘Tennison’, left us with quite a dramatic ending – I wasn’t sure whether that was going to set the pace for the series. However, this book (thankfully – I couldn’t take that level of excitement for too long!) takes things back down a notch and focuses on Jane Tennison as she finishes her police probationary period with a placement in CID. Initially drafted in as a decoy for an operation, Jane soon finds her feet with the team and becomes involved in an investigation into a sudden death that no-one else seems to find mysterious. Jane begins to doubt her instincts but also undertakes some detective work of her own…
As with the first book in the series, this is another eye-opening look at 1970s policing – sexism, racism, corruption and all. It’s quite shocking to see how far we’ve come in some ways – some of the exchanges between the Metropolitan Police colleagues feel quite uncomfortable to a modern reader and I’d hope that some of the iffier practices have been driven out now. The cynic in me wonders if that is really the case, however!
The novel is cleverly plotted – I felt that it started in quite a meandering way, but I should have had more faith in LaPlante to bring it all together cohesively. The further I got into the book – and it’s a hefty 496 pages – the more I wanted to read!
Jane Tennison is a compelling central character – in some ways she’s breaking new ground for female police officers, in other ways she’s charmingly naive and inexperienced in the ways of tough 1970s-style policing. There’s a really positive message in the novel about trusting instincts and not being afraid to do things differently which I really liked. I just hope that Jane finds some more female friends soon – I missed the glorious WPC Kathleen Morgan from the first book.
Just a quick trigger warning – there is a sexual assault/rape case at the heart of this novel so best avoided if those topics are off limits for you. Absolutely not a spoiler though as it does mention this in the book’s blurb.
I’m already signed up to read the rest of this series with #TeamTennison and I’m so glad! I’m looking forward to Book 3 so watch this space for my next review…
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