My review today is on the fabulous ‘Nighthawking’ by Russ Thomas, the second in the series of crime novels featuring DS Adam Tyler. Thanks to Jess Barratt at Simon and Schuster for the proof copy in exchange for an honest review – all opinions are entirely my own. This book is out now!
The Twitter buzz pulled me in to this one. I love a police procedural, but hadn’t read the first in the series (I know…I need to remedy that NOW!) However, scrolling on through Twitter, ‘Nighthawking’ kept popping up – along with lots of people raving about how they loved this and the first book, ‘Firewatching’.
I couldn’t resist!
And I’m so glad I gave into temptation because I thoroughly enjoyed this pacey and lively crime thriller set around Sheffield’s Botanical Gardens. It works brilliantly as a stand-alone, although I now want desperately to read the back-story in book one and am on the edge of my seat about what might happen next!
The mystery in this book surrounds a body uncovered in the Botanical Gardens by a nighthawker, a metal detectorist working illegally on private land at night. DS Tyler, along with DC Mina Rabbani, is called in but finds his investigation rather hampered by his colleague Guy Daley, newly returned to the police after a period of sick leave. As Tyler struggles towards the truth, a muddle of nighthawkers, Botanical Garden volunteers, academics, students and gangsters seek to cover their tracks and the stakes are raised.
I found this book instantly engaging – the clever structure of interspersing Tyler’s investigation with the stories of the key nighthawkers really kept me on my toes as I tried to fit together the events that led to the body being buried in the gardens. It is well-paced and has some genuinely shocking twists and turns throughout – I honestly felt that I was on constantly shifting sands!
As I hadn’t read the first book, I wasn’t entirely sure of the relationship between the various members of the police team, not that this detracted at all from the story. I enjoyed the humorous one-upmanship between Tyler and Daley, with poor Mina (a strong character I’d like to see more of) stuck in the middle.
This book is so difficult to review without spoilers, so I’m going to just say that I’d recommend this to fans of crime fiction, especially police procedurals with an interesting and well-developed police team. It’s cleverly crafted, suitably twisty and will keep you guessing to the end.
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Adding this to my tbr! Great review Kate!!
Thanks! Hope you enjoy it xx