In the place of my usual WWW Wednesday post, I have my end of my end of month wrap up and a look at what is coming up in my bookish world in April.
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March Wrap-Up
It’s been a good reading month – I’ve read some great books, including a few outside my comfort zone! This month, I’ve read 13 books. I’ve struggled a bit with digital reading, so these have been mainly physical books – unusual for me and a lovely change.
My NetGalley is at 76% – this will be a focus for me in April as I really want to get back to that elusive 80%!
Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for ‘Out for Blood’ by Deborah Masson. This book will be released in paperback by Corgi on 10th December, 2020, but the e-book is available now.
THE RETURN OF DI EVE HUNTER: DI Eve Hunter is back in the edge-of-your-seat new detective thriller from Deborah Masson, winning author of the Bloody Scotland Crime Debut of the Year 2020.
A young man, the son of an influential businessman, is discovered dead in his central Aberdeen apartment.
Hours later, a teenaged girl with no identification is found hanged in a suspected suicide.
As DI Eve Hunter and her team investigate the two cases, they find themselves in a tug-of-war between privilege and poverty; between the elite and those on the fringes of society.
Then an unexpected breakthrough leads them to the shocking conclusion: that those in power have been at the top for too long – and now, someone is going to desperate lengths to bring them down…
Can they stop someone who is dead set on revenge, no matter the cost
READERS ARE OBSESSED WITH THE DI EVE HUNTER SERIES
‘Out For Blood has everything you need in a crime thriller and more’ – Rebecca Bradley
‘DI Eve Hunter is truly a force to be reckoned with’ – David Jackson
‘This is first-class crime fiction’ – Marion Todd
‘Not to be missed, edge-of-the-seat stuff from a genuine rising star’ – Denzil Meyrick
‘One of the best books I’ve ever read!’
‘I loved DI Eve Hunter and her team’
‘Without a doubt the best police procedural I have read in a long time’
‘I cannot wait to see what else is to come in the DI Eve Hunter series’
‘You won’t want to stop reading this addictive crime novel’
‘Fantastic characters that you’ll fall in love with – I really couldn’t put this book down!’
‘Can’t wait for the next one . . . and the next one . . . and the next one!
My Review
This is the second book in the series featuring DI Eve Hunter. I absolutely loved the first in the series – ‘Hold Your Tongue’ – and this is a worthy sequel.
The story opens with the death of a young man in a flat in an exclusive area of Aberdeen. At the same time, a young woman is found dead at a golf course in the city – it would appear to be a suicide, but there are some questions over the circumstances. DI Eve Hunter and her team are called in to investigate both deaths and start to make connections with some very powerful men and a previous police investigation.
I really liked the idea behind this novel – the fact that power at the highest level of society isn’t without corruption. This made for a compelling read as I was keen to find out what happened to the men in power and why.
DI Eve Hunter is an appealing and feisty protagonist – she has temper problems and doesn’t always have the best judgement which is refreshing and real. She has strength, but also she can be vulnerable, and her personal life doesn’t crowd out the crime story (as sometimes happens in police procedural series).
Another strength is DI Hunter’s team. They are also appealing and have identities in their own rights which is refreshing – too often, in books like this, the police team surrounding the main investigator tend to blend together, but this doesn’t happen here. They are individually interesting and likeable.
The story is well plotted and pacey – I was keen to race through to the end to find out what happened and was not disappointed at any point. It isn’t as gruesome as the first book in the series or quite as tense, but this didn’t detract from my enjoyment!
Overall, this is highly recommended to readers who enjoy a solid police procedural with a strong female lead. It’s perhaps not quite as edge-of-your-seat tense as the first one in the series, but it is engaging and compelling. I really look forward to the next one in the series.
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. Her debut novel, Hold Your Tongue, is the result of those courses.
Hold Your Tongue has been widely well reviewed by readers and authors alike, with many comparing her favourably to Stuart MacBride. It won the Bloody Scotland Scottish Crime Debut of the Year 2020 and was longlisted for CWA New Blood Dagger 2020.
