Tag: crime

#BlogTour #BookReview The Fire Killer (DI Barton #5) by Ross Greenwood @rararesources

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The Fire KillerWelcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for The Fire Killer (DI Barton #5) by Ross Greenwood. My thanks to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me to take part in the tour and to Boldwood Books for my digital review copy via NetGalley.  Do check out the posts by my tour buddies for today, Amanda at Ginger Book Geek and Stacey Hammond.

The Fire KillerAbout the Book

When DI Barton is asked to investigate a seemingly innocuous fire that kills, he believes it’s either children fooling around or a worrying racially motivated crime.

As he delves deeper into the case, he soon realises that there is a history of similar blazes spread out over many years, all within a close area. And after an idea is suggested by pathologist Mortis, Barton suspects he has the arsonist’s motives wrong.

When a night worker comes forward with a tip, Barton narrows down the suspects. Yet all of them act suspiciously and he knows for sure that one or more of them are lying. And when a huge house blaze shocks everyone, Barton fears the killer has lost all control.

Who is The Fire Killer? What will be next to burn?

Format: Ebook (365 pages)          Publisher: Boldwood Books
Publication date: 30th May 2022 Genre: Crime

Find The Fire Killer (DI Barton #5) on Goodreads

Purchase links
Hive | Amazon UK
Links provided for convenience only, not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

The Fire Killer is the first book I’ve read by Ross Greenwood and although it is the fifth in his DI Barton series I was immediately drawn into the story and quickly got to know the members of Barton’s team. Therefore I can reassure readers like myself who are new to the series that The Fire Killer can definitely be read as a standalone.

I liked the book’s structure. There’s an exciting opening scene that describe the events leading up to the culmination of the case before a shift back in time to a pivotal incident from ‘many years ago’. From that point on the story switches between Barton’s painstaking investigation into a series of cases of arson and the first person narrative of The Fire Killer. We know their background, witness their actions and the impulses that drive them but don’t know their identity. I had plenty of ideas but, thanks to the skill of the author, it wasn’t until near the end of the book that I finally twigged.

I really liked the relationship between Barton and Detective Sergeant Zander. They have a nice line in banter and bounce ideas off each other, contributing their different views of the investigation. It’s an investigation which, as Zander ruefully observes, turns out to be ‘an onion case’ with many layers each more bizarre than the last. In fact, as events unfold and they are left with more questions than answers, they wonder if they are investigating one case or two.

The investigation takes place against the backdrop of the Covid-19 lockdown. The empty streets and closed up shops create a real sense of atmosphere.  And, as Barton observes, ‘Mankind didn’t need a virus to behave deplorably’. The book includes a number of damaged characters – there is one in particular who stands out – as well as individuals only too willing to feed off the vulnerabilities of others.

Barton comes across as an ‘old school’ policeman who’s grudgingly accepted that technology now plays a significant part in the detection of crime but regrets it takes some of the challenge out of it. The author gives us a neat in-joke when he has Barton despair at the difference between ‘real’ policing and what you see in TV dramas (or some crime fiction perhaps?). ‘A detective was sitting in a van, typing away at a computer, pulling up a variety of individuals’ call histories and credit-card statements. It was pure bullshit.’

I enjoyed the glimpses of Barton’s home life. The book sees him pondering his future given the toll his work has taken on him: the long hours, the missed family events. Equally, the dreadful things he has witnessed. Indeed, he will witness more in the course of this case.  ‘He was proud to be a policeman, but he also knew he couldn’t do it forever, because each death left a mark.’ On the other hand, he recognises that his family’s love and support has provided a vital counterbalance. ‘When death surrounds you, life took on new meaning.’

The Fire Killer is an ingenious, well-crafted crime novel that kept me absorbed until the very last page.

In three words: Tense, gripping, suspenseful

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Ross GreenwoodAbout the Author

Ross Greenwood is the bestselling author of ten crime thrillers. Before becoming a full-time writer he was most recently a prison officer and so worked every day with murderers, rapists and thieves for four years. He lives in Peterborough.

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#BlogTour #BookReview The Murder Rule by Dervla McTiernan @RandomTTours @fictionpubteam

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The Murder Rule BT PosterWelcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for The Murder Rule by Dervla McTiernan. My thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part in the tour and to HarperCollins for my digital review copy. Do check out the post by my tour buddy for today, Elizabeth at libcreads.

The Murder RuleAbout the Book

No one is innocent in this story.

First Rule: Make them like you.
Second Rule: Make them need you.
Third Rule: Make them pay.

They think I’m a young, idealistic law student, that I’m passionate about reforming a corrupt and brutal system. They think I’m working hard to impress them. They think I’m here to save an innocent man on death row.

They’re wrong. I’m going to bury him.

Format: Hardback (304 pages)     Publisher: Harper Collins
Publication date: 12th May 2022 Genre: Crime, Thriller

Find The Murder Rule on Goodreads

Purchase links
Bookshop.org
Disclosure: If you buy a book via the above link, I may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops

Hive | Amazon UK
Links provided for convenience only, not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

We know from quite early on in The Murder Rule that Hannah has a very personal reason for inveigling her way on to the Innocence Project team. Far from wanting to prove the innocence of one of the individuals the Innocence Project is representing, she’s convinced of the person’s guilt and is determined to ensure they remain in prison. As we discover, she’s willing to do anything to achieve her objective even if that means deceiving others or sabotaging the Project’s activities.  Her determination to achieve what she’s set out to do borders on obsession, even if seemingly born out of love.

Hannah’s not a particularly likeable character to begin with but I had to admire her tenacity, her ingenuity and her chutzpah.  She’s not going to let anyone stand in her way and if that means some shady tactics, that’s fine with her.  After all, the end justifies the means doesn’t it? The more we get to know her, though, the more we sense there’s someone quite vulnerable behind that tough outer shell. And what if everything you thought you knew, everything you had been told, was wrong and the truth was quite different?  Can a desire for revenge be transformed into a desire for justice, and just what will that entail? After all, if the truth has been buried for over a decade, there are sure to be those with an interest in ensuring it never sees the light of day.

At times you’ll probably find yourself cheering on Hannah and at other times find yourself thinking, I really wouldn’t do that if I was you, or, look out here comes trouble. If you like the idea of a courtroom scene that could have come straight out of a TV drama, and you’re willing to suspend disbelief just a little, then you will love the scenes towards the end of the book.

The Murder Rule is a twisty legal thriller with some moments of high drama that gathers momentum, reaching warp speed in the final chapters. Will justice prevail? You’ll have to read it to find out.

In three words: Taut, suspenseful, dramatic

Try something similar: An Engineered Injustice by William L. Myers, Jr.

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Dervla Author picAbout the Author

Internationally bestselling and critically acclaimed writer Dervla McTiernan burst onto the writing scene with The Ruin, her crime debut set in Ireland. The Ruin is the first in the detective Cormac Reilly series and has been published in the United States, the UK and Ireland and in New Zealand and Australia, where it was a top ten bestseller.

Dervla spent twelve years working as a lawyer. Following the global financial crisis, she moved to Australia and turned her hand to writing. An avid fan of crime and detective novels from childhood, Dervla wrote a short story, The Roommate, which was shortlisted for the Sisters in Crime Scarlet Stiletto Competition. She went on to write The Ruin, and a string of other bestsellers. Dervla is a member of the Sisters in Crime and Crime Writers Association, and lives in Perth, Australia, with her husband and two children.

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Murder Rule Graphic 1