I bought this on amazon recently for no other reason than I happen to have a friend of the same name. Now obviously I know she didn’t write this book (she would have mentioned it I’m sure) but it still sparked my interest enough to click buy.
Greco is a new investigator who moves to the fictional town of Oldston to be near his ex-wife and child. His first case involves a serial killer who is killing and disfiguring women. Being new to the area, Greco is having to contend not only with trying to catch a serial killer, but also be a father for his daughter. On top of this having a brand new team he doesn’t know, means he isn’t sure who is on his side or not.
I enjoyed this novel although wasn’t blown away by it. It was a book that ticked all the crime story basics – murder, serial killer, drugs, dysfunctional police officers, single mothers struggling to balance work commitments, and terrorists. However despite the formulaic approach this was definitely worth a read.
The main character was apparently a character from another of Helen Durrant’s series. I haven’t read these but I don’t think it detracts from the story as this felt very much a stand alone novel. There was a lot of back story around the characters so you didn’t feel as though you had missed anything. I liked the fact that as it was a new series it felt like you were learning about the team the same way their new boss was.
The story itself was interesting. The clues are all given so that you can work out the perpetrator yourself, but I don’t think that is always a bad thing. I’m sure we all read crime in the hope we can actually work it out so it’s nice to do so for once. There were a lot of different strands within this book and it felt like they all came together neatly at the end.
Overall this was an enjoyable read, and it would be interesting to read some of her other series to compare. Buying a book based purely on someone’s name can be a risky business, but it worked out in this case.
A crime readers blog 