Back to back Lynda La Plante is never a bad thing so next up was Pure Evil, number 4 in the Jack Warr Series.

In Pure Evil it seems that Jack is given a nice simple case. A young man, Rodney Middleton, has been arrested for armed assault. However when Jack is warned by his boss DCI Ridley that they have only scratched the surface of the crimes, Warr soon begins to dig into the man’s past and starts to uncover something much more sinister. In the middle of this investigation Ridley is suddenly removed from his post and no one is to get in touch with him. When Jack is contacted by Ridley asking for help he of course can’t refuse. Yet Ridley is accused of murder and Jack soon realises that this investigation is putting not only him but everyone he loves in danger.

This was another absolutely cracking read. As always the crime story is gripping. The two side by side investigations are both incredibly interesting, although this is probably one of the darker of the series certainly so far. The character of Rodney is disturbing and gets more and more so as the story unfolds.

Without giving any spoilers I found part of this story incredibly sad, and absolutely did not see one particular twist coming. I did find one of the stories a little bit thrown in for excitement but the characters involved made it incredibly important.

I love Lynda La Plante’s way of storytelling. As I’ve said in previous reviews there is a brilliant mix of character led and crime led narratives that weave in and out until the final reveal. This novel certainly had a lot going on but as always the writing means that all the parts are handled brilliantly and it makes it an easy read. I did think that the first half of the book was a little slow but that gave a real feeling for the frustration that Jack felt as he seemed to be failing on all fronts, his job, his family and his friend he was letting them all down as he hit brick wall after brick wall. As Jack starts to crack the case, the pace of the novel also picks up as it hurtles to a conclusion.

I really enjoyed Pure Evil and although it’s the 4th in the series it could be read as a standalone. However the characters are definitely at the forefront of the story and I suspect that this is definitely setting up for book 5 which I can’t wait to read.