by Daniel Blake
pub: Harper
Cover design: head design
552 pages
The story centres around a series of brutal murders, people burned alive, an unusual MO. Detectives Franco Patrese and Mark Beradino are investigating but both of them are in danger of becoming too involved.
Some of the plot felt a little forced, too many coincidences, all too neatly tied together and at times the behaviour of the detectives didn't feel quite right, plot over riding characters. My only other slight grumble was the authors need to explain terms like MO, I would be inclined to assume thriller/crime readers know what basic police terms mean. All told these are a few minor niggles and don't detract significantly from the overall experience.
Patrese and Beradino are easy to engage with, their relationship with each other drawing the reader in. The murders are dramatic and the plot is sufficiently complex and surprising to keep the reader guessing. More than once I thought I'd figured it out and I was consistently wrong.
There is a lot going on here and although there are occasional slower moments Blake keeps things moving at a pretty good pace. The action and tension are piled on in the last few chapters to build a dramatic ending along with a couple more twists and in spite of being over 500 pages it's a swift read over all.
An entertaining read and good twisty plot and decent writing.
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