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annebrooke's review against another edition
3.0
This is an okay read, but very slow at the beginning, and I don't think DS Daniel is the brightest lamp in the box - she does some very stupid things and just gets away with it, which is very annoying. I'm sure the police in real life would not ignore her behaviour like this!
The last third of the book really picks up the pace which is great, though I did know who the villain was by then - as he was the only person in Jessica's life who could be a possibility. I enjoyed the ending too. I just wish she was more intelligent.
The last third of the book really picks up the pace which is great, though I did know who the villain was by then - as he was the only person in Jessica's life who could be a possibility. I enjoyed the ending too. I just wish she was more intelligent.
nazeerah's review against another edition
4.0
Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read this book.
The book starts off with the killer exiting the house and we are left wondering what had happened inside and why did it happen. It already has one engaged from the first page.
Detective Jessica Daniels is faced with what seems like an impossible scenario. There is a murder and the victim's door is locked from the inside and none of the spare keys is unaccounted for. As the body count rises, the same scenario plays out in each murder. What is more puzzling is that the victims do not seem to be related to each other in any way.
This was an awesome mystery. It kept one guessing till the very end. It is not the most fast-paced crime novel, but it is an excellent story. I simply loved the main character, Jessica Daniels. Her wit and jokes were too good and I actually laughed out loud a couple of times.
I am definitely going to read the other books in the series. I highly recommend this book.
The book starts off with the killer exiting the house and we are left wondering what had happened inside and why did it happen. It already has one engaged from the first page.
Detective Jessica Daniels is faced with what seems like an impossible scenario. There is a murder and the victim's door is locked from the inside and none of the spare keys is unaccounted for. As the body count rises, the same scenario plays out in each murder. What is more puzzling is that the victims do not seem to be related to each other in any way.
This was an awesome mystery. It kept one guessing till the very end. It is not the most fast-paced crime novel, but it is an excellent story. I simply loved the main character, Jessica Daniels. Her wit and jokes were too good and I actually laughed out loud a couple of times.
I am definitely going to read the other books in the series. I highly recommend this book.
acorn_soup's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
ianmcnamara's review against another edition
5.0
This was a great start to the series and had me guessing until jessica figured out the connection. The character development was amazing. The story was full of twists. I love jessica as a character, she is tough when she needs to be but has compassion for the victoms families. I am looking forward to learning more about her as the series progresses.
katkinney's review against another edition
5.0
I am a huge Kerry Wilkinson fan and am now diving into his Jessica Daniels crime/mystery thriller series. What a great start to a series! Detective Jessica Daniels works for the police force in England and lives with a roommate. She is committed to her job and is worried over a former police mentor who was recently attacked and has not recovered psychologically. When a murder occurs that the police cannot solve and another occurs like it close by, Jessica fears they may have a serial killer. I loved the mix of police procedural and great character development. The pacing and gradual reveal of clues was great. I ESPECIALLY enjoyed that while this had murders and a serial killer, it wasn’t too gory or graphically described like some books. That’s exactly the sort of murder scene I prefer so I am now eager to binge read the entire series and have already downloaded book two!
sarahrife85's review against another edition
4.0
This is my first Kerry Wilkinson book, I have never heard of this series, I am approved of the first four on Netgalley and got really excited to see a series!!! I love reading series! But then i started this book...
I'm not sure if it's just me or not but the first half of this book really didn't catch my attention, I honestly thought this was going to a huge loss then I'd have to drag on through the other 3 just for Netgalley but THANKFULLY it picked up around 45% and i couldn't stop reading after that. To me that is a little late in the game to catch my attention, I think most people quit if the book doesn't grab them before the 100 page mark, but my i wasn't raised a quitter so i stuck it out and in the end it was a pretty decent book. I think it just went too much into detail about the people and the police force and everyone's relationships rather than really getting into the murders for me.
The murders themselves weren't really a huge deal in this book and that didn't really make sense to me, why they wouldn't focus more on them!? Barely went into any details at all.. To me it was pretty obvious who the killer was once i actually got into the book.. which kind of sucked, i really wanted to be surprised. In the end though you have mixed feelings about whether he deserves to be turned in or not. Or atleast i had them.
Hoping it's just because it's a first book and things will get better from here on out! I am giving this series the benefit of the doubt and moving on with book 2!!
I'm not sure if it's just me or not but the first half of this book really didn't catch my attention, I honestly thought this was going to a huge loss then I'd have to drag on through the other 3 just for Netgalley but THANKFULLY it picked up around 45% and i couldn't stop reading after that. To me that is a little late in the game to catch my attention, I think most people quit if the book doesn't grab them before the 100 page mark, but my i wasn't raised a quitter so i stuck it out and in the end it was a pretty decent book. I think it just went too much into detail about the people and the police force and everyone's relationships rather than really getting into the murders for me.
The murders themselves weren't really a huge deal in this book and that didn't really make sense to me, why they wouldn't focus more on them!? Barely went into any details at all.. To me it was pretty obvious who the killer was once i actually got into the book.. which kind of sucked, i really wanted to be surprised. In the end though you have mixed feelings about whether he deserves to be turned in or not. Or atleast i had them.
Hoping it's just because it's a first book and things will get better from here on out! I am giving this series the benefit of the doubt and moving on with book 2!!
myrdyr's review against another edition
4.0
3.8/5 stars. An excellent fist novel by Wilkinson. I look forward to reading the next in the series.
beccasinners's review against another edition
3.25
3.25⭐️
Good story, a little slow paced and not the most well written or realistic characters but the twist was good and it was easy to fly through.
P.S. fairly huge plot hole: their is no way no one would have mentioned someone had recently come to look at their locks
Good story, a little slow paced and not the most well written or realistic characters but the twist was good and it was easy to fly through.
imzadirose's review against another edition
2.0
The good ~ the main character, the storyline, the killings and why those people were killed. It was pretty unique and enjoyable.
The bad ~ the killer. Really?!? I figured it out as soon as we met the person and I kept hoping I was wrong because really, how lame is that. Plus, I figured out the source if the last sentence is any indication.
I know it must be awful of me but I actually like some mystery in my mysteries. If the killer hadn't ended up being that particular person, this would have been a 4 star book. Otherwise, it was ok. Good to listen to at night, since it was short. Going to try the second in the series, hopefully it'll be better.
The bad ~ the killer. Really?!? I figured it out as soon as we met the person and I kept hoping I was wrong because really, how lame is that. Plus, I figured out the source if the last sentence is any indication.
I know it must be awful of me but I actually like some mystery in my mysteries. If the killer hadn't ended up being that particular person, this would have been a 4 star book. Otherwise, it was ok. Good to listen to at night, since it was short. Going to try the second in the series, hopefully it'll be better.
barry_x's review against another edition
4.0
Sometimes I get a real itch for some crime fiction and this book was the choice for my work book group, it's been of some interest as the author is local to the city I live in. I have to say, I really enjoyed this book. I know that 'page-turner' is a little over used but I devoured this book (I think it's because I've just got through an 850 page book I wasn't enjoying that much). Anyway, I read this in about two days and my book seemed to travel with me everywhere to pretty much every room in the house! Since this is a crime mystery I'll try and avoid spoilers, and my things in spoiler tags won't be big reveals either.
So the general theme our Detective Jessica Daniel is investigating a series of murders where the victim is locked inside their home and there is no visible sign of entry or exit and leads to who has keys to the property turn up blanks.
I really liked the setting of Manchester as I'm aware of the city well and could place the setting well (I used to loiter around Hulme and Longsight in my younger years). I'm not sure if I have got a good measure of our Detective but as this was the first novel in the series I am sure she develops in later novels. I loved the pacing of the book, it wasn't frantic but there was plenty of action and pacing. I think regular readers of crime fiction may find certain elements of the book lacking,. At times I felt the writing was a little 'formulaic' and pedestrian, especially when describing things like the police station and procedure, it all felt a little familiar.
Minor criticisms aside I really enjoyed this and I hope to read much more of the series soon. It was an exciting story and hit the right spots for me.
So the general theme our Detective Jessica Daniel is investigating a series of murders where the victim is locked inside their home and there is no visible sign of entry or exit and leads to who has keys to the property turn up blanks
Spoiler
Really, it is kind of obvious where this lead should take Jessica but it takes a while to get thereI really liked the setting of Manchester as I'm aware of the city well and could place the setting well (I used to loiter around Hulme and Longsight in my younger years). I'm not sure if I have got a good measure of our Detective but as this was the first novel in the series I am sure she develops in later novels. I loved the pacing of the book, it wasn't frantic but there was plenty of action and pacing. I think regular readers of crime fiction may find certain elements of the book lacking,
Spoiler
the novel has a lot of HUGE coincidences which I think was fun to read and I could put aside my disbelief for the fun of the story but I can imagine other readers rolling their eyesMinor criticisms aside I really enjoyed this and I hope to read much more of the series soon. It was an exciting story and hit the right spots for me.