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mandiainslie's review
4.0
I have read a lot of murder mysteries, but this murder method was a first.
usbsticky's review
5.0
I applaud the author in thinking outside the box. Book 5 and 6 in this series is completely whacked out. They don't follow the plots of these types of police books and really threw me for a loop. Spoilers ahead.
Summary: Really don't read this if you don't want spoilers.
The book starts off when a dead body is thrown into the River Thames, in a secluded and quiet stretch of it in Surrey where Gillard is. But it's not just any dead body. It looks like the body has been crushed with some kind of inhuman gigantic force and has wire mesh markings on it. The body is naked and completely without ID. All they can tell is that the body is East Asian.
The police start by interviewing and looking into the few witnesses who had heard the body being dumped into the river very late at night. But they get nowhere so they decide to do an expensive and time consuming stable isotope analysis which might pinpoint where the person had come from.
Meanwhile the plot switches to the release of a serial child murderer (Rollason). He had served 30 years and the powers that be had decided he had been rehabilitated and wanted to release him. The general public is up in arms against that so he is to be released under the greatest secrecy under a fake or new name.
The first dead body is finally identified by the isotope test. It's determined that the man was from Taiwan and by checking with the Taiwan consulate and police in their country and UK immigration they are able to find out who he is. He is a scientist who is here for a conference but never showed up. How he got killed is still a mystery.
Meanwhile the released killer Rollason is abducted before he can get on the bus and is soon found dead. Amazingly he is found in the river and has suffered the same crushing force on his body, but without the wire mesh markings. The police are baffled at how these two cases can be related.
Suspicion for Rollason's murder falls on a vigilante group but the leader has fled the country and it doesn't look like they killed him anyway.
Further investigation of the Taiwan scientist reveals that he is suffering from end stage liver cancer and has apparently come to the UK for euthanasia.
The cases finally break when Rolleson's probation officer finds broken parts of a red spectacle frame that he had been wearing in the boot of her boss's car. She thinks there must be some simple explanation so she asks her boss (Verity Winter) about it. Instead, Verity abducts her because she has indeed been involved in Rollason's murder.
Explanation of plot:
It turns out that Verity's brother had been one of the children murdered and her Mom had waited all this time for revenge. Since her son died, she had become a recluse and gained hundreds of kilos from over-eating and became so big that she is now unable to walk and can only move with the use of a home lifting machine. Incredibly she has been able to make money by uploaded mukbang videos on Youtube.
She had fulfilled the Taiwanese man's death fetish of being crushed to death under her body/weight and she had killed Rolleson the same way, by lowering her body onto his and crushing him. What made this 100x more sickening is that due to her weight, she had been unable to effectively clean parts of her body so she was suffering from bed sores and extremely poor body hygiene.
End Summary.
So this book went from a mysterious dead body to the story of a serial killer killed to the story of the distraught mom who turned into a horror story. I was pretty creeped out by the end. But this is definitely a different out of the box plot. Even though I feel sickened reading that last part, I have to give it 5 stars, 50 stars even. Gillard and the police kind of take a backseat in this book. The text is mostly about the other characters.
Summary: Really don't read this if you don't want spoilers.
The book starts off when a dead body is thrown into the River Thames, in a secluded and quiet stretch of it in Surrey where Gillard is. But it's not just any dead body. It looks like the body has been crushed with some kind of inhuman gigantic force and has wire mesh markings on it. The body is naked and completely without ID. All they can tell is that the body is East Asian.
The police start by interviewing and looking into the few witnesses who had heard the body being dumped into the river very late at night. But they get nowhere so they decide to do an expensive and time consuming stable isotope analysis which might pinpoint where the person had come from.
Meanwhile the plot switches to the release of a serial child murderer (Rollason). He had served 30 years and the powers that be had decided he had been rehabilitated and wanted to release him. The general public is up in arms against that so he is to be released under the greatest secrecy under a fake or new name.
The first dead body is finally identified by the isotope test. It's determined that the man was from Taiwan and by checking with the Taiwan consulate and police in their country and UK immigration they are able to find out who he is. He is a scientist who is here for a conference but never showed up. How he got killed is still a mystery.
Meanwhile the released killer Rollason is abducted before he can get on the bus and is soon found dead. Amazingly he is found in the river and has suffered the same crushing force on his body, but without the wire mesh markings. The police are baffled at how these two cases can be related.
Suspicion for Rollason's murder falls on a vigilante group but the leader has fled the country and it doesn't look like they killed him anyway.
Further investigation of the Taiwan scientist reveals that he is suffering from end stage liver cancer and has apparently come to the UK for euthanasia.
The cases finally break when Rolleson's probation officer finds broken parts of a red spectacle frame that he had been wearing in the boot of her boss's car. She thinks there must be some simple explanation so she asks her boss (Verity Winter) about it. Instead, Verity abducts her because she has indeed been involved in Rollason's murder.
Explanation of plot:
It turns out that Verity's brother had been one of the children murdered and her Mom had waited all this time for revenge. Since her son died, she had become a recluse and gained hundreds of kilos from over-eating and became so big that she is now unable to walk and can only move with the use of a home lifting machine. Incredibly she has been able to make money by uploaded mukbang videos on Youtube.
She had fulfilled the Taiwanese man's death fetish of being crushed to death under her body/weight and she had killed Rolleson the same way, by lowering her body onto his and crushing him. What made this 100x more sickening is that due to her weight, she had been unable to effectively clean parts of her body so she was suffering from bed sores and extremely poor body hygiene.
End Summary.
So this book went from a mysterious dead body to the story of a serial killer killed to the story of the distraught mom who turned into a horror story. I was pretty creeped out by the end. But this is definitely a different out of the box plot. Even though I feel sickened reading that last part, I have to give it 5 stars, 50 stars even. Gillard and the police kind of take a backseat in this book. The text is mostly about the other characters.
lucyp747d4's review
5.0
This is the 6th book in the DCI Craig Gillard series, whilst this book works perfectly well as a standalone I would recommend reading the other books.
Like all the other books in the series I was left chasing my tail trying to figure the whole case out. It is safe to say that Nick Louth has dashed any hopes I had of becoming a detective as I can never seem to solve the big mystery. All the clues are right there in front of me but I follow the red herrings and bait that lead me in another direction. This time though Nick Louth has surpassed himself. That killing method, oh my! If any reader saw that coming then I would be very, very surprised. I think for now I’ll just stick to my day job.
What I love about this series is we always receive the story from different POV. Whether it’s Craig and his team, the murderer or suspect we always get to see it from both sides. Did I agree with the killer? I think so. Yes they killed someone in a horrendous way but I understand the motive behind it. For them this was their one last chance to get justice and finally feel free of the grief that had consumed them.
From start to finish this was a whirlwind of how and why. Craig and the team did an amazing job of remaining cool headed and always thinking outside the box. I like the introduction of Rainey, I think she will be good for the team although I did feel like Claire and Sam had less input this time and I missed them in the story. I’d like to see Sam getting back to her usual self and hopefully having a happier time of it. My favourite new face by far was Leticia. I thought she was candid, brave and clever especially towards the end of the book.
Overall this was a fantastic read that was completed in two sittings! From the first chapter I was hooked and could not wait to see how it all unfolded. Please, please, please tell me there will be more?
Like all the other books in the series I was left chasing my tail trying to figure the whole case out. It is safe to say that Nick Louth has dashed any hopes I had of becoming a detective as I can never seem to solve the big mystery. All the clues are right there in front of me but I follow the red herrings and bait that lead me in another direction. This time though Nick Louth has surpassed himself. That killing method, oh my! If any reader saw that coming then I would be very, very surprised. I think for now I’ll just stick to my day job.
What I love about this series is we always receive the story from different POV. Whether it’s Craig and his team, the murderer or suspect we always get to see it from both sides. Did I agree with the killer? I think so. Yes they killed someone in a horrendous way but I understand the motive behind it. For them this was their one last chance to get justice and finally feel free of the grief that had consumed them.
From start to finish this was a whirlwind of how and why. Craig and the team did an amazing job of remaining cool headed and always thinking outside the box. I like the introduction of Rainey, I think she will be good for the team although I did feel like Claire and Sam had less input this time and I missed them in the story. I’d like to see Sam getting back to her usual self and hopefully having a happier time of it. My favourite new face by far was Leticia. I thought she was candid, brave and clever especially towards the end of the book.
Overall this was a fantastic read that was completed in two sittings! From the first chapter I was hooked and could not wait to see how it all unfolded. Please, please, please tell me there will be more?
slbeckmann's review
4.0
Thank you to the author, Canelo Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This is the 4th Nick Louth book I've read, with DCI Gillard at the helm of a murder investigation (6th in the series), but also easily readable as a standalone. Once again, the author delivers a solid police procedural, with all the tedious, frustrating and sometimes exciting things involved in police work. It seems to start off slowly, but it builds up quite a head of steam and suddenly you realize you can't put it down. The author deals with multiple threads that criss-cross and reveal themselves knotted in unexpected ways at the end. As with the other books from this author, there are a few moments where suspension of belief is needed regarding coincidences and liberties taken by DCI Gillard, but overall suspenseful and recommended.
This is the 4th Nick Louth book I've read, with DCI Gillard at the helm of a murder investigation (6th in the series), but also easily readable as a standalone. Once again, the author delivers a solid police procedural, with all the tedious, frustrating and sometimes exciting things involved in police work. It seems to start off slowly, but it builds up quite a head of steam and suddenly you realize you can't put it down. The author deals with multiple threads that criss-cross and reveal themselves knotted in unexpected ways at the end. As with the other books from this author, there are a few moments where suspension of belief is needed regarding coincidences and liberties taken by DCI Gillard, but overall suspenseful and recommended.
adrianab's review
3.0
This is a thriller, but I couldn't connect with the characters. It is about a serial killer set free after a long time in prison. Everybody believes he is docile after all this time, but he is thinking only to revenge. But, he doesn't know that many eyes are on him.
annarella's review
5.0
Excellent and complex story that kept me hooked till the end.
I love the well thought characters, the tightly knitted plot and the solid mystery that kept me guessing.
I can't wait to read the next book, this one is gripping and highly entertaining.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
I love the well thought characters, the tightly knitted plot and the solid mystery that kept me guessing.
I can't wait to read the next book, this one is gripping and highly entertaining.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
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