24th May 2019 – 3 stars.
I wish publishers would stop promoting books with comments like ‘The most gripping crime thriller of the year’ or ‘unputdownable’. I put down my Kindle on a regular basis. And as for most gripping – that’s a challenge almost certainly doomed to disappoint by unrealistically raising expectations.
It’s a shame because this is an easy to read, well-written story that draws you in from the outset with a likeable and engaging lead character in DI Ridpath and some interesting plot developments, such as exhuming a coffin to find it empty. Now that’s what I call a mystery. Also, the conflict of loyalties between the police and Coroner’s Office added fresh intrigue and interest to the story.
While I enjoyed the story, I have a few reservations that took the edge off that enjoyment. I’m not a fan of describing in detail the torture of women, or anyone for that matter. I can’t see what it adds to a story.
While the ending delivered the killer, it felt unrealistic and incomplete with a couple of questions remaining unanswered. I can’t go into detail without spoilers, but it made a difference to my enjoyment of an otherwise good police procedural.
Description
The case was closed. Until people started dying… The unputdownable first DI Ridpath crime thriller from bestseller MJ Lee
A killer in total control. A detective on the edge. A mystery that HAS to be solved.
DI Thomas Ridpath was on the up in the Manchester CID: a promising young detective whose first case involved capturing a notorious serial killer. But ten years later he’s recovering from a serious illness and on the brink of being forced out of the police. Then people start dying: tortured, murdered, in an uncanny echo of Ridpath’s first case.
As the investigation intensifies, old bodies go missing, records can’t be found and the murder count grows. Caught in a turf war between the police and the coroner’s office, digging up skeletons some would rather forget, Ridpath is caught in a race against time: a race to save his career, his marriage… And lives.
When a detective goes missing everything is on the line. Can Ridpath close the case and save his colleague?
