Persons Unknown (Manon Bradshaw, #2)

by Susie Steiner

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

A brutal murder. A detective with no one left to trust.

‘[Steiner] solidified the promise of last year’s debut, Missing, Presumed, with another hyper-realistic police procedural’ Guardian: Books of the Year 2017

A YOUNG MAN MURDERED
A city banker bleeds to death yards from a Cambridgeshire police headquarters.

A DETECTIVE OUT OF HER DEPTH
DI Manon Bradshaw’s world is turned upside down when the victim turns out to be closer to her than she could have guessed.

WHO SHOULD SHE BELIEVE?
When even her trusted colleagues turn their backs on her, it’s time to contemplate the unthinkable: are those she holds dear capable of murder?

Manon Bradshaw is back.

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'Steiner has a quirky, evocative prose style that is often very funny and her novels are highly entertaining and full of memorable, well-rounded characters' Sunday Express

'Bradshaw is an engaging heroine, full of self-doubt and contradiction, but whose caustic wit gleams through the grim murder inquiry' Daily Mail

'Winning prose, sympathetic characters and an appreciation of life’s joys as keen as a knowledge of its dangers' Wall Street Journal

‘An ingeniously and extravagantly plotted, multi-voiced thrillride … wise and witty … beautifully written’ Irish Times

‘I loved it … Persons Unknown is like walking on quicksand, for reader and detective alike' Val McDermid

'A smart and funny rumination on motherhood' New York Times

'Strikingly modern…It is refreshing to see a detective grappling with real life dilemmas but they never get in the way of the plot, which is clever and original. A series to watch from a confident writer who draws even minor characters with care and sympathy' Sunday Times

‘By turns tense and tender, gripping and moving, and always beautifully written. I didn’t read this book so much as live it: DI Manon Bradshaw is so convincingly human that I often wonder what she’s up to now’ Erin Kelly

‘The best new crime series in years’ Sarah Perry

• ISBN13: 9780008123352
• Publish Date: 29 June 2017
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: The Borough Press
• Format: eBook (EPUB)
• Pages: 384
• Language: English
• URL: http://harpercollins.co.uk

Reviews

[chymerra]

I am going to be honest here. Very honest. I have stayed away from reading/reviewing British police mysteries. I didn’t understand how the British police worked. I decided to bite the bullet with Persons Unknown. Instead of getting my toes wet, I jumped in feet first. While I did get a little confused over the back story with Manon and Fly, I enjoyed reading this book.

I will warn everyone that this is a 2nd book the DS Manon series. You need to read Missing, Presumed to understand the back story of Persons Unknown. I didn’t and I felt that I was missing out on a major part of the back story. It was discussed in the book but it wasn’t the same as reading about it in the first book.

The whodunit with John-Oliver was intense. I didn’t believe for a minute that Fly killed him. They were building their case on circumstantial evidence. When it was revealed who killed him and who was involved in it, I was pretty surprised. I did figure out one part of it (when Angel told her story to Birdie). The other part, well that surprised me. I was not expecting the mastermind to be who it was. I felt bad that Fly was caught in the middle of that whole mess.

I was on the fence on how to feel about Manon. I loved that she loved Fly and that she was willing to risk her job to prove his innocence. But at the same time, she seemed like she was never happy. I am wondering if it was because her character was pregnant. We all know how women get when they are in the last trimester of pregnancy. I know I wasn’t a joy to deal with. I also think that her decision to have a child was an impulse.

The end of the book was good. My only complaint is there was so much going on that there was information overload.

My Summary of Persons Unknown: 3 Stars

Person Unknown is a good British police mystery that does keep you on your feet while reading it. The only reason why I didn’t give it a 4-star rating is that I felt that there was information overload in the ending. Other than that, this is a book that I enjoyed reading and I hope that another book is written in the DS Manon series.

Will I reread: Yes

Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes

Age range: Adult

Why: Sexual situations, violence, and language

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**