Bloodstream

by Luca Veste

A brilliant Murphy and Rossi police procedural from Luca Veste, called  'A writer to watch' by Mark Billingham.

Social media stars Chloe Morrison and Joe Hooper seem to have it all - until their bodies are found following an anonymous phone call to their high-profile agent. Tied and bound to chairs facing each other, their violent deaths cause a media scrum to descend on Liverpool, with DI David Murphy and DS Laura Rossi assigned to the case. It quickly becomes clear that the killer believes secrets and lies within relationships should have deadly consequences...

'This is a twisty, psychological crime debut in a gritty setting: a new favourite for police procedural lovers' Clare Mackintosh, author of I Let You Go, on Dead Gone

'Top read for police-procedural aficionados looking for a fresh beat' The Times Crime Club

‘An utterly compelling story of murder and celebrity culture in the age of social media obsession’ Eva Dolan
 
‘Luca Veste is leading the new wave in British crime fiction, using mystery novels to explore social issues, armed with heart, insight, and anger’ Jay Stringer
 
‘A dark, thrilling ride’ Stav Sherez

• ISBN10: 1471141373
• ISBN13: 9781471141379
• Publish Date: 22 October 2015
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Simon & Schuster Ltd
• Edition: Paperback Original
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 480
• Language: English

Reviews

[Leah]

I’m really into crime fiction at the moment – I don’t know why, but I’m really, really enjoying it and I can’t get enough of it. Bloodstream is a book that’s been sitting on my shelf for a while, I can’t remember when or how I got the book, but it piqued my interest and I started reading it. Now, it was only when I was a little ways in that I realised this was part of an ongoing series, book three of the DI Murphy & DS Rossi series but I was too far in to give up and read the other books first, namely because I don’t yet own them (although through the power of the internets, they are all on their way!) so I just cracked on anyways, and while there does seem to be references to the previous books, I think, it does read perfectly fine as a stand-alone, although the series-finisher in me was shaking the whole time like someone going through alcohol withdrawal, because I just KNEW IT WASN’T RIGHT IN MY HEART.

However, enough of my existential crisis. Bloodstream actually got my attention because who doesn’t love to see a z-list celebrity being murdered for #reasons. I was intrigued as to why these celebrities had been chosen, what the motive was, etc. It’s a pretty good hook, because I don’t think I’ve ever read a crime fiction novel that has killed off actual celebrities, they’re usually untouchable, even the fictitious ones!

What kept me hooked to Bloodstream was two-fold; firstly the relationship between Murphy and Rossi is fantastic. I love a good partnership, especially one that seems to have a decent bit of history that I’ll hopefully read more of as soon as Veste’s other books arrive. And two, I actually liked the reasoning for the killings; don’t get me wrong, it was grotesque, but I’m actively fascinated with the reasoning the killer did what they did. It’s a lot easier to understand if there’s actual reasonings as to a killer just killing for the hell of it, I guess.

I raced through Bloodstream. The pacing was perfect and while there were references to back stories I knew nothing about, I was interested enough to get the rest of Luca Veste’s backlist, so I can learn more about Murphy and Rossi, obviously Bloodstream has spoiled a bit of what happens, but not the main ways in which they catch various killers nor their motivations. So that’s fine by me! It was fascinating to see a crime series set in Liverpool, more or less they’re usually set in quieter places, small villages rather than big cities, and I don’t think I’ve genuinely ever read a book set in Liverpool (not a class thing, I’ve never read a book set in County Durham, either, it’s just not London, so people don’t write about it, what can ya do?) so it was nice to discover a new city, so to speak and Veste paints a fantastic picture although I did mentally be sick in my mouth every time Liverpool FC/Anfield was mentioned (GLORY GLORY MAN UNITED).

I genuinely really enjoyed Bloodstream, I’m glad it randomly ended up on my shelves (I still don’t know how, my memory is like a sieve at this point – case in point, I’ve bought three novels twice recently *facepalm*) and even gladder that my copies of the previous Murphy/Rossi books are winging their way to me as I speak! I can’t wait to read more from Veste, he’s a fantastic writer and this was an excellent novel.