zooloo1983
Written on Mar 10, 2020
Luckily for us the reader, we only experience the murders once first hand. I for one am delighted by that because it is something out of one of my worst nightmare, along with being pecked to death by a Pterodactyl or a Zombie apocalypse as these can still happen, I have watched the movies! Anyhoo….so these murders, the deaths, are completely and utterly frightening. My teeth are set on edge just thinking of them and I feel like I am gasping for breath like the victims! (Or that could just be the cold I have at the time of writing this). I really do not want to know how Chris came up with this story and I had no warning to what would happen and I am left reeling!
I am intrigued by the introduction of Lockhart and Green, their dynamic swiftly moves from professional to seemingly something brewing in the future, although at the extremely tentative stage. Dan Lockhart getting treatment for his PTSD from being in the military and the sights he has seen. I did love the little phrases from military life, as the soldier boy tells me them and I am definitely going to start using the Julie Andrews one -read the book you will know what I mean! Lexi Green is the therapist he has been seeing and they are finally making headway. Then the case starts and she starts working with him on a professional capacity. On the side, like my favourite Zac Boateng, Lockhart is working on a different and very personal case, one that is haunting him and he can’t let go. I am curious to see where this will go and how long it might be before there is a resolution and a whole big storm coming his way!
Now this book, according to Goodreads, is 416 pages and by 36-42% we already have 3 murders on our laps. I did wonder how we would see the rest of the book and if it would drag. Let me tell you it doesn’t. We watch the team of Lockhart, Khan, Smith and Berry work the clues over a long length of time, it appears to take a few months to solve this. We have very little information and no DNA, the killer obviously didn’t want to be too helpful. Every step of the way we get new evidence and it leads us off down another path but as this was not a rushed job it made the investigation feel so realistic and not a Hollywood 2 day fix. The dead ends and the frustrations were palpable not only for the detectives but us the reader. How could someone be doing this and leave us no clues to their identity! Made my head hurt!
Near the end of the book, I was shouting a lot! Shouting at Lexi, shouting at Dan, shouting at whoever I thought to be the killer. Hands up I didn’t guess it, I was being a copy cat and following the police and their suspects. Wrong wrong wrong. Chris completely bamboozled me!
Not going to lie, I was completely apprehensive reading a new series as I am so invested in Zac and I was not sure how I would get on with the new team. But I jumped in and I must admit I like them. Lockhart in charge for the first time, nervous with whether he can do the job, making mistakes riling his peers but determined to get the job done. Max Smith, living a life with a “deformity”, losing respect for her boss but her anger drives her to do out of hours surveillance. Mo Khan a new recruit, a bit of a player but he completely has your back. Lucy Berry and probably my favourite, shy family woman but she leads the way with her victim strategy and looks at every angle. I look forward to working the next case with them and the naive, sweet but intelligent Lexi Green.
Stepping out of a strong series to write something different was a risk that paid off and well that cameo made me squeal.
Despite all of this, I am walking away from this book rattled. That epilogue left me with more goosebumps than I wanted.
All I will say is that this chapter is not over yet. (Do you feel the goosebumps yet?)
