Follow The Leader (Ds Allie Shenton, #2)

by Mel Sherratt

A man’s body is found on a canal towpath. In his pocket, a magnetic letter in the shape of an E.Days later, a second victim is found, this time with the letter V tucked into her clothing.As the body count rises, the eerie, childlike clues point to a pattern that sends DS Allie Shenton and her colleagues into full alert.The race is on. Allie and the team must work quickly to determine where the killer will strike next. The rules are simple but deadly—to catch the killer, they must follow the leader.From the acclaimed author of Taunting the Dead comes a flesh-creeping tale of a child's game with a terrifying, grown-up twist. This is the second book in the DS Allie Shenton series but can be enjoyed as a stand-alone story.

• ISBN10: 1477821856
• ISBN13: 9781477821855
• Publish Date: 10 February 2015
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 23 June 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Thomas & Mercer
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 336
• Language: English

Reviews

[Leah]

I read my first ever Mel Sherratt book Taunting The Dead earlier this year and it was very entertaining. I had a few issues with the book, but mostly it was enjoyable, which is probably a pretty weird description for a crime novel. The end of Taunting The Dead actually teased a lot more about DS Allie Shenton – and the attack that left her sister pretty much as a vegetable; unable to walk or talk. I was hoping we’d get more traction in the story in Follow The Leader, but it’s turning out to be a slow-burn this one. Which is fine. But considering how Follow The Leader ended, there must be more to come in Only The Brave and I’ll be pretty peeved if there isn’t!

Follow The Leader was actually super interesting and also mildly frustrating. Because DS Allie and her team are chasing a killer who strikes on a day on, day off basis, the bodies soon started to mount up and because we knew who the killer was, it was incredibly frustrating to see that he had clearly covered his tracks so well that DS Allie and co were really struggling to catch him. I spent a lot of time hoping for that one clue that usually trips up killers in Criminal Minds or CSI, and it just never came, and I began to wonder if serial killer case would ever be solved.

I was also a big fan of the familiarity of the storyline. The killer is killing people Allie, and her colleague Perry, knew. People they went to school with. So it really brought it home what they were dealing with this time around, and it was very much a thrilling – and frustrating – cat and mouse game. Crime books are usually a lot slicker than what Mel writes, but Mel writes it like it probably is, and as it turns out, catching a killer is a lot more work than it’s usually written to be.

I am definitely looking forward to reading Only The Brave, especially after that ending. Talk about a cliff-hanger – and it’s such a mean cliff-hanger! I can’t wait to read more from DS Allie and her team, they’re a lovely bunch to know and I really admire Allie as a sergeant.