Bloodstream

by Luca Veste

[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.