Taboo (Csi Reilly Steel, #1)

by Casey Hill

[Leah]

When I’m not busy reading Chick Lit novels (which is a very rare space of time, let me tell you), my go-to genre is crime fiction, preferably American crime fiction (I don’t know why; don’t ask). Tess Gerritsen is a favourite, with Chelsea Cain and Jilliane Hoffman being new additions. So when I heard much-loved Chick Lit author Melissa Hill was collaborating with her husband Kevin on a crime novel under the name of Casey Hill, I was thrilled and very eager to read it. I was thrilled to get an early proof copy, and I couldn’t wait to settle down with Taboo.

For the most part, I enjoyed Taboo. It had all the elements I enjoy in a crime novel: a decent serial killer (always essential), a weird MO (again, essential), and the main character of the novel, Reilly Steel in this case, being seemingly taunted by said serial killer (expected). But unlike when I read The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen, I found the suspense missing. I wasn’t terrified. My heart didn’t pound as the novel wore on. The writing was fantastic, don’t get me wrong, but I wasn’t as gripped as I’d have liked. It’s strange. I mean, I should probably tell you that I AM rather difficult to scare because I’m just not someone who scares easily. I can quite easily sit and watch a violent film and see people murdered without worrying about my own safety, and the same goes for novels so I suppose that could just be why.

Despite my lack of scaredy-cat tendencies, I did find the novel to be very readable. I whizzed through the 400 pages in just two days. The writing style was really great and I would never in a million years have guessed this was part-written by Melissa Hill as it’s entirely different to her Chick Lit novels (do not even think of ‘duh’ing at me. I know they’re different genres, but the writing style is different, too, and that is a surprise because she’s the same writer so I assumed there’d be tell-tale sentences and things, but there wasn’t!). I thought they had the plot down pat, and I found Reilly’s investigation, along with that of the detective’s, fascinating. Reilly Steel is definitely a heroine you can root for and Chris Delaney is, potentially, a love interest; surprisingly, there was no romance at all in the novel, although if this does expand to more than two novels I can see Reilly and Chris definitely being explored more. I can see the chemistry, anyway. I liked that Reilly’s investigative team were really included in the novel, too, and I can’t wait to see more from them.

Taboo was a fascinating read, and the team of Kevin and Melissa works wonderfully and I do hope it continues past the second novel which is out next Summer (why so far?). It has the potential to become just as big a series as any other crime writer out there and it’s Dublin setting is somewhat unique (well, it is to me anyway). I did guess whodunnit, though I suspect that was a deliberate act. I was a bit disappointed there was no big twist – it’s what Melissa’s famous for after all! – but there’s definitely a chance that any kind of big twist could be contrived in a crime novel, so perhaps it was for the best. I’m inordinately pleased Kevin and Melissa decided to explore the dark side of fiction, and I look forward to the second Reilly Steel book. It might not have scared me, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it nonetheless.