Reviewed by zooloo1983 on

5 of 5 stars

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Wow wow wow! I mean wow! I am still reeling from the end, think I am in shock! Woah there! This is probably the best one of the series yet and that’s hard for me to say because I LOVED Who Cares if they Die! This was gruesome, intense and one hell of a ride in Maple Valley. There is so much happening in this book, murders, new characters, old characters, crazy ones (!), missing children, documentaries, churches, haunted asylums, I mean so much!

Dean is home! He is finally home back at Maple Valley where he is now a detective with a shiny badge (oooh) and best of all is that Eva from the previous book lives here too and is his (Detective) partner. The first week in the job and a girls body has been dumped unceremoniously and taken to the morgue…then she wakes up!

That is just the start of the troubles for this duo! It was nice to see the old team, apart from Miller because well you don’t need him about, and see everyone is still there and Frankie’s Dinner, I mean that is its own character!

There is so much about the plot I want to discuss! We have the girl who has been found and we have a boy who’s been kidnapped, but are these cases directly related? We have a murder victim in Eva’s flat. We have an old enemy turn up. Yet the way in which Wendy has weaved her web you can’t tell if these are all separate acts of evil or if they are linked in some way.

I was left guessing throughout most of the book until my lightbulb moment but as I said before, Wendy gives us the reveal and we watch Dean work it out instead of us as the reader. But, and this is a HUGE BUT, the ending…what a sucker punch! I knew something like that might happen with the bread crumb of hints but I really didn’t think that it would. Plus there is a thread of a storyline with the girls which I have a fear may read it’s ugly head in a couple of books time!

I can’t see this series slowing down at all, and I really don’t want it too! I feel protective over Dean, always have, and I don’t want there to be a day there are no more stories from Dean! Sad day indeed! Dean has grown so much since the first book and his “playa” ways to this guy who cares more about the world around him after being brought to his knees more than once. This book has seen Dean’s world implode (at least) three times and wow these are some shocks I am not sure how he will get through them. However, this is Dean and I am sure with a certain someone and some cute kittens, Mulder and Scully plus Rocky by his side, he will have the support he needs. Well, I hope!

Dranfield’s writing has improved again with this book as she has you jumping through hoops just to get an inkling of what is going. She doesn’t make it easy for you, you may think she does but her style leaves you with thinking you are right but nope nowhere near. I will wait while you read her books and wait what is that noise..oh yes your butt on the floor as that is Wendy pulling the rug from out under you! She plays with the element of surprise and she works it to her advantage. She pulls you in her books and she hooks you in with the fast-paced stories and the short snappy chapters, all the while making your head spin and leaving you breathless.

I am completely sold on this series as it shows an incredibly flawed man, making his way through this world all the while trying to keep his life and the law in one piece.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 21 January, 2020: Finished reading
  • 21 January, 2020: Reviewed