The observant amongst you will have noticed I haven’t been posting on the blog this last week.  Cold Blood was one of the reasons.  I needed to read it, and didn’t want anything getting in the way of my reuniting with Erika Foster, a favourite detective from a favourite series.

Those self-same observant people may have also noticed that I haven’t started this post out the way I normally do, with the goodreads book blurb right next to the title.  It’s still here for those who want to read it – but at the end because I was worried it would give too much away for a book that holds a lot of twists, turns and surprises.  This is too good a story for spoilers (in my humble opinion!).

And it is such a good story, one that throws you right into the action with the finding of a body in a suitcase, washed up on the side of the River Thames in a not too pleasant state.  Enter Detective Erika Foster, whose career is back on track after a bumpy few books where she found herself locked out of the murder investigation team due to her tendency to speak her mind and not necessarily get on with the powers that be.  It’s good to see her back where she belongs….and still saying what she thinks!

She needs to as well as more senior officers can’t see what she and her team can.  That this isn’t a one of murder, that it’s linked to others and the killer will likely strike again (which they do, leading to a tense ending). I like how Erika puts together the pieces, slowly, so you – as the reader – have those “ahhh” moments, where something fits into place.

I also liked reading from the killer’s point of view, which sometimes annoys me in books as they tend to be the anonymous “big bad” but here made them seem real and, whilst totally evil, meant I could understand what their motivation was and where they were heading.  It made the plot more complex that it might otherwise have been and definitely helped keep me reading and turning the pages.

And turn the pages I did, over the course of a day or so, not wanting to put the book down.  For me, this was another excellent book by Bryndza which I really can’t fault.  I’d recommend it to anyone who likes a good piece of crime writing and can’t wait for book number six. Loved it!

Now for the promised blurb…

About the book:

She fell in love with a killer, now she’s one too.

The suitcase was badly rusted, and took Erika several attempts, but it yielded and sagged open as she unzipped it. Nothing could prepare her for what she would find inside…

When a battered suitcase containing the dismembered body of a young man washes up on the shore of the river Thames, Detective Erika Foster is shocked. She’s worked on some terrifying cases but never seen anything like this before.

As Erika and her team set to work, she makes the link with another victim – the body of a young woman dumped in an identical suitcase two weeks ago.

Erika quickly realises she’s on the trail of a serial killer who’s already made their next move. Yet just as Erika starts to make headway with the investigation, she is the victim of a brutal attack.

But nothing will stop Erika. As the body count rises, the twin daughters of her colleague Commander Marsh are abducted, and the stakes are higher than ever before. Can Erika save the lives of two innocent children before it’s too late? She’s running out of time and about to make a disturbing discovery…there’s more than one killer.

Enjoy!

Emma x

Source: Netgalley
Publisher: Bookouture
Format: ebook
Published: 20th September, 2017
Pages: 300
Find on: Amazon UK / Amazon US / Goodreads

Note: I received this book in return for a fair and honest review.  All thoughts, feelings, and opinions are my own.