About the Author
Ed James writes crime fiction novels, predominantly the Scott Cullen series of police procedurals set in Edinburgh and the surrounding Lothians – the first four are available now, starting with Ghost in the Machine which has been downloaded over 280,000 times and is currently free. Bottleneck (Cullen 5) is out on 17-Mar-14. He is currently developing two new series – DI Simon Fenchurch and DS Vicky Dodds, set in London and Dundee respectively. He also writes the Supernature series, featuring vampires and other folkloric creatures, of which the first book Shot Through the Heart is out now and free.
Ed lives in the East Lothian countryside, 25 miles east of Edinburgh, with his girlfriend, six rescue moggies, two retired greyhounds, a flock of ex-battery chickens and rescue ducks across two breeds and two genders (though the boys don’t lay eggs). While working in IT for a living, Ed wrote mainly on public transport but now writes full time.
About the book
A university student is found strangled to death in her bedroom, but when the embattled DI Simon Fenchurch is called in to investigate, the case strikes dangerously close to home.On the surface, the victim was a popular, high-performing student. But as secret grudges against her emerge, so too does evidence that she was living a double life, working on explicit webcam sites for a seedy London ganglord. Everyone Fenchurch talks to knows a lot more than they’re willing to tell, and before long he’s making new enemies of his own—threatening to push him and his family past breaking point.
With too many suspects and not enough facts, Fenchurch knows his new superiors are just waiting for him to fail—they want him off the case, and off the force for good. His family is in more danger than ever before. So how deep is he willing to dig in order to unearth the truth?
Review
The endearing quality of DI Fenchurch and his stories is the absolute chaos. The reader just jumps along for the ride, and it is certainly a fast and wild one. He is also a normal man. He doesn't have super human strength or have a genius IQ. Fenchurch is just a normal kind of guy trying to do his job to the best of his ability, whilst dealing with the emotional upheaval of his family problems.
After finally finding the daughter, who was kidnapped a decade ago, he and his wife are finding it hard to come to terms with her lack of interest in them. Chloe displays oppositional and risk-taking behaviour. She is convinced that her bio parents are the enemy and the criminals, because they are the ones who had her 'real' parents put in prison.
Chloe wants space, her friends want them to give her space, which is good advice and yet hard to follow. None of them are taking the side of her bio parents into consideration. I can't imagine anything more upsetting than losing a child and regaining an enemy. How does a parent deal with that?
The extremely difficult family situation is exacerbated by the fact his work and family life have become intertwined in this latest murder case Fenchurch is working on. Now he has to keep his distance to Chloe as a father, and yet try to determine her involvement in the murder of a young woman at the same time.
I liked the way Ed James combines the police procedural with one of the most traumatic events a parent can go through, and he does it without being overly dramatic. The scenes between the parents and grandparents are exactly how I imagine they would be. Nothing like a soap opera drama or TV movie event.
James writes a pithy, tumultuous and emotional read, with a sub-layer of wit and breath of realism. It is a fast-paced story with characters readers can identify with.
Buy In For the Kill at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.
Published by Thomas & Mercer 19th April 2018
@AmazonPub
Thanks so much Cheryl xx
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