#BlogTour The Patient by Tim Sullivan

It's a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour The Patient by Tim Sullivan.

About the Author

Tim Sullivan is a crime writer, screenwriter and director, whose film credits include A Handful of Dust, Coronation Street, The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, Jack and Sarah, and Cold Feet. His crime series featuring the socially awkward but brilliantly persistent DS George Cross has topped the book charts and been widely acclaimed. He is currently the UK chair of the Writers' Guild of America (West).

Tim lives in North London with his wife Rachel, the Emmy award-winning producer of The Barefoot Contessa and Pioneer Woman. To find out more about the author, please visit TimSullivan.uk, Follow @TimJRSullivan on Twitter

About the book

An outsider himself, having been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Condition, DS Cross is especially drawn to cases concerning the voiceless and the dispossessed. In The Patient his attention is drawn to a woman who has been sitting in the reception of the Major Crime Unit, patiently, for three days. Her daughter is dead. With no fingerprints, no weapon and no witnesses, the Bristol Crime Unit are ready to close the case. The victim has a long history of drug abuse and the coroner has given a verdict of suicide. But her mother is convinced it was murder.

DS Cross risks his career and the reputation of the force to uncover the truth. In defiance of his superiors, he re-opens the case and is soon mired in a labyrinth of potential suspects - an addict ex-boyfriend who is the father of Flick's daughter, a predatory ex-employer, and the therapist she came to rely upon, but can he solve the case before his superiors shut it down for good?

Review

It's an interesting one, because you go into the read with that extra bit of information on the main character, ergo with certain expectations, and yet simultaneously the author doesn't build the story around that aspect per se. Instead the reader is drawn in by the obvious barriers Cross encounters, emotionally, psychologically and physically.

The result is a strong compassionate thread throughout this crime read, which in itself draws from a deep emotional well of despair. Imagine knowing your child's death was suspicious and the police were determined to file it away without any further investigation. Frustration, anger, and a constant adding of fuel to the fires of grief.

Cross sees patterns others are unable to see or perhaps unwilling to acknowledge, and when he takes a step across one of the many boundaries he crosses on occasion, there is no way back until he finds the truth.

I really enjoyed the subtlety and the way the author conveys this essence of peace, empathy, compassion and in equal measures life from a neurodiversity perspective. It doesn't overshadow the crime element - it is woven comfortably into the story.

I think this is a series with a lot of potential, and Sullivan is an author with plenty of talent. The read engages and pulls the reader in, which is exactly what you want from a good story.

Buy The Patient at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Head of Zeus; pub date 3 March 2022 - Hardback - £18.99. Buy at Amazon com.