It's my turn on the BlogTour Dig Two Graves by Heather Peck.
About the authorAward-winning author Heather Peck has had a varied life. As featured in the ‘Norfolk’ magazine and the Eastern Daily Press, “Norfolk farm disaster expert turns to crime writing” she has been both farmer and agricultural policy adviser.
She bred sheep and alpacas, reared calves, broke ploughs, represented the UK in international negotiations, specialised in emergency response from Chernobyl to bird flu, managed controls over pesticides and GM crops, saw legislation through Parliament and got paid to eat Kit Kats while on secondment to Rowntree. She has also chaired an NHS Trust, worked on animal welfare, sailed a boat on the Broads, volunteered in Citizens Advice and the Witness Service and vaccinated humans against Covid.
Two golden threads have run through everything; her fascination with words and her Gran’s wise advice: ‘You can do anything if you try hard enough’. Follow @HeatherLydia1 on Twitter
About the book
Greg stumbles upon the gruesome murder of a police informant and realizes his colleague has gone missing, presumed kidnapped.
As he seeks Sarah in a desperate race against time, he uncovers a sinister County Lines operation, entangled with money laundering and a labyrinthine network of organised crime. The pursuit is intensifying when the man at the centre of the web directs his malevolence towards Greg, targeting not only his home and his cat, but also his beloved partner, Chris.
Review
Time is of the essence when a fellow police officer is a caught up in a vicious murder and taken hostage, the problem is the culprit doesn't know who they are and sees them as an opportunity. The clock is ticking to get Sarah back before it's too late.
With a clever reference to the appalling behaviour of the Met police, the author also includes the kind of crossing of boundaries that put the police in the camp of the criminals. When misogyny rules and the systemic abuse and harassment of women is no different than that of the street criminal, deviant or abuser, then the police loses all authority and respect.
Instead of a police force people can trust, colleagues have to worry about the people they work with and deal with the same level of abuse and harassment at work and in their lives. Trust can't be created when men always treat women like potential prey. With that in mind there is a scene - a fleeting moment really - where Greg wanders on the border of this problem. His instinctive reaction to Sarah is torn between victim and victim blaming. It's an interesting point to make. Subtle and very poignant.
It's a fast-paced crime read that doesn't stop, even at the end.
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