Today it's my turn on the BlogTour Out of the Ashes by Vicky Newham. It's a compelling urban crime read, a multi-layered story with a gripping main character.
About the Author
Vicky Newham is a writer, teacher and psychologist. She is the author of the DI Maya Rahman series of police procedural novels set in multi-cultural East London. The first in the series, Turn a Blind Eye, was published in April 2018. The second, Out of the Ashes, publishes on May 30th 2019.
The East London setting of the novels, and the characters, were inspired by the 4 years that Vicky spent living and working in the Tower Hamlets area.
Vicky grew up in a tiny Sussex village, where shop opening hours and the local bus service did occasionally prompt murderous thoughts. After her A-levels, she exchanged mud and fields for London pavements. Here, she
taught psychology for many years before moving to Kent, where she now lives with her cockerpoo dog. Vicky is fascinated by what makes people tick and what pushes ordinary people to commit violence and murder. You can keep in touch with Vicky and her books:
Follow @VickyNewham on Twitter, on Goodreads, on Amazon, on Facebook, on Instagram,
Visit vickynewham.com
Buy Out of the Ashes
About the book
A tragic accident – or a ruthless killer?
When a flash mob on Brick Lane is interrupted by a sudden explosion, DI Maya Rahman dashes to the scene. A fire is raging through one of the city’s most infamous streets, the sight of Maya’s childhood home. And the discovery of two charred bodies in the burnt-out building transforms an arson attack into a murder case.
With witnesses too caught up in the crowd to have seen anything useful, Maya is facing a complex investigation without a single lead. And, when reports of a second, even more horrifying crime land on Maya’s desk, it’s obvious there’s more at stake than she could ever have imagined. She must find the answers – before all of East London goes up in flames.
This is the second book in the DI Maya Rahman series. If you haven't read it then don't forget to give Turn a Blind Eye a try too, although this absolutely can be read as a standalone book.
What appears to be a simple case of accidental arson turns into so much more when two bodies are found on the scene of the crime. A crime that was facilitated by a diversion, a smokescreen of people taking part in an 'innocent' flash mob.
I really enjoyed the way Newham combines the past and the present to create a riveting crime read. It's not just a matter of the past, but rather how the difficulties and trauma of the past come back to haunt the present. Also how crime has changed in our day and age. At the same time how some crimes remain the same throughout time.
Part of that is how London has changed. The people, life, the motives and the face of crime. Gone are the old gangster rules of the town and in their place are the ruthless, violent and downright vicious new rules of modern crime. The kind of crime that doesn't hesitate to suck kids in and spit them out.
It's a compelling urban crime read, a multi-layered story with a gripping main character. Rahman has a conscience, which is why certain aspects of this story haunt her to the point of distraction. I think that is what makes the series stand out though. The way Newham gives the reader a character who tries to do what's right, as opposed to what the law dictates. Simultaneously it's also how urban crime is bounced off more base human emotions and the crimes resulting from those emotions.
Hopefully Newham will be back soon with another DI Maya Rahman story.
Buy Out of the Ashes at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: HQ pub date 30 May 2019. Buy at Amazon com.
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