#BlogTour Risk of Harm by Lucie Whitehouse

 It's a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour Risk of Harm by Lucie Whitehouse.

About the Author

Lucie Whitehouse was born in Gloucestershire in 1975, read Classics at Oxford University and now lives in Brooklyn, New York. She is the author of The House at Midnight, the TV Book Club pick The Bed I Made and Before We Met, which was a Richard & Judy Summer Book Club pick and an ITV3 Crime Thriller selection. Follow @LWhitehouse5 on Twitter

About the book

Robin Lyons is back in her hometown of Birmingham and now a DCI with Force Homicide, working directly under Samir, the man who broke her heart almost twenty years ago.

When a woman is found stabbed to death in a derelict factory and no one comes forward to identify the body, Robin and her team must not only hunt for the murderer, but also solve the mystery of who their victim might be.

As Robin and Samir come under pressure from their superiors, from the media and from far-right nationalists with a dangerous agenda, tensions in Robin's own family threaten to reach breaking point. And when a cold case from decades ago begins to smoulder and another woman is found dead in similar circumstances, rumours of a serial killer begin to spread.

In order to get to the truth Robin will need to discover where loyalty ends, and duty begins. But before she can trust, she is going to have to forgive – and that means grappling with some painful home truths.

Review

Robin has to file away her own feelings of anxiety when the body of a young woman is discovered. It brings back unpleasant memories of what she nearly lost herself. When a second body is found soon after she realises they might be dealing with something more than a one-of.

Simultaneously Robin has to deal with the fractious relationships she has within her own family, especially as those problems seep into her day job and threaten to undermine her position.

It's a multi-faceted crime read. It has layers of a domestic thriller with a brutally honest Kodak snapshot of crime in certain areas of the UK. Then to add the cherry on top the political tension, due to the rising far right and racist sentiments, gives the read a sharp current angle.

Whitehouse delivers characters who seem comfortable and familiar to the readers  - a bit like old friends inviting us in for their dysfunctional family moments, the moral quandaries and murder most wicked. It's a riveting read.

Buy Risk of Harm at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Fourth Estate: pub date 8 July 2021 - £8.99. Buy at Amazon com.