4 and ½ stars

Sergeant George Elms is a police officer assigned to the Epping Hill Estate, otherwise known as “Effingell.” Effingell is the worst of the worst. It’s a place where the cops don’t want to go. Run down and housing the worst society has to offer, it is a very dangerous place.

George picks up a call about two teens and a bus driver assaulted just off of the estate. The young girl is badly assaulted and just happens to be the mayor’s niece.

This book is about a day in the life of the average cop shop. While George and his team are investigating the assault, they also have other cases to work. Meanwhile, there are the politics of everyday policing going on in the background. The hardcases are about town doing their best to commit crimes and make life difficult for the local police. And the hardcases aren’t only the criminals. Life for George and his team is going to get very difficult in this novel.


This is a very well written book. The characters are believable and the story is well plotted. I really liked George and his team. I will most certainly read the next in the series, or anything else written by Charlie Gallagher. He is a wonderful writer and a great new find.

Thanks to Netgalley and Joffe Books for forwarding to me a copy of this great book to read.

A great start to a new series. A really good crime thriller/police procedural. Well written, good plot and a few surprising twists thrown in. I was disappointed to reach the last page and I look forward to the next book in the series. An excellent debut by Charlie Gallagher. Many thanks to Net Galley, Joffe Books and the author for my copy. I really enjoyed the read. I reviewed on Goodreads.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Joffe Books for a review copy of Bodily Harm, the first novel in the Langthorne Police series.

Sgt. George Elms is called out to an attack on a bus. A teenager has been slashed during an attempted robbery. All the signs point to an attack by a junkie from the notorious nearby Epping Hill Estate which is a bit of a no-go area for the police. With the publicity from the attack and a You Tube video painting the police in a bad light Superintendent Huntington is persuaded to set up an off the books operation to try and eradicate the Epping Hill problem but it doesn't go as planned.

I was initially attracted to this novel by the publisher, Joffe Books, who consistently publish very readable police procedurals (my favourite genre) and I wasn't disappointed by Bodily Harm which is an absorbing read. The plotting is quite dense with lots going on. There are twists, surprises and some sadness as well, all of which had me glued to the pages. It maybe pushes the bounds of plausibility by the end but that isn't necessarily a negative as it adds to the excitement.

The pacing of the novel is fast with new developments in every chapter. It never seems to let up. I also liked the tone of the novel. It is gritty in its depiction of life on a run down estate. It is also one of the few novels I have read to show junior officers checking their seniors and getting away with it. This seems to me to be a more realistic portrayal of the workplace than the rigid hierarchy often shown. There is also a vein of everyday humour in the characters' conversations which lightens the read.

The police characters are mostly very pleasant and have a great camaraderie which gets you rooting for them. The main character Sergeant George Elms is a caring, considerate man with a happy home life but he is no pushover. The bad guys, on the other hand, are not particularly well developed beyond violent sociopath.

I enjoyed Bodily Harm and have no hesitation in recommending it as a good read.

A teenage girl and her boyfriend have been viciously stabbed on a local bus. She just happens to be the Mayor's niece and its the final straw for the local community. The police are desperate to get results and take a risky course of action involving infiltration of the Effingell Estata.

Detective George Elms knows the area well. Itch his sharp investigative mind, he sets out to solve this crime.

This book is fast paced, well written, with a few curve balls, I found this novel hard to put down.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Joffe Books and the author Charlie Gallacher for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book I think it will make a great series, can't wait for the next instalment. I thought it started off a little slowly but it soon gathered pace and sucked me in so that I couldn't put it down. Very good 5 out of 5.

When she was only 13 years old Wyn Davies took a walk in the woods and met a monster. Twenty years later, she’s living on one side of a duplex, her ex living on the other as the two share custody of their young daughter. Wyn makes a living selling her lovely, if uninspired paintings and life goes along until she hears that Robby Rousseau may be released from prison because new DNA evidence come to light. Unless Wyn can bring herself to talk about that long ago day, he will be free. In order to re-examine her priorities, Wyn agrees to house-sit for a friend. The house is old and long empty and on an isolated island in Maine. In the house, Wyn comes across pictures of the woman who lived there before her, a young mother and artist, much like Wyn herself. But this woman has a secret of her own, and as Wyn begins to dig into the woman’s past, she hopes to find the courage to deal with her own