This was a brilliant read. As soon as I started reading this book I just knew I was going to love it. Highly recommended

Exciting sequel to the gritty Liverpool police procedural 'A Tapping at My Door' featuring DS Nathan Cody. A well written and enjoyable read.

I absolutely LOVED David Jackson’s Callum Doyle series and therefore was very excited when he started a new series with a new detective and read the first book A Tapping At My Window back in April 2016 which I really did enjoy, but to be honest I felt like I was cheating on Callum because I loved that series so much. It’s taken me quite a while to get around to reading the second book in this series which was published in April 2017 and to be perfectly honest the only reason I read it was because his new book Don’t Make A Sound is coming out soon and word on the street is that it’s BLOODY BRILLIANT – I suffer from BOCD (Book OCD) and have to read books in order and therefore started this book yesterday.

Well, what can I say about Hope to Die? The fact I started it yesterday and finished it last night means it’s “UNPUTDOWNABLE“. The fact that I was ignoring my family and everything around me means it’s “GRIPPING“. The fact I had no idea who the serial killer was means it’s “FULL OF TWISTS”. I could go on about the brilliant Nathan Cody and his sense of humour, his dry wit, his backstory and personal demons, his relationships with his colleagues and superiors, his ability to solve crimes, but I won’t… all I will say is “I’m sorry Callum – but you’ve been dumped”.

A brutal murder takes place in the grounds of a Liverpool cathedral. A killer is on the loose, driven by a chilling rage. The victim: the last person you'd expect to be subjected to such terrible violence. Can DS Nathan Cody crack the case before another innocent is chosen?
I enjoyed the book but found it a little stretched out - still I will be reading further books by this author.

Really enjoyed this crime thriller. Great cast of characters and a gripping and entertaining plot with enough twists and surprises to keep this reader guessing. I Couldn't put it down.

The book is very similar to other english writers' books I have (Angela Marson, etc.). I love mysteries set in the UK and send to gravitate toward them. I can't say I would have purchased this book without the option to read for free, but I'm glad I did. The cover was interesting enough, but maybe more color to really pop and grab readers' eyes. I did like the story. Very creepy description as he kills his first victim. Like the church angle as well.

Hope to Die is the second book in the DS Nathan Cody series and one of my most eagerly anticipated reads of the year.  I read the first in the series, A Tapping at My Door last year when it was first released and WOW, I absolutely loved it.  Click here to read my five-star review.  So much so it made it to my books of 2016 list.  I had incredibly high hopes for this second instalment.

And having read (read = devoured) Hope to Die I can confirm that I am not the slightest bit disappointed; this book was well and truly worth the wait!  Dare I even go as far as to say that I preferred it ever so slightly to the first book?  Hmmm......

DS Nathan Cody is one damaged copper.  Having been involved in an undercover mission which went dreadfully wrong several years ago, Cody has yet to shake the guilt and the terrors viciously pummelled into him that night.  A word to the wise, if you feel any sort of unease when it comes to evil clowns then this may not be the book for you.  I am terrified of the blighters but found some strange, perverse enjoyment in reading about Cody's association with the malicious monsters.  Who knows, you may feel the same way I do!

The incredibly intense first chapter drew me immediately into the book and I consumed the whole thing, from start to finish, in less than 24 hours (which for me is really very quick).  That old cliche, I couldn't put it down...?  Well, I couldn't. Nor did I want to.  It was a delight to be back in the Major Incident Team alongside Cody, the formidable DCI Stella Blunt, the kind-hearted yet newly bolshy DC Webley. What an awesome team and yes, I may be a little bit in love with them all.

Called to the scene of a vicious murder in the grounds of a cathedral, the team are left stumped.  Their victim is a single middle aged woman, a teacher of religious studies at the local girls' school with no skeletons in her closet, no one close enough to bear a grudge. They are left floundering.  Then a second body turns up, this one not so innocent but associated with the Catholic cathedral.  Could the link between these two victims be their beliefs?  Will Cody and the team discover who their twisted killer is before a third victim meets their maker...?

I absolutely loved it.  One of my favourite reads of the year.  It may be that the murders have a religious connotation, which has always appealed to me.  It may be the subtle humour Jackson writes into his character's narrative or it may just be that it's an absolutely stonking crime thriller series that I insist you check out.  As I approached the end of the book I had a fair idea of 'whodunit' but that didn't take away from my enjoyment at all.  (I was right by the way.)

Would I recommend this book?  You have to ask?  Absolutely.  This one is definitely on the list of my top reads for 2017.  Cody and Megan have the most wonderful chemistry and I have high hopes for their future (I can hope, anyway!).  A stellar piece of crime fiction which I want all fans of the genre to read and enjoy.  It works perfectly well as a standalone but why bother when you can read the stunning A Tapping at My Door as well.  Brilliant work, well done Mr Jackson.

Five out of five stars.

I chose to read and review an eARC of Hope to Die.  The above review is my own unbiased opinion.  My thanks to Imogen at Bonnier Zaffre for asking me to be a part of the blog tour.

A gritty police procedural,full of interesting characters and back stories. I didn't realise the culprit was right under my nose! More to come I'm sure.

A good police procedural, albeit a little tired in its religious motif. DS Cody is an interesting character, though, one who may sustain a series. A promising start!

Hope To Die by David Jackson
DS Nathan Cody Book #2
Publisher: Bonnier Zaffre

Thanks to NetGalley and publisher Bonnier Zaffre for the ebook ARC of Hope to Die by David Jackson.

Mary Cowper(42) was walking her dog through a church yard of Liverpool Cathedral on a snowy evening in December. Someone comes up and kills Mary very brutally.
Detective Sergeant Nathan Cody of the Major Incident Team is put on the case. Whichever way Detective Cody turns, Mary seems to be perfect, no one has a bad word to say about her, especially not motive for this very brutal murder.
Then Cassie Harris(28) is found murdered in the same style as Mary.
Nathan seems to have things going on with himself as well. Ghosts of his pasts have been haunting him. He keeps getting mysterious phone calls at night, where the person on the other end of the line says nothing.
Will they be able to catch the killer before someone else gets murdered?

I did not read the first book in the series, A Tapping At My Door. I give this book a rating of 3 stars. I think this book had enough detailed information from the first book that I was still able to understand what was going on in this book. This book was not as fast paced as I would have liked it to be. It took me to read about half of the novel to actually get into the book. I didn’t really like the writing style of this book. It turned out to be a very good book though, and it is worth reading.

The second installment in the DS Cody series this was even more of a page-turner than the first book. All the main characters from the first book are back, plus an interesting new addition to the team, Grace, a computer geek who is desperately trying to fit into the team and be 'liked'. A fast-paced read that will keep you on your toes, plenty of clues that point you in the wrong direction and a killer that I never saw coming... Looking forward to the next book, coming soon I hope?

Another great book from David Jackson. Any crime thriller fan will enjoy this one. The 2nd book to feature DS Nathan Cody.
​While I enjoyed another outing with Nathan Cody and his team, I have to say I especially liked Grace Meade in this book. An analyst working for the police, I really liked how she seemed to be constantly in the background yet such a big part in the investigation. I can see her becoming a big part in future books. It's like anything to do with computers and it's just so easy for her, almost as though her brain is a computer chip. A great character I want to see more of.
DC Megan Webley has returned to work after injury, and things are a little touchy between her and Cody, to say the least. Will these two ever be able to get their relationship put back together, or has to much gone on between them.
​It is interfering with their working relationship so needs sorting.
​Local school teacher Mary Cowper  has been murdered, and this team need to get their act together to try figure out what has happened and why, not only that they need to find what seems to be a very dangerous killer. It's only a matter of time before they kill again.
​Cody is hiding his own demons throughout this story and it seems only a matter of time before they begin to get on top of him.
I think this author has a great knack of making you feel like you are actually there when he describes locations and scenes.
​Brilliantly written and very well put together, made a very interesting read.

This book was such a treat ! solid and very surprise ending.
I didn't read the first in this series , but it didn't effect my reading( there is couple of mentions of how Cody suffer ).
This a book trying to show you , how you make a killer ! because the killer gone through very nasty childhood,The scenes were written in such way you can feel you are there in a it gruesome and harrowing step by step.
I didn't know the killer until the end( and I guessed a lot of other books) . I genuinely loved the main characters( cody , Megan and Grace). I liked how I can listen to there thoughts.

This is the sequel to one of my favourite books from last year, A Tapping at my Door, a police procedural set in Liverpool. For a better understanding of the protagonist, DS Nathan Cody, his history with his colleague, DC Megan Webley, and his relationship with his boss, DCI Blunt, I would recommend reading these in order.
A school teacher is killed in the grounds of the Anglican cathedral in Liverpool. The single woman seemed well liked and respected, so Nathan and his team find it difficult to establish a motive let alone come up with any potential suspects. When a second woman, a prostitute, is murdered in the grounds of a Catholic cathedral, the investigation throws up even more questions. The two victims appear to have nothing in common.
The story was really interesting, and I was totally absorbed throughout. David Jackson created a great balance between the case work and the personal lives of DS Nathan Cody & Co. I admit to having a bit of a thing for Cody though I'm actually not quite sure why. To the majority of the outside world, Cody appears put-together and tough, but he is still struggling with the aftermath of the torture he endured while working undercover, making him very fragile and unstable.
Be aware, if you have a clown phobia: scary stuff alert.
Jackson includes glimpses into the killer's abusive upbringing, which I thought were well done, although - if you read a lot of serial killer thrillers - there was nothing unique there.
I also liked the inclusion of a new member into the police team: Grace Meade, a lonely computer expert. Her "relationship" with Nathan has great potential for interesting developments in further books.
I was completely surprised when the perpetrator was revealed, which was an added bonus, but I have to say, I voiced my despair loudly at the damn ending. Really, not nice, Mr Jackson to leave us hanging like this and now I have to wait for ages to find out what happens next.
The audiobook is narrated by Jonathan Keeble, who is one of my favourite British narrators. If you like audio, listen to this, the narration is brilliant.
I received an ARC via Netgalley, thank you! The audio was purchased by myself.

It's always a crap shoot to pick up a new series and read it out of order. So it was with some trepidation that I started reading Hope to Die, #2 in the Nathan Cody series. There is a lot of back story here and initially I felt somewhat at a loss for having missed it. But Jackson does a good job of filling you in on the particulars. Not just with Cody, but all the players.

Cody is a damaged soul due to crimes committed against him. If superiors knew how messed up he feels, he wouldn't be allowed to carry on. So he keeps it hidden, other than having told DS Webley. And she is dealing with her own secrets.

A lot of the story is taken up with Cody’s personal villains, back trying to drive him round the bend. This part of the story really didn't work for me. I also wasn't crazy about the killer’s story, which just seemed a huge cliche to me.

I love Grace. I gather she's a new character to the series. Well defined, she is the techno geek who quickly becomes the darling of the department due to her intelligence and attitude. But she wants to be the heroine and is never happy with the contributions she does make.

The ending was well done and throw a few curve balls at me but not enough to give this more than three stars. I can't say I'll be in any hurry to read the first in the series or any future entries.

My thanks to netgalley and Zaffre for an advance copy of this book.

Finished this book in less than a day - couldn't put it down. DS Nathan Cody is back and investigating the murder of a woman in the grounds of the Anglican cathedral in Liverpool which is just round the corner from his home. The whole team is investigating the case with him including DC Webley who has returned to work after getting injured during a previous case. Another two women are murdered and all three cases have a religious connection but who is the perpetrator? Cody is also being tormented by phone calls to his flat which relate to a case where he lost his partner -someone seems to be trying to let him know that they were there that night and he/she/they are coming for him. Fantastic read - even better than the first in the series - look forward to the next one.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and David Jackson for the opportunity to read and review this book.

It's not often that I read a book which is part of a series having not read the previous books first however in this case I was assured that it would make no difference.

Oh how I disagree!

For me, this second instalment of DS Nathan Cody lacks huge chunks of seemingly complex back-stories therefore really does not work as a standalone. In order for me to give this a fair review, I am going to backtrack and buy the first in the series (A tapping at my door).

I liked the turbulent relationship between Nathan & Meg, despite not knowing what happened between them in the past.

3.5 stars (for now) but I look forward to reading them in order when book 3 is released

Thanks to Bonnie Zaffre for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The publication last year of A Tapping at My Door marked the start of a new series for David Jackson and moved his new protagonist, Nathan Cody, away from the New York playground of his previous detective, Callum Doyle, and set him up in Merseyside. I loved the Callum Doyle series but this change in direction is working out really, REALLY well for both author and reader here. The UK setting of Liverpool is very well known by David Jackson and so these books come across with a confident passion for its people and it’s settings which gives them a gritty realism. I do recommend you start your reading journey with A Tapping at My Door though, it will provide essential backstories to help you understand Nathan’s personality. You will find yourself amazed that he is actually back here in Hope to Die!

I don’t know how he does it but David Jackson can always be relied upon to mess with my emotions which is rather unheard of for me in these hard boiled crime plots he weaves throughout his books. There is an unexpected depth to the crimes so that the reader feels very involved in them very early on, practically becoming another investigator on the case with a vested interest in catching the perpetrator. And the way the dual POV are used means we also get an insight into the mind of that killer which I found very chilling indeed.

The continuing themes of relationships and friendships throughout also bring out the tension in the personal backstories and I was pretty much holding my breath during some scenes between varies characters. I loved the addition of Grace here which also added another layer of interest and I’m chomping at the bit now to find out how circumstances will develop throughout the next books in the series. And that ending sent shivers down my spine!!

It’s been a pleasure to discover that this second book more than lived up to the first, a pretty mean feat especially following on from a much loved preceding series. I love Nathan Cody and can’t wait to see what he has to face next, both in his career and in his personal life.