Member Reviews

The Last Cut is the first novel in the DS Harri Jacobs series by Danielle Ramsay. It is the first book by Danielle Ramsay that I have read and I really enjoyed reading it, it is a novel that demands your attention and I can’t wait to read more from her. This is going to be an exciting new series with a new detective that will thrill crime fans.

DS Harri Jacobs has recently transferred to Newcastle from the Metropolitan Police in London. A year ago she suffered from a horrific attack where she was raped in her own home. Her attacker promised to return and finish the job, this time, by killing her and now Harri fears that that day may be edging closer. It is a constant shadow hanging over her life, one that she’ll never be free from until her attacker is brought to justice or until he finishes what he started.

I really liked Danielle’s new character in this book. She is a strong female lead; although she is struggling to come to terms with what happened to her a year ago she is determined to try and move on and bring the person responsible to justice and she has some theories as to who her attacker may be. But things have started to heat up. Harri is receiving strange, chilling text messages and when the body of a young female is found it marks the start of a fresh investigation into a seriously twisted killer. There are strong similarities to what happened to this victim and to what happened to her and perhaps even more disturbingly the victim has been transformed to resemble her. Coincidence? Harri doesn’t think so. Is the person behind her attack the same man behind these heinous crimes?

Although I really enjoyed this book, I did find some scenes which were a little repetitive. This was particularly the case when Harri was trying to work out how to stay on the investigation team when it appeared that her case and the crimes that were taking place in the present maybe linked and her suspicions about a former colleague of hers in London. For me it did slow down the pace a little. Some of the scenes in this book are really gruesome, perfect for fans of gritty crime thrillers. The person behind this attack is really twisted, probably one of the scariest and vile criminals I’ve come across since I’ve started reading crime fiction. I really liked the scenes in which Harri was alone, away from the station this gave us the reader a real insight into her mind and you can see just how much damage the attack that took place a year ago has done to her.

I would have liked to have learnt more about Harri’s other colleagues on her team. I felt as though that Harri was facing a lot of her problems alone and I think it would have been good for her to have had someone to talk to.

Overall I found The Last Cut an exciting read; I was desperate to learn the truth about who was behind the attacks. The opening chapters draw you into the story and opens up questions which you have to answer and Danielle keeps you guessing right up till the end. I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series and I can’t wait to see where she will take Harri next. Thank you to Anne Cater for organising the blog tour, to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a copy to read. The DS Harri Jacobs series is definitely one to watch.

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Wowsers. What a gritty book. As an early warning for readers of a gentle disposition, there are incidents in the book such as rape and suspected suicide that could act as a trigger. That said, neither are portrayed in an overtly graphic manner, but it is clear what has happened and in part it is the aftermath of both, and the reasons behind them, which this novel explores. Now with the housekeeping out of the way, what did I think of the book?

From the very opening chapter this is a book which demands the reader attention. There is a darkness in the tone which sets the scene straight away. A sense of foreboding and menace and a clear understanding that this is not going to be a cozy crime caper. There is a clinical precision about the opening scene, one which is echoed in the actions of the books central antagonist and although you will not find out until much later in the book how twisted this individual is, you will most definitely know in which direction they are headed. It is claustrophobic, suffocating, dark. In essence, all the things I love about a gritty serial killer story which this book most definitely is.

Harri Jacobs is a no-nonsense kind of Detective. Like all good fictional detectives she carries a lot of baggage, but unlike most, hers is the kind of baggage that could have destroyed a weaker person. I won't go into any more detail than that, her past is spelled out clearly in the book itself and an element of it hinted at in the blurb, but suffice to say that her past, the reason she left London and returned to her childhood home of Newcastle, is inextricably linked to a new case which is about to land on her team. A vicious killer who has hideously disfigured a young woman and left her mutilated body in a place which Harri knows well. And when the killer starts to make contact with Harri personally, she has to hide potentially crucial evidence in order to try and stay on the case.

Harri is a tough character. She struggles settling into the new team, not finding it easy to trust or to forge new relationships after her ordeal and having been felt betrayed and let down by people from her past that she used to consider as friends. She struggles to accept people's motivations as anything other than suspicious and this distance she creates around herself puts her in a very vulnerable position. But she is no longer the victim that her attacker sought to make her. She is stronger and she is determined. I will be honest and say that at times I struggled with the way in which Harri was portrayed, if only because she was too isolated, too determined to go it alone. There were a lot of passages which seemed to repeat, where she seconded guessed what was happening around her, especially her suspicions of a former colleague. But the more I thought about it, the more real this seemed, this paranoia and secrecy. These are the actions of someone who has been through a great trauma and escaped, albeit not completely unscathed. She hides her insecurities behind a steely persona at work but at home her fears and memories dominate. This element of the character humanises her. I wouldn't call her a sympathetic character, I think if she were real she'd kick my arse for that, but she is certainly someone you can get behind.

Although a lot of the action centered around Harri, the secondary characters were well fleshed out, with her boss Douglas and Crime Scene Manager Munroe both likeable and supportive characters. Although Harri has an initial hate-hate relationship with one of her DC's, Robertson, a quiet appreciation and understanding develops between the two of them throughout the novel and I can see this as a partnership that could develop into something really special. But it is the development of the voices of the killer's victims, a young unidentified woman who watches him set to work on his other 'subjects', and his wife who suffers unimaginable violence at his hand, where we start to learn more about the killer himself. We hear from him only in glimpses but by his actions and how he treats these women we learn more about his character than any investigation could provide. He is sadistic and twisted but he is also hell bent on revenge. As to why he has singled out Harri, you will need to read to find out, but it may not be what you first imagine. There is a certain something which occurs later on in the book that certainly took me by surprise.

The pacing in this book varies, but I wouldn't describe any of it as fast paced exactly. It definitely draws you in and pulls you along with the narrative and there are some real edge of the seat moments when you can feel the tension rising and know that the threat levels against Harri are quite high. But there are also moments of great introspection, where Harri retreats into her own mind, trying to make sense of the violence, both against her and against the young victims. These slow the narrative but still draw the reader in. If I had one criticism of the book it would be that after a world of build up, it almost seemed that Harri found her man too soon, too quickly. I expected more of a cat and mouse chase, more of an intense build to what was, in the end, a rather brief finale.

But then I say finale... It is very clear that the story still isn't over for Harri. She may have caught her man, may have stopped the violence for now, but by the end of the book, the scene has been well and truly set for another thrilling clash. I for one am looking forward to seeing what fresh hell Ms Ramsay unleashes on our poor Detective Sergeant next. Overall a great start to the series.

4.5 stars

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Very Martina Cole. Not my cup of tea at all but it does have some cracking locations in there! Just not keen on reading so much swearing and graphic detail. Sound a bit like a granny probably but I just get into the story at all and I did try. Martina cole fans etc will love this though and it's very dark and gritty. A neat idea getting a policewoman from London up north to sort things out and then come across scenes as presented in this book. It's the first in a series - I can't even imagine what the author has in store for Harri in the next book!

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