Although many of the basic impulses and methods remain the same - lust, greed, power, revenge - the nature of crime changes all the time. You'll know that if you watch the news on any given evening, but there aren't as many variations of the subject in crime fiction as you might think. David Mark on the other hand seems to be more creative with the world of crime in the modern age in his DS McAvoy series, and perhaps the setting of Hull and the investigations of the Humberside Police have something to do with it. What is clear however is that Mark is often as strong on the mindsets and motivations of his main characters as he is on the criminals they run up against.

That originality in purpose and style is immediately apparent in David Mark's latest DS McAvoy book, Scorched Earth. The book opens with the seemingly motiveless killing of a Sudanese refugee at the Jungle camp near Calais by another asylum seeker from Mozambique, followed by a kidnapping in rural Lincolnshire on a horse riding excursion. Aector McAvoy's eventual involvement in these seemingly unconnected events occurs when he is led to the discovery of the body of a man found pinned to the wall by a bicycle spoke by a retired police officer who is subsequently run over by a car making a quick getaway from the scene.

There's a connection between all of these incidents, but since those clues include a bicycle spoke killing and a receipt for horse products found on the premises it's not immediately apparent. In fact, it proves to be even more complicated and convoluted than you might imagine. Lust, greed, power and revenge do all indeed play a part, but the way in which they combine is far from straightforward or conventional. As far as being part of the DS McAvoy series that's to be expected, and there's also the familiar quality in Scorched Earth of the characters that Mark has created in the sensitive but ferocious when pushed detective sergeant Aector McAvoy, his Irish traveller wife Roisin and his no-nonsense boss in Serious and Organised Unit, Trish Pharaoh.

Aside from providing colour the characters in Marks books also often relate to an investigation, but not in any conventional way. Family is an important theme with both McAvoy and Pharaoh, and it's McAvoy's experience of family protectiveness that provides drive and motivation for the police detective again here. Mark probes much more deeply here than the usual fierce bond that exists between Aector and his wife Roisin, going deeper into his personal background, showing precisely why McAvoy has such an instinctive awareness and experience of people, as well as a sense of guilt when he feels that he has let people down. That's severely tested again in Scorched Earth, but then it wouldn't be a DS McAvoy book without it.

It's on the criminal side that Mark also makes further exploration on drives and motivations in relation to the world we live in today, and to the other ways that actions can lead to crime. It shows how actions in far off lands can lead to the creation of monsters that come right back to your doorstep. It goes beyond any simplistic consideration of the asylum seeker problem, but also takes in human trafficking, drug dealing, Russian gangs and a whole web of international crime. That's not to mention the involvement of corruption inside the police force and how connections and lifestyles can lead to the creation of monsters there also.

Inevitably then it all gets rather more complicated than drawing a connection even between those first few criminal cases. There are old scores being settled and some of them involve McAvoy and figures from earlier books. If you haven't read those other books in the series (this is the 7th book in the series) it can be quite difficult to follow who the cast of characters are, work out what tensions lie between them, and even understand the brutality of the extremely violent scenes that take place in Scorched Earth. It's the strength of the author's writing however and the fascinating lead characters he has created that provides some kind of conscience to counteract all the darkness. It's trying to keep that darkness at bay and away from his own door (sometimes literally), that drives McAvoy to near superhuman lengths. David Marks makes that stance against dark forces feel very real and very necessary.

Fascinating book but a bit gruesome in places. Recommended if you like gory books!

McAvoy is back with a bang on the case of a murder and a missing person. This is the seventh book in the series and we are reunited with a lot of the characters from the previous books. David Mark, the author, sets this series in Hull, Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire. This adds to my enjoyment as it is the area where I live and know well.
The prologue is set in France, in The Jungle refugee camp where one of the refugees is brutally murdered by a ‘friend’. The plot, wih DS McAvoy in Hull, has him investigating the abduction of a young girl. There are various spin-off investigations and lots of sub plots that all come together brilliantly. This book will have you glued to the pages and is one not to be missed. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to read and review this book.

This is another great title from this author. A gripping plot, drawing the reader into the story. Strongly recommended. My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an advance copy.

With thanks to the publisher for the copy received.
Scorched Earth was a reminder that I am rubbish at keeping up to date with a series. I bought a few of the others in the series after enjoying book one but then fell behind. However I could follow this latest, book seven, storyline very well. There were a few characters that appeared to have some history to them but I managed to pick up the threads as I read.
The prologue’s storyline was lead news a few years ago and whilst it has been replaced by other events, there are still people living in similar conditions across Europe. I knew I was going to like this book a lot because what happens in the prologue was something I have never really seen before. It would be easy to blame the impoverished, like the ones in the book who suffered appalling conditions in the countries they came from. The image of what some of the characters were forced to do was heartbreaking. But there is much more going on here. Evil is also evident in the greed, ignorance and lies from powerful people. And it’s because of their actions that innocent people also suffer.
I liked Aector and Trish a lot. I need to make a determined effort to catch up with this series so I can get to know more about their working relationship. But it is Roisin, Aector’s wife, who I liked the most. She is a brilliant, loyal and fun-loving character. I could easily read a full novel with her as the main character.

This is the seventh in the DS Aector McAvoy, of the Humberside Police, series, set in the mean streets of Hull. This is a macabre, brutal and visceral addition with a enormous body count, with tentacles that stretch to the French Calais Refugee Camps, London and Mozambique, where amoral corporations abuse and exploit Africans under the umbrella of philanthropy. In a story that has McAvoy forced to revisit his desperately traumatic past with the corrupt, arrogant, supercilious and ruthless ex-cop Doug Roper who left him for dead, it begins with Aector going to Bronte Hall after a tip off from his pensioner friend, Perry. This leads to the discovery of Mahesh Kahrivardan dead body nailed into a recently plastered wall, and the perpetrators fleeing and running over Perry. Additionally, there is evidence which suggests to McAvoy that a young abducted girl has been kept there that has him making a tenuous connection with Crystal Heathers, a disappeared woman employed by Joel Musgrove to look after his daughter's horse and improve her riding skills. Ostensibly Crystal has gone on a impulse holiday abroad, except her mother is not convinced as she does not have a passport.

This is a story with multiple threads that all come to slowly but surely connect. Despite having no idea what he is up to, the wonderful Detective Superintendent Trish Pharaoh supports McAvoy's forays into Lincolnshire, and his nebulous suspicions of the less than truthful Joel Musgrove. A shoot out that leaves a young policewoman fighting for her life results in a headache for the police, intense media coverage, and Trish understanding that McAvoy is right in following his instincts. Sighted at the scene is a vehicle belonging to a security company run by Roper, an arm of which specialises in kidnap and hostage situations. McAvoy is not the only person whose life Roper ruined, and there is an African, Manu, who seeks revenge after being betrayed in Mozambique. The beautiful viper that is DCI Shaz Archer, a lover of Roper's, has her own past come back to haunt her. In a complex and harrowing investigation, a very human Aector struggles to face Roper, but is not short of the courage that defines him as he walks into the kind of danger that has him risking his life. Is it any wonder that he loves and is loved by Roisin, his wife, and Trish?

David Mark gives us a charismatic protagonist in DS Aector McAvoy with a compelling backstory, an unusually in crime fiction, a man that is happily married with two children. I must mention the superlative Trish Pharaoh, what a character! Mark has impressive plotting credentials and he is not afraid of complicated global storylines that resonate alongside more local threads coalescing into a dark, bleak, intense, and never less than gripping narratives. If you have yet to encounter this series, I would strongly urge you to try it. A fantastic read which I adored reading, I especially loved Mark's atmospheric descriptions. Many thanks to Hodder and Stoughton for an ARC.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for a review copy of Scorched Earth, the seventh novel to feature DS Aector McAvoy of the Hull Serious and Organised Crime Unit.

When Aector's friend, ex policeman Percy, reports strange goings on in the disused house next to his nursing home Aector goes to investigate and finds a dead body pinned to the wall and traces of a young girl having been kept prisoner. In the meantime Lincolnshire trainee detective, Angela Verity is investigating the possible disappearance of a groom, Crystal Heathers who posted on Facebook that she's gone on holiday, her mum says she doesn't have a passport. Aector senses a connection and goes to interview Crystal's boss Joel Musgrave. What he discovers is far worse than he could have imagined.

I thoroughly enjoyed Scorched Earth which is a multi layered, multi stranded, intelligent thriller - with its action and conspiracies it would be misleading to call it a procedural, especially as Aector is known to rip up the rule book when it suits him.

The plot had me glued to the pages from the start where it opens with Manu, a former Mozambiquan boy soldier, and a murder in The Jungle at Calais. His heartbreaking story gradually unfolds over the course of the novel but I'm not going to tell you how he fits into it, suffice to say it's fascinating. There are plenty of twists and turns to the novel, many of which surprised me, which make it a great read. The dead body actually gets a little lost in Aector's desire to find Crystal and his widening investigation but such is the power of the plotting that it doesn't matter.

As usual in this series Superintendent Trish Pharaoh acerbic wit provides the light relief and is contrast to Aector's more serious personality. He is obviously a smart detective with good instincts but is crippled with low self esteem and sees himself as lucky rather than good. He is a lovely man with a real sense of honour and a need to help people. Unfortunately this need often puts him in the firing line and ultimately hospital.

Scorched Earth is a good read which I have no hesitation in recommending.

This is the 7th book in the DS McAvoy series and was a good read that kept me on my toes due to the plethora of characters and plot lines.
Crystal has a job working as a groom for wealthy Joel Musgrave and also helps out with his young horse- mad daughter, Primrose. One day Crystal disappears and is reported missing by her mother. However only trainee policewoman Verity believes something terrible has happened to her and starts to investigate.
DS McAvoy is visiting his friend, retired policeman Perry in his old age home and is directed by Perry to some strange happenings in the derelict house opposite. Aector goes to investigate and discovers a dead body. The author links these two plot strands as the novel progresses and Aector teams up with Verity to find out what has happened to Crystal.
I have read the previous novels in the series so picked up the references to earlier books and villains, particularly Aector’s old nemesis who returns in this story. This did help with my understanding of what was happening.
I liked the extra background information about Aector and his relationships both with his wife Roisin and his boss Trisha who is obviously secretly in love with him! He is a great character, a gentle unassuming giant with a well developed sense of decency which shines through in every novel..
This book was quite violent in places and for this reason might not appeal to readers who enjoy a more sedate crime thriller.
It can be read as a stand alone novel but as it is part of a series it might be better to read the earlier ones first.
I liked the setting of Hull and it’s environs which is obviously an area the author knows well.
Recommended to those who like gritty crime thrillers. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my arc in exchange for an honest review.

Crystal Heathers had the perfect job, working as the groom to the family of a local Hull businessman. But one day, she disappears – and only the trainee detective assigned to the case believes there is more to this than someone running off on holiday.
Meanwhile DS McAvoy discovers a chilling crime scene – a body brutally murdered and pinned to the wall in a warehouse. And there are traces in the warehouse that someone – a woman – has been recently held captive there.
Neither of them suspect what is going to happen – as the forces of the organised crime of Humberside converge, along with various people desperate for revenge for some sins with very long shadows – including McAvoy himself.
OK, this isn’t a book that most of my blog readers are going to look at. There’s a Venn diagram that can describe the books that I review:
Set A = {Golden Age Mysteries}
Set B = {Locked Room Mysteries}
Set C = {Historical Mysteries}
So class, can you name the single element in A ∩ C? Sorry, slipped into teacher mode there for a moment. But there’s also a small set D = {Dark thrillers set north of Watford Gap}, basically containing the works of Stuart MacBride and David Mark. (There’s also a small set containing modern mysteries containing the odd chapter from a pig’s point of view, by the way).
The first Aector McAvoy book, Dark Winter, was one of the first books I was asked to review on the blog – the US first edition I was sent has pride of place on my shelf of review copies. It was a gripping thriller, and ever since the series has progressed, I’ve been urging people to give the books a try. Genre-wise, it’s definitely in the thriller camp, and there are some descriptions of violence that people might balk at, although Mark doesn’t dwell on these, moving quickly on, which actually has the effect of making them more chilling.
One of the most impressive things about this tense page-turner is that while it does build on what has gone before with the Headhunters – the organised crime group – the reader doesn’t need to what has gone before to see what’s going on. I can say that as despite having read and enjoyed all that has gone before, I can’t remember the details of the previous tales. That’s not a criticism of this series, I can’t remember much about a lot of individual titles – I do read a lot…
So, a gripping thriller that works as a standalone or as part of a series (for those readers with better memories than me), with an endearing central character with a strong supporting cast. Highly Recommended for fans of the genre.

Still don't know how to pronounce the name of the main character, Aector, but he is a great character. Something between Harry Hole and Charlie Parker, but not with so much alcohol, and able to have a very stable relationship with his wife Roisin.
In the seventh book of this series he does what he does best: follow his instincts. Not to everybody's liking, except for Trish Pharaoh, his boss who is still (not so very) secretly in love with him.
This is not an 'easy read'. Scorched Earth is a book full of story lines, with lots of characters, and it takes a while to get a grip of the real story behind all that happens. It is also a bit heavy on the violence and I can see readers not liking the book for that.
On the other hand, the plot is very intruiging and it also gives a good (and very sad) insight in what happens if people try and 'help' others without asking them how they can be helped best.
You can read it without having read the others in the series, but then you will miss out on the importance of some things that happen to people who try and witheld Aector from doing his job his way.
It's a great book and not an easy one to forget.

Thanks to NetGalley for this book.