I really could not get into this book. Cover is atmospheric but it just very slow paced for me and I didn't connect with the characters so I did not finish it

Absolutely loved this, such an engaging read and I am already on the second! I found this to be a slow burner, however just as engaging as any, and with all the twists, I actually found myself guessing where this was going

An excellent, atmospheric murder mystery centred on an island full of interesting and potentially culpable, characters.

Nothing is quite as it seems and gradually the Islander's secrets begin to come to light.

I really felt the author managed to keep the suspense throughout and kept a nice balance of lighter and heavier topics.

Absolutely captivating right until the end.

Hell Bay is the beginning of a brand new series from Kate Rhodes. I have enjoyed the Alice Quentin series previously, so, when I was given an opportunity to read this series I wasn't saying no!

Set in the Scilly Isles where DI Ben Kitto has come home after orders to take a 3 month break from his job as a DI in London. From the first chapter the author really sets the scene. The way the night gives the feeling of isolation on the Island of Bryher. I have been to the Scilly Isles, so could really see it as it would be during darkness and felt the sense of community.

Ben Kitto decides to do his own digging when the body of a 16 year old girl is discovered on the beach at Hell Bay. Everyone is aware the killer is still on the Island as no ferries have left the island during a two day storm. Ben is about to find some dark secrets and his plan for peace is shattered.

A great start to this new series. I love character driven thrillers and Hell Bay had me glued to my kindle. The setting was so detailed I felt I was there. This created such an atmospheric read and I enjoyed getting to know Ben Kitto in this first book. I am looking forward to the next one.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC

I really loved the setting for this book the remote island just set the atmosphere for the whole story. I found Ben to be a really interesting character and glad I’ll be able to read more of him in future books.
Overall really good and was hard to put down.

If you accept that a Police Officer on leave from one force would be handed an investigation by another force because he lived there then this is an enjoyable book to read with a good varied cast of characters (again, a cliched senior officer in the background). A great setting and a strong story so if you put the Police procedures to one side it's a good read and recommended.
My thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

I read and enjoyed other books in this series and then I read the first instalment.
This is an excellent series and reading the first novel helped me to understand some details of the following stories.
That said this is a gripping and well plotted mystery that kept hooked and guessing.
Great sense of place and characters.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

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

If I could read that series, have a lapse of amnesia, read it again and re-experience all the feels that series invokes, I would stay reading that series in perpetuity and never leave the Scilly Islands!!!!
this is one of my favourites series of all times and believe me when I tell you I really am an avid reader!!!!
Kate Rhodes is absolutely spot on in this series:
The backdrop of the Scilly Isles is so beautifully written, it is guaranteed you will want to go there! In fact, I am pretty sure their tourist trade was positively affected by this series.
The main characters are very likable particularly Ben Kitto whom you will want to meet in real life if you could (and his adorable dog!!!)
The murder mystery is really well laid out, the main suspects well listed and easily tracked.
This book, the whole series is simply SPECTACULAR and I would give it 10 stars if I could!!!

I thoroughly enjoyed this piece of escapism and my time out from a hectic world. The story grabs you from the outset and pulls you in and the storytelling really made it worth reading. Characterisation was on point and I know I will be looking out for new publications from this author or similar reads in the future. A recommended read.

A really fascinating start to the Ben Kitto series. I loved the island setting, the closeted community and the atmosphere that the author built up. It was hard knowing who to trust, especially knowing that someone on the island had to be responsible for the murder and those twisted stories and half lies that kept emerging. There were some brilliant and well rounded characters and Ben was a great character to spend time with, both part of the community that he grew up in an yet as much a stranger too. I'm keen to learn more about these island communities and look forward to reading more in the series,.

This is a really good read about DI Ben Kitto, who, following the death of his partner returns to his home Island of Bryher and the detail of the Scilly Islands is so well described and evocative, they become one of the characters in this excellent murder mystery.

Kate Rhodes weaves a thread of suspense throughout and despite my thinking I'd guessed the killer very early on, I was wrong.

The lead character is so well drawn and likeable and the fact that he grew up on the island where a murder has now taken place adds such depth and interest that I was drawn into the story very quickly and it held my interest throughout.

I hope there will be more from this exciting detective and thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster UK fiction for the ARC in exchange for this honest review.

Hell Bay is a crime mystery set on the Scilly Isles. Inspector Ben Kitto returns to his island home, on leave following the death of his police partner. When a young girl goes missing and later found murdered on the sea shore, he is drawn into the investigation. Everyone is a suspect including his uncle and dark secrets emerge when another body is found. An atmospheric, multi layered novel that will draw the reader in.

What a twist, which I did not guess at all
DI Ben Kitto will be around for a while

LOVED IT !!!!!!!

Detective Inspector Ben Kitto is supposed to be taking a break from the met, a break from the murder squad; a break full stop, after the death of a colleague.

But his arrival on Bryher is almost immediately disturbed when the body of a young girl is found on the beach at Hell Bay.

Sixteen year old Laura Trescothick is missing, the whole tiny island searching for her, before her body is tragically found. Bryher is a small community where everyone knows everyone.

Ben’s return to the island is met with high expectations, he is a met police officer after all. So it seems natural that he will lead the investigation, even though he is supposed to be resting himself.

When asked if he wants the job his first instinct is to say “No”. He doesn’t want to be suspicious of any of his friends, and he doesn’t want them to suspicious of him, second guessing his every move.

Because Ben knows all of the Islands residents.

Once he knew them well, but his time away in the Met has made him a virtual stranger to most, and this allows him to say “Yes” to the job.

Ben must work quickly to work out who murdered Laura, as the island’s enforced curfew won’t last for ever and he doesn’t want to be seen as a failure. He is about to uncover some dark secrets and the murderer could strike again at any time.

I have read some awesome books recently; books that are different, challenging and exciting. Reading Hell Bay felt like coming home, back to the kind of crime fiction that started my reading and which has kept me in love with the genre for more than 40 years.

Beautifully written, Kate Rhodes creates the sense of island life so well. An island mystery is a bit like a locked room crime, only with slightly more suspects and Rhodes uses this setting to her advantage, casting doubt and suspicion on pretty much every one of the islanders, whether they be the detective’s relatives or not.

And what a detective! I took to D.I.Ben Kitto at once. Of the islands, returned from his post as a detective in the Met to take time off in order to consider his options after a pretty traumatic event that occurred while he was on the job. He has come home; home to work out his feelings; home to see if he can get his head straight by undertaking hard physical labour in his uncle’s boatyard.

There are some dark and disturbing themes in Hell Bay, showing that island life is not immune from the same issues that impact on the mainland. Ben Kitto takes up the challenge when a teenage girl goes missing and working with a shiny new constable, Eddie, he and his fabulous wolfhound Shadow, set to work to find out what has happened.

Rhodes captures the island atmosphere with credibility and honesty; this is no romantic version of life, but a setting that can at once be wild and windswept and at the same time suffocating in its claustrophobia.

Characterisation is excellent, these are people you know and can visualise. Hell Bay is very well plotted with an interlayering of strands that lead the reader here there and everywhere until it is difficult to work out who is responsible and why. From family secrets to drug smuggling it is all here. But it all makes perfect sense in the end.

Hell Bay is the kind of book that reminds me why I love crime. Will I buy the next Ben Kitto novel? You bet I will!

Hell Bay by Kate Rhodes was a fantastic book. It was the first book by Kate that I have read but I will be looking out for more of her books. I really enjoyed the way that she writes and brings her characters to life.

This book is the story of DI Ben Kitty who returns home to the island of Breyer off the Cornish coast after a traumatic incident in London. He plans to spend 3 months here to decide what his future holds. When the body of 16 year old Laura Trescothick is found on rocks near the beach the hunt begins for her murderer. As the island is only accessible by boat and there has not been a ferry to the island for 2 days the murder must be on the island.

Ben is a very likeable character who has been through a rough time. He meets some interesting characters on the island, all of whom make his job difficult to find the murderer.

Thanks to Simon and Schuster UK for an advanced copy of this book to read and enjoy in exchange for my honest opinions

This is an atmospheric murder mystery set on one of the Scilly isles - Bryher. It’s a very small island which is well described by the author who conveys the claustrophobia of living in such a small place as well as the beauty of the natural environment.
Detective Inspector Ben Kitto is returning home to Bryher after a traumatic event in London. He wants some peace and quiet surrounded by people he knows whilst he decides whether he wants to remain in the police. As soon as he arrives he is caught up in the disappearance of a young girl. The local police chief asks him to investigate and Ben is forced to look into the private lives of friends and family on the small island trying to find answers. The case escalates as the book progresses and although ithe novel started quite slowly I found it a compelling read.
I liked the way everyone was a suspect and because it was such a small sparsely populated island it was clear that the killer was someone Ben knew. However I failed to guess who it was despite being an avid crime thriller fan.
The style reminded me of Peter May’s Lewis trilogy and would appeal to readers who also enjoyed these books.
I’ve never read anything by Kate Rhodes before but I found Hell Bay a gripping read and with a taster of the next Ben Kitto book at the end I have now become a fan looking forward to the publication of the sequel next year.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for mŷ arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is dark and atmospheric crime fiction set in Bryher, one of the Scilly Isles, by Kate Rhodes. It features DI Ben Kitto, taking a break from undercover policing in London after his partner, Clare's death has him emotionally distraught and psychologically unable to cope. His boss refuses to accept his resignation, suggesting that he takes a 3 month break. He is returning to Bryher, his family home, to recuperate. It is a small remote island with 98 residents, where everyone knows everyone, but where a popular young beautiful teenage girl, Laura Trescothick, has just gone missing. Her body is recovered from the sea, and its clear tha it is murder. The bad weather has ensured that no-one could have left the island, meaning only an islander could be the killer. Ben's break turns into a busman's holiday as he finds himself leading the investigation. It is a harrowing and complex case that turns Ben inside out as the people he regards as friends and family, all become suspects. This is a story of family, secrets, abuse and deception where Ben and the people he loves find themselves in grave danger.

Laura's parents, Matt and Jenna, once viewed as the island's golden couple, and their other daughter, Suzanne, are traumatised and shocked at the tragedy that has befallen them. The small community rally around to support them, unable to comprehend how such an act on a mostly crime free place could have happened. DCI Alan Madron is expecting Ben to find answers quickly, not disturb the Trescothick family in their grief and ensure the tourist trade is not damaged. Ben, however, is aware that in most such murders, the culprit tends to be someone close to the victim and he wants to look closely at the family and Laura's boyfriend, Danny Curnow, the son of a local millionaire. Ben is helped by Eddie Nickell, a young local cop, in their enormous task of interviewing the island residents, checking alibis and their criminal records. The killer taunts Ben by leaving items on his doorstep and targeting those he loves. As another murder takes place, we find the island is experiencing drug problems and residents being bullied to sell their homes. The one bright light in the bleak and oppressive case is that Ben finds himself unexpectedly emotionally involved in a relationship that makes him happy.

Hell Bay captures the trials and tribulations of living in a small remote island community, the jealousies, rivalries, grudges, the economic challenges of surviving where jobs and opportunities are scarce, where alcohol, drug problems and violence are common. The young people are looking for a way out, indeed as Ben did, to experience a bigger world and expand their horizons, as Laura was intent on doing. The descriptions in the narrative ensure that the island of Bryher, its seas and turbulent weather is a central and dominating character. This is wonderfully dark and menacing crime fiction that reveals the pain and horror that individuals, families and small communities endure, hidden behind a facade that all is well. A gripping, tense and suspenseful read that I thoroughly enjoyed. Many thanks to Simon and Schuster for an ARC.

DI Ben Kitto returns to the island where he grew up, to consider his future and quickly becomes embroiled in a murder inquiry. Things are made more complicated by the fact that Ben grew up knowing most of the suspects - could one of them really be a murderer?

I think the book is well-written, and I liked the story line which had plenty of red herrings to keep the reader guessing. The one criticism I have is that I didn't really warm to the main character, maybe that will change with more books in the series, however, I most definitely want to adopt Shadow the dog!

Thanks to Netgalley and publishers, Simon & Schuster UK, for the opportunity to review an ARC.