EXCERPT: Prologue
The Girl from Belgrade

The first thing they took was her passport.
The man jumped down from the cab of the lorry and snapped his fingers at her.
Click-click.
She already had her passport in her hands, ready for her first encounter with authority, and as she held it out to the man she saw, in the weak glow of the Belgrade streetlights, that he had a small stack of passports. They were not all burgundy red like her Serbian passport. These passports were green and blue and bright red – passports from everywhere. The man slipped her passport under the rubber band that held the passports together and he slipped them into the pocket of his thick winter coat. She had expected to keep her passport.
She looked at him and caught a breath. Old scars ran down one side of his face making the torn flesh look as though it had once melted. Then the man clicked his fingers a second time.
Click-click.
She stared at her kid brother with confusion. The boy indicated her suitcase. The man wanted the suitcase. Then the man with the melted face spoke in English, although it was not the first language of either of them.
‘No room,’ he said, gesturing towards the lorry.
But she gripped her suitcase stubbornly and she saw the sudden flare of pure anger in the man’s eyes.
Click-click, went his fingers. She let go.
The suitcase was the second thing he took. It was bewildering. In less than a minute she had surrendered her passport and abandoned her possessions. She could smell sweat and cigarettes on the man and she wondered, for the first time, if she was making a terrible mistake.
She looked at her brother.
The boy was shivering. Belgrade is bitterly cold in January with an average temperature of just above freezing.
She hugged him. The boy, a gangly sixteen-year-old in glasses that were held together with tape on one side, bit his lower lip, struggling to control his emotions. He hugged her back and he would not let her go and when she gently pulled away he still held her, a shy smile on his face as he held his phone up at head height. They smiled at the tiny red light shining in the dark as he took their picture.
Then the man with the melted face took her arm just above the elbow and pulled her towards the lorry. He was not gentle.
‘No time,’ he said.
In the back of the lorry there were two lines of women facing each other. They all turned their heads to look at her. Black faces. Asian faces. Three young women, who might have been sisters, in hijab headscarves. They all looked at her but she was staring at her brother standing on the empty Belgrade street, her suitcase in his hand. She raised her hand in farewell and the boy opened his mouth to say something but the back doors suddenly slammed shut and her brother was gone. She struggled to stay on her feet as the lorry lurched away, heading north for the border.
By the solitary light in the roof of the lorry, she saw there were boxes in the back of the vehicle. Many boxes, all the same.
Birnen – Arnen – Nashi – Peren, it said on the boxes. Grushi – Pere – Peras – Poires.
‘Kruske,’ she thought, and then in English, as if in preparation for her new life. ‘Pears.’
The women were still staring at her. One of them, nearest to the doors, shuffled along to find her space. She was some kind of African girl, not yet out of her teens, her skin so dark it seemed to shine.
The African gave her a wide, white smile of encouragement, and graciously held her hand by her side, inviting the girl from Belgrade to sit down.
She nodded her thanks, taking her seat, and thinking of the African as the kind girl.
The kind girl would be the first to die.

ABOUT 'DIE LAST': 12 DEAD GIRLS

As dawn breaks on a snowy February morning, a refrigerated lorry is found parked in the heart of London's Chinatown. Inside, twelve women, apparently illegal immigrants, are dead from hypothermia.

13 PASSPORTS

But in the cab of the abandoned death truck, DC Max Wolfe of West End Central finds thirteen passports.

WHERE IS SHE?

The hunt for the missing woman will take Max Wolfe into the dark heart of the world of human smuggling, mass migration and 21st-century slave markets, as he is forced to ask the question that haunts our time.

What would you do for a home?

MY THOUGHTS: I have enjoyed this series but somehow missed reading Die Last (Max Wolfe #4) when it was published. I was excited when I found it on my shelf. Unfortunately, Die Last never really gripped me like Tony Parsons' books usually do. It may have been the content - human trafficking. I had this 'been there, done that' feeling.

Initially the whole human trafficking subject was treated with a great deal of empathy and compassion. I can only imagine how desperate you would have to be to agree to being smuggled into a foreign country; how frightened. But somewhere along the way the tone changed. It may have had something to do with Max's boss who didn't seem to have a very high regard for human life at all; not for that of her staff and certainly not for the refugees.

There's a bit of everything in Die Last - human traffickers, old style gangster families, Chinese tongs and corrupt businessmen.

The resolution to this left me stunned - in more ways than one. I didn't see it coming re who was behind the human trafficking. I liked that he did, in the end, get his just desserts, BUT I was with my favorite character, Edie Wrenn when she cried, 'Max, no! No, Max, no!' I couldn't see the justification of what he was doing - the wrong people were being punished and I just couldn't see the point to it.

While this isn't my favorite book of the series, it certainly is a thought-provoking one.

Die Last by Tony Parsons was published 22 February 2018.

⭐⭐⭐.3

#DieLast #NetGalley

THE AUTHOR: Tony Parsons is a British award-winning journalist, broadcaster and bestselling author of contemporary books.

Born in Romford, Essex, Parsons dropped out of school aged sixteen in order to work on the night shift of Gordon's Gin Distillery in Islington, London, before being offered a journalism job on New Musical Express.

He for the next couple of years travelled with and wrote about legendary musicians such as The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, The Clash, The Sex Pistols and others, before eventually leaving his job to pursue writing.

Tony, whose books have been translated into over 40 languages, currently lives in London with his wife, daughter and their dog.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Random House, UK, Cornerstone, Arrow via NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of Die Last by Tony Parsons for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

Great story, thrilling plot that I could not put down. Well worth a read, and would recommend to others.

My first Tony Parsons experience was The Slaughter Man, and I became a fan within a couple of Kindle taps. I wasted no time diving into this, and all it did was increase my insatiability for this author.

DC Max Wolfe is on the trail of human traffickers this time, when a refrigerated truck containing twelve young dead women is found abandoned in Chinatown in London. But there are thirteen passports in the driver's cab. Where is the driver, and where is the missing woman? It's essential to find the latter for her safety, the former to hold him accountable and provide intel on the head of the organisation. It's an unpleasant, gritty insight into the harsh, brutal and evil world of human trafficking. But, oh my, Parsons is a master at getting you totally addicted. Pick this up and you won't be able to put it down. Well told, well characterised, well everything.

But I am going to have a little nitpick. Few us…actually, I don't think any of us, constantly refer to our car by make and model. I don't park my Mazda MX5, or drive my Jaguar V8 575PS or get into my Ferrari GTC4Lusso. I get in my car, I drive to the shops, I park the car. The constant reference to the 'BMX X5' did start to get my goat. It's a car, incredibly useful to get from A to B…I really don't care if the lovely DC Wolfe drives a jelly mould.

That aside, Parsons is my find of the year. My blog is going to be awash with reviews of his books.

There are some series that become so special for you that the characters feel like old friends. The Max Wolfe series by Tony Parsons is one of them for me. Now, it has been a while since I read the previous book in the series, but it didn't take me long to get back into the life of Max and his daughter Scout and of course their dog Sam.

READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION: http://freshfiction.com/review.php?id=67877

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Tony Parsons writes with such an easy to read and get involved style that from the first chapter I was hooked. I particularly liked the modern setting and locations. Some of the violent scenes were bordering on too graphic for me (but that’s just my personal taste). I’ll be looking out for more books by Tony Parsons for sure

Thanks to NetGalley I got to read another great Tony Parsons book. I just love this series. I have read them in order and highly recommend them all. Based around central London with landmarks you can recognise and a great selection of realistic characters. Would have liked a bit more interaction with his daughter Scout and Stan but you can't have it all ! Off to read the next offering with NetGalley again.

Max is a single father detective who investigates the apparent smuggling of women who end up in prostitution, having paid to come to this country to be nurses. There are a lot of twists and turns. I am not sure I truly enjoyed this book. I found some of the violence to be too graphic, unnecessarily so. I didn't warm to the main character which was a shame as I wanted to. Overall not my favourite book!

reading this dark but humane crime story and thriller, I can see the immense appeal of Max Wolf, police detective - he has a heart of gold, and when a young trafficked girl and her brother come under his gaze and care, he displays in a tough way also his care for his partner who loses her baby in midst of a police action alongside him. the inclusion of grim facts of growing plague of trafficking of young girls, and the mix with chinatown in london and old style gangsters is timely. the trip they make to a camp that aids and abets those traffickers is horrific and authentic ... so this is not only gripping reading but even important - and it's the warm heart of the detective and of course of the writer that helps make this all palatable .. we need to know it, and he helps us to accommodate such darkness in fellow human beings. I've always known of this series, and I'm glad to have had chance to read - I will be finding others - this is truly terrific. great read.

Not my favourite book in the Max Wolfe series but still very enjoyable with a very relevant and disturbing story line with great characters, twists, gritty tension, violence and humanity all written at a great pace that makes you want to continue reading well into the wee small hours of the night. I continue to love getting to know Max and adore his relationship with his daughter, Scout and their dog, Stanley with their moments adding a depth and warmth to Max that can be hidden under his strong policeman persona.

Although not my favourite, I would still highly recommend this series and Tony Parsons as a great British author and would like to thank the publisher, Random House UK, Cornerstone and NetGalley for my copy in return for a review.

This is book 4 in the Max Wolfe series, with the topic of human trafficking. Set in Chinatown, in London, the bodies of 12 women are found dead in a refrigerated truck. Tony Parsons deals with the subject in a sensitive manner and there are some very descriptive and well written scenes. I love the range of characters portrayed by the author and their progressive development. The book kept me interested until the end and I never worked out who the Mr Big was.Thank you Net Galley for my copy. I reviewed on Amazon, Goodreads and Facebook.

Really enjoyed this Max Wolfe police procedural. For a full review check out the tumblr review at https://joebloggshere.tumblr.com/post/173138221511/this-is-the-fourth-book-in-the-max-wolfe-series

I am not partial to people trafficking themes as a rule, but this book is the exception. It's well written, highly informative and descriptive. There are some interesting, unique and warm characters. It gives such a shocking insight into the plight of the immigrants and the police in the immigrant camps in France. I've read about these places in the media, but this book gives a more profound perspective. I would seriously hate to be responsible for the security of this country I concluded after reading this book especially in view of current events in the world. The camps reminded me of Golding's "Lord of the Flies" in that the immigrants had become like savages because the rules were vague and ill-defined. There are a lot of interesting facts concerning human rights with their limitations and restrictions. My only regret was I wasn't able to start with Book One as advertised in my email as there wasn't time. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Arrow Books.

As dawn breaks on a snowy February morning, a refrigerated lorry is found parked in the heart of London's Chinatown. Inside twelve women are discovered - all dead from hypothermia.
But when DC Max Wolfe looks in the cab of truck, he finds thirteen passports. One woman has survived. The hunt for her will take Max into the dark heart of a terrifying world where nothing and nobody is safe.
This is the second book I’ve read by the author & it certainly won’t be the last. I enjoyed it very much even though some things were implausible but it’s fiction so I’m able to live with that. I found the story flowed very well & even though it is quite a long book it didn’t drag & I was soon lost in the plot. The characters were well fleshed & I like Max & Edie. Max loves a certain brand of car!


My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

For some reason I appear to be reading the DC Max Wolfe series in reverse order, not that this really makes any difference to my enjoyment of this first class creation by our very own home bred author Tony Parsons. What sets this crime series equal to and often above the everyday police procedural is the warmth and humanity that the author instils in Max Wolfe retaining so much of the charm from Parsons earlier books (Man and Boy, Man and Wife) Make no mistake Wolfe is a no nonsense operator with an unbreakable exterior yet at the same time shielding a gentle man possessing a deep understanding of the human psyche. Just observe this paragraph when Max is deep in concentration about his dead parents...."But I saw them both after they died, and the spark that had made them the man and woman they were had gone to some other place or dissolved from the Universe. I had no idea but their souls had flown".....

One early cold February morning in Chinatown central London a refrigerated lorry is discovered abandoned it's owner having taken flight. Discovered inside are the frozen remains of 12 women together with 13 passports. So the race is on to locate the identity of the only live witness to this senseless massacre. This story will take Max Wolfe into the core and past of London's criminal fraternity, and in so doing he will discover the senseless barbaric migration of a poor unsuspecting people making the journey to England for the start of what they hope is a new rich fulfilling life. They will ultimately discover that they are merely merchandise or goods to be traded effectively sold into the slavery of prostitution by evil men whose true intent is exploitation and greed...."Human Trafficking, Smuggling and Slavery, the CPS will call it. Enough to put someone away for fourteen years."....

The author is an expert at retaining the reader's attention with his tight descriptive prose using the colourful vibrant beating heart of London as his stage..."It was very cold and I was tired. I wanted to be under the same roof as my daughter and my dog. I wanted to be away from the liars and the desperate"...."a woman who had successfully carved a career from the desires of men".... Whatever the outcome there was never going to be a happy fix or a solution to the question of illegal immigration. DC Max Wolfe as a dogged investigator hunting out the evil but ultimately what he accomplishes is merely a sticking plaster over an open wound..."Of the twelve women we discovered on that freezing morning, only Hana Novak was ever identified and claimed. I felt we had failed them all and everyone who loved them"........

Many thanks to the good people at netgalley and the publisher Random House UK, Cornerstone Arrow for a gratis copy in exchange for an honest review and that is what I have written......in a word Brilliant!

I really loved this book! Excellent story with brilliant main characters. I would recommend this book.

This is a gripping and intelligent police thriller from Tony Parsons. It's the fourth in the Max Wolfe series, but I read it without having read the previous three and enjoyed it very much.

This time, DC Max Wolfe investigates people trafficking after twelve women are found dead in the back of a lorry. It's a well-researched and passionately angry story which it moves at a very brisk pace and kept me gripped throughout. Parsons writes very well; I found Max's narrative voice very convincing, the characters and background well painted and the story itself largely believable. There are some fairly significant implausibilities at times, one or two unlikely coincidences, but in a work of fiction like this I didn't find them too off-putting.

This is a very good, exciting read which makes important points while largely avoiding preaching or speechifying. I enjoyed it and can recommend it warmly.

(My thanks to Cornerstone for an ARC via NetGalley.)

I have read and enjoyed the previous Max Wolfe crime thrillers and this was no exception. Centred around the discovery of a freezer lorry full of dead illegal immigrants in Chinatown , it is an investigation into people trafficking and murder. The story ranges from central London to northern France and the refugee camps where Max and his assistant Edie Wren encounter some very unsavoury characters.
There are further insights into Max’s personal life as a single father with his daughter, Scout and dog, Stan. Sometimes this crosses over into his professsional life as he subsequently employs Hana’s brother as a dog walker to offer him some help as well as income.
The author manages to personalise the story by making it about Max’s search to find Hana’s traffickers: she is the only one found alive in the lorry initially.
As in the earlier books there are a few trips to the Black Museum at Scotland Yard which houses the history of the Police in London as Max begins to investigate the family of old East End gangsters who are modelled on the Krays and seem to be involved in the trafficking. The Warboys family are particularly nasty including Grandfather, Paul and Grandson, Steve.
This has the feel of a well researched novel tackling an extremely pertinent subject- the gangs that smuggle illegal immigrants into the UK.
Although it is part of a series it works well as a stand alone novel too and then you can go ahead and read the earlier ones to catch up!
Thanks to NetGalley and the Publishers for my arc copy in exchange for an honest review.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Random House, Cornerstone for a review copy of Die Last, the fourth novel to feature DC Max Wolfe of the Met.

The department is outraged when they find a refrigerated lorry with 12 dead women in it in Chinatown. The women have been trafficked and all died of hypothermia but there are are 13 passports in the cabin so who and where is the missing woman?

I thoroughly enjoyed Die Last which has a compulsive plot and some likeable characters. People trafficking is always an emotive subject but Mr Parsons handles it with panache, not shying away from either the seedier side of it or the violence of the traffickers nor missing the desperation of the trafficked. I thought the scenes from the camp in Northern France were excellent in their portrayal of this desperation. The plot itself has plenty of twists, turns and action as Max takes another pounding so it is a page turner which held my interest throughout. I do, however, think as I do with all the novels in the series that the answers come a little too easily and serendipitously to ring completely true.

Mr Parsons' real strength as a writer lies in his characterisation. He has a great understanding of human frailty and brings this to his characters. The villains are not entirely bad and often have redeeming characteristics (with one or two exceptions) and his police personnel are not superheroes, just motivated people doing the best they can. I hated Max's boss, DCI Whitestone, for her cold, callous nature throughout most of the book until she offered an explanation and it all made sense. Max is a single parent who works too many hours to spend quality time with his daughter. It bothers him but his dedication to his job seems to win mostly. It is a dilemma we can all sympathise with.

Die Last is a good read which I have no hesitation in recommending.

Excellent book, 5 stars would highly recommended. Best one yet