The Death Knock is a chilling tale of misogyny, murder and mystery that follows two women, reporter, Frankie and student, Ava, who are two very different sides of the story. Ava is the latest victim of the man being dubbed. the Norfolk Strangler, Frankie the person who is determined to get to the bottom of the story.

This is, on the surface, a murder mystery, several women from different backgrounds, found murdered and discarded around East Anglia with seemingly no connection between them. Two are street workers, the other a young hairdresser. It is only when the police, and Frankie, examine the cases more closely that the connections begin to appear. When Ava, a psychology student goes missing, Frankie follows the trail to a dark and dangerous website in which the hatred for women is strong and the vilification of them by men who deem themselves to have been wronged is laid out for all to see.

There are some very tense moments in this story. As we follow Frankie's investigation there is an overwhelming sense of threat and suspicion at every turn. The author takes readers to some very dark places, looking into the possible motivations of the perpetrator for murdering the women. Then when we spend time with Ava you can feel the fear growing with every page turn, the scenes between her and her captor creating chills that run deep. The violence is muted, nothing overly graphic, the threat undeniable and the way in which the killer worms himself into Ava's thoughts, her internal battle to stay strong and survive acutely observed. This is a much a story of the psychology of survival as it is of the blame culture that certain men have towards women when it is their violence and anger which brings about their own demise.

It is a story that could be ripped from the headlines, the author's own experience in media giving credibility and edge to the action. I really liked the way in which Elodie Harper has developed the two women, how she has shown their strength in adversity, and how she has managed to bring to the page several really strong female characters. In spite of this, this is not a tale of men v women. It is a balanced story in which characters on both sides of the gender divide demonstrate that neither sex is entirely virtuous when it comes to character behaviours. An engrossing and tense read.

Thoroughly enjoyed this booked. Easy to get into and the story got you hooked straight away and I found it hard to stop reading, I wanted to know who was behind it. This story shows what a life as a female journalist is like.

Frankie is a journalist, she is sent out to gather stories by her editor and sometimes she has a photographer with her to take pictures if its likely to need them, ie major story, feature story etc. Frankie is following up on a story of 3 women that have been found dead but the police are denying a connection. Frankie does her own investigating that may lead to her be a target, a thrilling book

Reporter Frankie won't accept the police assertion that there is no connection between three women found dead in East Anglia.

Meanwhile, Ava has been kidnapped and is being kept prisoner.

In her quest for the truth, Frankie uncovers an online world where hate crimes against women proliferate. And she puts herself in the firing line with her persistence

The idea of being trapped in a confined space terrifies me. It’s one of my worst fears. And it’s one of the things I like to read about least. Which made me wonder when I read the opening to The Death Knock just what I was letting myself in for.
Ava is a young woman, alone, scared and confused. She has no idea how she got into the wooden box she now fines herself trapped in and, when her captor finally lets her out, how she will escape the small room he keeps her locked in, especially when he tells her about the other women who have already been in her shoes.
One of those young women is haunting local TV news reporter Frankie, whose story alternates with Ava’s as one woman tries to survive and the other tries to find out the truth without losing her mind as she digs deeper and deeper into a world where men seem to want to do nothing but bring women down.
It’s a compelling story, one that feels a bit ripped from the headlines with it’s use of blogs and social media to push the story forward and create a hidden killer who no one can track down. It means there are plenty of suspects but no one I could pin down as “the one” because I was never sure who was lurking behind a computer screen.
As characters, I connected with both Frankie and Ava and their fear and it wasn’t a particularly nice place to be. I could have maybe done with a little “light relief” in another character to cut through the darkness but then it probably wouldn’t have been as good a book if I’d gotten my wish.
And it is a good book. It’s the second by Elodie Harper and the second of hers I’ve read. The first, last years The Binding Song blew me away and I still flash back to it even now. One of the things I’d loved about it was the slightly spooky element. That’s missing from The Death Knock but the darkness of The Binding Song is still here, as is the great writing, which puts this book above others of it’s kind despite a plot that is similar to others I’ve read.
Rating wise, this is probably a 4.5 versus a 5 as a result but that’s still pretty good in my book, making this a read I would really recommend.

A serial killer thriller set in a slightly fictionalised East Anglia. Three women are dead and another is missing. Frankie, a journalist with the local TV news station, is put on the case. She is one of those rare journalists who actually has a conscience and is reluctant to intrude on the grief of friends and relatives of victims for the sake of a story. But when a new boss takes over at the TV station Frankie begins to fear for her job if she doesn't deliver, and her desire to see the killer caught sends her investigation down a dark road to a despicable internet website populated by women hating neanderthals. If she isn't careful in her digging Frankie may bring herself to the attention of the killer and put her own life in danger.

This is a really good read but it doesn't quite have the same level of originality that the author's fantastic earlier book (The Binding Song) has. Highly recommended though.

an absolutely brilliantly written thriller. i thoroughly enjoyed this book and finished it in super fast time. well worth a read.

many thanks to netgalley and the publishers for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is a dark and intense psychological thriller from Elodie Harper focusing on a twisted serial killer, abducting, holding for a time, and then killing women, set in East Anglia. The narrative is delivered from the perspective of two women, Ava Lindsey, who has been abducted and being held, and Frances 'Frankie' Latch, a crime reporter working for a TV news company. Frankie has recently started living with boyfriend, Jack. Two prostitutes have been discovered murdered, but the police have been reluctant to connect the cases. The discovery of apprentice hairdresser, Hanna Chiver's body has the media linking the killings, and the fear of a serial killer targeting women begins to grow.

There is a new boss, Keira, at the TV news company that Frankie works for, a woman who intends to shake and change the way things work. Keira is more intent on chasing audiences with more edgy coverage with less integrity, pushing Frankie into territory she is far more uncomfortable with and puts her in danger. Ava, an psychology student, is terrified but intent on surviving, she knows other women have been killed before her. She tries to engage with the killer, using psychology to try and connect with him but this is a highly manipulative man. Frankie comes across a odious Cuttlefish blog, spouting forth anti-women misogynist bile, raging about women being whores, deserving of being raped and murdered. It had targeted Hanna Chivers, poisonously alleging she was a liar who deserved her fate and not a victim. To her horror, Frankie finds herself being the focus of the blog, with malicious venomous attacks on her which escalate to horrifying levels. As Frankie finds her life being derailed, she becomes increasingly paranoid, unable to trust anyone, living in fear of her life.

Harper writes a claustrophobic and compelling novel that looks at the world of TV news and the need for the next exclusive, without regard to ethics, something Frankie understandably finds hard to adjust to. Ava's predicament had me fearful for her, rooting for her, hoping that she would survive against all the odds, facing a deranged serial killer that blames women for all ills, intent on manipulating his victims. Harper hits on an important contemporary issue of the vilification of women on social media, blogs and by the setting of certain types of men's groups that are nothing less than unhinged. A great read, both thought provoking and chilling. Many thanks to Hodder and Stoughton for an ARC.

The Death Knock is the first book that I have read by Elodie Harper and overall it was a good interesting read.

The book centres around a TV journalist, Frankie, and some missing girls in East Anglia.

Frankie spots a connection that the police aren't seeing and her actions lead to numerous twists and turns.

The only downside I had was that the ending seemed too rushed but othe than that I would recommend this book

Excellent story line which was gripping from start to finish. Great characters. I would highly recommend this book.

Elodie Harper's first novel, The Binding Song, was a nicely atmospheric thriller set in a men's prison in the Norfolk fenland, straying close to the supernatural though never quite integrating these hints closely enough into its overall plot for my liking. Nevertheless, it seemed clear to me that Harper's writing had promise, which makes it all the more disappointing that she's fallen back on such a tried-and-tested serial killer formula for her second novel, The Death Knock. Frankie is a journalist working for the local TV news. She's pursuing a story about a series of missing women that starts to become personal when she's targeted by a vicious anti-feminist website. Could Frankie end up being the killer's next victim? Meanwhile, Frankie's narrative is interspersed with chapters from the point of view of one of the missing women, Ava, a university student who is being held captive in a basement.

The Death Knock rattles along nicely enough, and it's refreshing to see a crime novel told from the point of view of a journalist rather than the usual point of view from the police. Here, Harper's own knowledge of TV news - she works at ITV News Anglia - is obvious, and everything to do with Frankie's job feels authentic and interesting. However, the rest of the plot is just so similar to any number of existing serial killer thrillers, especially the dual narrative split between the investigator and the victim, and Frankie's growing sense that she herself is under threat. The MRA website adds something slightly new, but it's handled quite clumsily, with big chunks of text from the website quoted seemingly only so Frankie can monologue about how wrong it is. Obviously, I'm 100% on Frankie's side, but after a while, it started to feel like I was being hit over the head with this message - perhaps because there really isn't anything worth engaging with in the rants on these kind of websites, and so the lengthy time given to taking them apart felt misplaced.

While I enjoyed reading The Death Knock, I hope that Harper turns to a more original and subtle premise for her next novel.

I will post this review on my blog nearer to publication date.

It took me a while to get into this.
Which is unusual... I do love a good serial killer story.
I think there were too many characters that just weren't fleshed out enough...So I didn't really feel I got a good idea of who they were.
Interesting side story on the chat room,invasion of privacy and how easy it is to get info on someone.
Kept me reading till the end,but not always enthusiastically.

This is the second book I have read by this author and I thoroughly enjoyed the first one, The Binding Song. However, this one I enjoyed so much more and found it an excellent read.

It is based in East Anglia and there is horror when three women are found murdered although the first two are ‘sex workers’ which detracts from the original investigation. However, Hannah, the third victim was a pretty, hairdressing apprentice with ambition.

Another woman is missing, Ava, and the story is told from her perspective and the journalist who is following the case closely, Frankie. The author portrays so many interesting aspects relating to misogyny and online bullying. There is a point when I was reading the novel that I thought at least four or five men could be the killer.

Cleverly plotted. Highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley, Hodder & Stoughton, Mulholland Books and Elodie Harper for the ARC of The Death Knock in return for my honest review.