What a creep story that will keep reader engrossed up to last page. A good read

Thanks to Penguin & Netgalley for ARC in exchange for an honest review

Another cracking thriller that I was fortunate!y offered to read through Netgalley by Penguin/Michael Joseph. A new author to me - Howard Linskey - who certainly captured my attention from the start with Eva imprisoned in a metal box with no memory of how she got there and is confronted by a masked and armed captor. Scary stuff indeed, especially as it becomes apparent that this abduction could be one of a series. DS Bradshaw has the task of investigating and realises there could be a link between these missing women and cases from the past when the body of a woman is discovered who was reported missing years before. With police officers in short supply Bradshaw enlists the help of Tom and Helen, 2 journalists that have helped him previously, both having their own side stories to bring further interest to the book. Add to this Police corruption and an arrogant senior officer's past mistakes and there is no time to get bored at any point in this fast moving story. I hadn't realised this is a series of books as it stands alone completely. A definite must read for crime/thriller enthusiasts.

This book was tense from the very first page I just had to keep reading because I wanted to know what happened! This is a thriller down well and will definitely be reading more from Howard Linskey.

Great building of suspense throughout. Loved the way the characters developed. This was my first Howard Linksey book but won’t be my last. Will be looking for more books by Howard.

Five missing girls vanish individually, without trace or apparent cause, over the course of a year in the Northumbria area. Initially, the disappearances are not linked or even considered as abductions, until the body of another young woman reported missing years earlier is discovered, just recently murdered.
Two investigative reporters work with the understaffed Durham police to investigate the disappearances.
This is a tense, psychological thriller. I have not come across Howard Linskey previously, and although this novel turned out to be the fourth in this police procedural series, I found it worked on its own as a standalone. I liked the characters, the plot and the style of writing. However, I was not convinced by the twist at the end and some things just did not add up for me. That said, I would still be interested in reading more of his books.
I would like to thank the publisher and author for a free copy of this book, given in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book. It took me quite a while to finish it. I found it hard to get into in the beginning, but once I got into it I really enjoyed it. Although I would have liked a better ending, and maybe Tom and Helen getting together. A very good book recommending to everyone and definitely a five star read.

I really enjoyed this book. Over a timeline of many years describing what happened to many different victims and characters. The story is based around girls who are kidnapped and taken hostage in an underground bunker. But the writer keeps you guessing until the very last minute to the why's and what's. Great conclusion I was surprised by the end twist.

* I haven't read the previous three DC Bradshaw books,and it doesn't seem to matter at all.
Things were nicely mentioned but never hammered home,giving a good idea of how the characters worked together and who they were.
I'm afraid I love a locked in the cellar type story,and this was a good one.... a religious nut who believes he's saving people....
There were a good few twists along the way,not all of them expected,and it led to fast page turning as tension built.
A very good read,and a name to look out for in future for me

A good page turner with interesting characters set on a canvas of attitudes and news from the 1990s. I've not met Ian, Helen or Tom before but look forward to making their acquaintance again soon

My thanks to Netgalley, and Penguin UK - Michael Joseph for my ARC. Although I have been somewhat delinquent in taking so much time to finish the book; reading coincided with TV coverage of the 2018 Football World Cup, Queens, Eastbourne and Wimbledon tennis... So little time to read, but finish I have and what a cracking read this has been. I had not come across Detective Ian Bradshaw before - a pity, as this appears to be number four in a series. His talents are required to investigate the disappearance of a number of women, appointed SIO following the suspension of eight detectives suspected of fraud within the drug world. He enlists the help of Tom and Helen, two investigative journalists who apparently have helped him on previous cases. This association fits like a glove and these two put me in mind so much of Tommy and Tuppence Beresford.

The investigation is fraught with danger as we follow the incarceration of a woman - kidnapped and kept in a metal container. It's a horrific experience for her and indeed others who have suffered the same fate. Where are they being held? Could their location be underground? Who is the captor? Is there a religious element here? There is such a claustrophobic atmosphere in the plot that has alarming consequences for our three key protagonists.

Howard Linksey has written a compelling thriller, which I should have completed much earlier because its that good. Highly recommended.

This is the first DS Bradshaw novel that I have read, and it certainly will not be the last. I enjoyed this book in its entirety and was hooked from the first paragraph.
At the start of the book, Eva is “imprisoned in a large metal box”, with a bed, a lamp and a bible, unaware of how she got there. Her captor, masked and carrying a shotgun, informs her that “If you listen to him (Father), you’ll be saved.”
A scheduled BBC documentary exposing eight corrupt policemen in the Durham Constabulary has left the police very short-handed. So, when Bradshaw is assigned to look into the disappearances of five young women over the preceding six months by himself, he is able to convince his boss of the need to bring in his investigative journalist friends, Tom and Helen, to give him much needed assistance. There is no reason for the women to go missing. Their friends and families – as well as the police – are completely bamboozled. “Good girls” like these five do not take off without telling some-one where they are going.
Jenna has a stalker – will she be the next to disappear? Then, the body of an emaciated older female is discovered. Could she possibly be linked to Ian Bradshaw’s case?
Bradshaw’s investigation is hampered by police politics – not always connected to corruption, but certainly cases of advanced covering-of-one’s-backside. Helen’s and Tom’s private lives are complicated, and they do not seem to be communicating with each other as much as they should.
The villain of the book is mentally ill, rather than intrinsically evil. He believes the Apocalypse is coming, and only he and the women he keeps with him – once conversant with his interpretation of God’s word – will be saved. The abductions are actions of mercy and necessity – if only the women would see it that way.
The imprisoned Eva is a particularly strong woman, who never gives up, however bleak her future appears to be. When her fleeting chances of escape are quashed, she turns to the Bible: “If she could convince the man to sit with her and teach her about the Bible and his twisted world view, maybe she could make some form of connection with him.”
All the characters in this book, and the story-lines, are really believable and well filled out. The investigation(s) – of course, there is more than one going on – do not run smoothly, and time may be running out for the missing women. Bradshaw, Helen and Tom are very sympathetic characters, and you really want them to succeed. When they are put in danger (as is inevitable in police procedurals), your heart is in your mouth. The story is too realistic for a happy ending to be assumed, so the tension keeps up right to the end, through some really major plot twists.
I can recommend this book unreservedly to anyone who likes crime novels or thrillers.

Oh wow! This book should have a warning that says don’t read when alone because believe me I was bricking it. Even the room I was reading in seemed to get smaller and the hot weather didn’t help with my already raised temperature and adrenaline fuelled mind. Wakening in a box, one solid can’t get out of box. I can’t imagine how Eva’s mind could be processing all this but slowly it did and worst of all she knew she wasn’t the first.
Oh boy, I didn’t know if I wanted to know who could do this to a young woman or what had happened to the previous tenant. Now there are some real nutters, some are born that way and some are made and now and again there is a mix of the two. This certainly felt like the third choice. I kept telling myself that the fear of the unknown is usually worse than the reality but I was wrong, big style wrong. OMG!
There is of course life going on outside the box as the story darts from the past to present day as I heard the thoughts of different characters, including those of the abductor. This book had taken over my thoughts as everything else had seemed to close down. It makes you feel the isolation and gawd damn it I was so frustrated as to why Eva was being kept prisoner.
This is the fourth D.S. Ian Bradshaw novel and back to help the over worked, under staffed police officer was Tom Carney and Helen Norton, both independent investigatory journalists. What a beaut team they made! I loved the humour, the hint of romance and the my shovel is bigger than yours for digging up clues to what the hell was going on! that just bounced between them.
This is one all round totally satisfying book to read. A real heart in your mouth finale that is truly a belter! Although I originally got this book through the Publisher, Penguin Random House and NetGalley. I have purchased this book it really is cracking.

I had not realised at the start that this was part of a series with the same three main characters, but I do have to add that it is an easy to read story without having read any previous books in the series.
The book is a great detective story that begins with a girl waking up in a boxed room and not knowing why she is there or indeed how she got there. From early on the person responsible for the abductions is introduced but the outcome is not so clear. In some ways it was a slow start but it was necessary to introduce all the characters and scenarios that would all fall into place later on. By halfway through it became gripping as I just wanted to finalise things. Great book, light reading, great for the summer as it did not involve too many thought processes.

One of the reasons I like this series is that is set in Durham, a city I have lived in. This is the fourth in the series featuring DS Ian Bradshaw, a cop who has established the working of cases with journalists, Tom Carney and Helen Norton. It is 1997, and Durham Constabulary is suffering from a reputational knock after one officer is publicly outed as corrupt and 8 are suspended for the same reason. The police are short of manpower which is how Bradshaw finds himself the sole person on the investigation of the disappeared women in the region, five women have gone missing in the last six months. He manages to bring on board Tom and Helen, but it is difficult to get a handle on the case. The body of a woman, missing for 18 years, is discovered out in the open and she physically resembles the most recent woman taken, Eva. Is this a coincidence?

One woman, the desperately disorientated Sarah had claimed she had been imprisoned underground and had managed to get away. She was never believed and she died, suffering from renal and liver failure. The narrative goes back and forth in time with the abductor through the 70s, 80s and the 90s and recounts the experience of Eva, the most recent woman taken by the abductor. The trio look into the missing women, trying to work out if there are any connections. Tom finds himself reacquainted with an old flame, Jenna Ellison, a woman being blackmailed about her shadowy past. Bradshaw and his boss, DCI Kane, find themselves under the malevolent gaze of the man expected to succeed the Chief Constable, will their careers survive? Bradshaw, Tom and Helen find themselves in desperate danger as they begin to get closer to the truth.

Linskey writes a compelling crime thriller set in the tail end of the 1990s with an interesting group of characters that you cannot help but find interesting. There are unacknowledged feelings between Helen and Tom, although I am not certain that Tom really wants to do anything about this. He is busy with a much younger girlfriend, Penny, a student. I was fascinated by the history of secret bunkers in the country from the cold war years and how the religious survivalist abductor made use of them to keep the taken women in. This is an entertaining and absorbing read of a series I have developed a fondness for. Many thanks to Penguin Michael Joseph for an ARC.

At the start I struggled to get into this book. I can't place a reason why, I just find myself dragging my through. However, it picked up and rapidly became twisty and intriguing. I'd recommend and I'd tell people to stick with it, even if they can't get into it right away.

I love a good crime thriller and this was a very interesting read!

The story premise is gripping and full of twists, the characters are beautifully written and I really enjoyed reading this!

Eva Dunbar wakes up to find herself in a large metal crate with no obvious way out. The door is extremely heavy and securely locked from the outside, but how did she get here? Where is she, and why? Author, Howard Linskey brings Eva's dark and terrifying nightmare right into our very living rooms in this well crafted thriller/police procedural.

DCI Ian Bradshaw joins forces with freelance journalists Tom and Helen to investigate Eva's disappearance, after it becomes clear that she's not the first girl to go missing for no apparent reason.

Tom and Helen mainly make a living selling stories to mainstream newspapers and magazines, but from time to time they help Detective Bradshaw, who’s team is constantly understaffed and overworked. The three of them make for a pretty good team, given that their primary aim in life is digging for the truth. This latest case though, will lead them all into unimaginable danger.


Oh my, this was a claustrophobic plot that draws the reader in, and drags them (sometimes unwillingly) into a subterranean world of terror. There is an air of menace throughout that heightens incredibly, as our three main protagonists get ever nearer to solving the mystery of the missing girls. The subject matter is dark and disturbing, but Howard Linskey writes with great skill to produce a terrifying but compelling read.

* Thank you to Netgalley, and Penguin UK - Michael Joseph for my ARC. I have given an honest unbiased review in exchange*

Thank you netgalley for letting me read this book, this was so good that ive ordered all of his previous ones, my type of reading, keeps you guessing all the way and lots of in depth story lines

I received this book from Netgalley.

This book shows a very creepy, chilling, dark side to human nature. Thankfully individuals such as the perpetrator of this crime are few and far between otherwise we would never be able to sleep at night after reading a story such as this.

I was hooked from the outset but took as long as the policeman Ian Bradshaw who was working closely with two journalists did to fathom out who was responsible.

It was a great storyline and the characters were well drawn and interesting, with, perhaps surprisingly, the exception of the kidnapper which seemed a little hazy.

I also struggled to believe that journalists would be hired to eke out police resources, but what do I know? I am sure that Linskey did his research. Again, very much in line with other police procedure story lines there was evidence of corruption at the top of the police force as well as the rank and file, sadly I had no problem believing that.

If you like an engrossing thriller you'll enjoy The Chosen Ones.

This is a very enjoyable police procedural set in the North East of England, in Durham to be more precise. I love it when books have different settings to the all too familiar London. In addition this is set in the recent past, in 1997 which also gives it a fresh feel. I haven't read any others in the series but I most definitely will now. Ian Bradshaw is a likeable protagonist, a detective who is often given difficult cases to solve and with no help so he has to enlist the aid of two journalists, Tom and Helen. I'm not sure I found it completely believable that a police force would sanction this but the dynamic between the three of them works well so I don't mind. Young girls are going missing and it is Ian's job to find out who is behind it. Interspersed with the detective work are flashbacks to which give insight into the perpetrator's mindset and how they came to use a former nuclear bunker as a place to hold 'the chosen ones.' Creepy and compelling. I was really interested to see that the author had been inspired by Scotland's Secret Bunker, a decommissioned site near St Andrews in Fife and I'm kicking myself that I didn't visit it when I was in the area last weekend, But, unusually for Scotland the weather was just too good to spend time underground but it's a must for my next (inevitably wet( visit. Enjoyable read and thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.