I received this book via Netgalley having never read anything by James Oswald previously.

I was somewhat disappointed in that quite a lot is basically unbelievable. One small example is that Con, a female police officer who is at no time compared to an Amazon, manages, quite easily, to knock one of her adversaries unconscious, pull him out from the driver's seat, tie him up and then bundle his inert form into the boot of the car all without breaking out into a sweat..

However, it did have it's redeeming features and although I didn't find it to be a page turner I would read other books by this author.

My first book that I have read from James Oswald.
Constance Fairchild, a young DC gets blamed for corruption and selling out her DI partner who gets shot.
Her best friend's sister is missing and while Connie is on suspension ,is asked to find her.

This starts out a dangerous and arduous task that put her life at risk.

The book is somewhat unbelievable but it has pace and is certainly a page turner.

Having enjoyed the Inspector McLean series of novels I looked forward to a new set of characters and I have not been disappointed. This tale of murder,police corruption and child abuse absolutely races along. Hopefully this is a new series with a new heroine to enjoy. From London to Scotland and back the action is unrelenting all building to a great climax. Good stuff!

The description gave me expectations that the book just didn't live up to. Whilst I did read all of it and would read more in this series, the book(s) would not be at the top of my reading list.

I would like to thank Headline Publishing Group and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘No Time To Cry’ written by James Oswald, in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
DC Con Fairchild and her boss DI Pete Copperthwaite are working undercover for the Met on ‘Operation Undertaker’. Con receives a text from Pete telling her to go to their temporary office only to find that Pete’s been tortured and shot dead. While Con’s suspended pending investigations into what went wrong, the members of her department make her the target of a witch hunt and there are botched attempts on her life. Con’s old friend Charlotte asks for her help as her sister Izzy has disappeared from boarding school. Can Con unearth who’s behind the assassination of Pete as well as trying to locate Izzy?
‘No Time To Cry’ is the first of James Oswald’s novels featuring DC Constance Fairchild and I hope it won’t be the last. It’s been brilliantly written with a cleverly thought-out plot, twists and turns, and some unsavoury and disagreeable suspects. I love the character of Con who’s feisty, astute and brave, and the way she bounces off ideas to the absent Pete. This book is absolutely amazing, it kept me enthralled from page one right through to the thrilling conclusion. I was sorry when it came to an end and can’t wait for Oswald to write the next one.

I requested this book based solely on the writers name, and I loved this book. I have read and devoured all of James Oswalds Inspector McLean novels and this book was on a par with them all. I know James has said that he hasn’t written a new character for over ten years, but I thought Con was great.

Hooked right from the start of the book, couldn’t put it down, hope he does write more for her. Without spoiling the plot, loved the cat and Scotland bit, and yes, ok, silly me, didn’t see it coming, but I think that was James’ Intention. A great touch nonetheless

This novel contained all the elements and twists and turns we expect from James’ novels, and did not disappoint one iota.

A truly excellent book. Hope it’s another best seller for James

Fantastic novel with great characterisation. Really enjoyed getting to know con throughout the story. Fast paced action.

I had no knowledge of James Oswald or his other crime series when I downloaded this book so I had no preconceptions about what to expect. What you get is a fast paced thriller involving a woman police officer who is being set up as a scapegoat for the murder of her partner. Con Fairchild is a young woman who is doing reasonably well in her career when she gets a message from her partner to go to where he is hiding out as an undercover agent. When she gets there, she finds him dead in his chair, having been tortured and then shot. Instead of getting sympathy from her colleagues in the Met, she is instead shunned by them and to her amazement there are rumours going round that she is both involved with Pete (the dead partner) and responsible for his death either directly or indirectly. Into this mix comes Charlotte an unwelcome blast from the past, now involved with Con's brother and wanting Con to find her little sister Izzy who had gone missing from her school.. Although suspended from her job, Con decides to try to find Izzy and stirs up a real hornet's nest in so doing. For most of the book she is being hunted by very rich, very powerful people as well as by the police. There are lots of twists and turns in the book but I can't say I was really taken by surprise at any time. What I did like a lot was the character of Con and the interactions between her and the ghost of her dead partner, There isn't really a ghost of course, she's upfront about it being a way of trying to work out what is going on. All in all a satisfying read and I'll be looking out for more in the series. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC.

This is the first book I've read by this author and I loved it so much I've downloaded his other series. I really liked the main character Con and the unfolding of the story, undercover police, murder, betrayal, Her friend asks Con to help look for her missing sister but Con is obstructed and warned off every step of the way! Why and who is behind it and is it related to the murder of her colleague?? Gripping from start to finish

Wow, talk about edge of the seat. A great fast paced read. Couldn’t put it down I just had to get to the end and I wasn’t disappointed. Very clever and well thought out.

I am new to this author so wasn’t sure what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised. A gritty well written storyline that kept me reading so that has to be a good thing. Plenty of twists and turns but also emotional in places. I’m glad I have started the series at the beginning and will definitely look to read more of this author.

Another great book by Oswald. Nice to have a new series introducing a new lead character. Hopefully there will be more.

When her boss is shot and killed on an undercover op, DC Constance Fairchild is cast by the Met in the role of scapegoat. Far easier to do that than actually investigate what really happened.....

This makes Con a target for the real perpetrators.

This is the first in a new series, so it's difficult to separate the laying of groundwork for a new series from the action of a fast-paced story. On first reading, there was less about Con and her character to hold my interest than with Oswald's more famous creation Inspector McLean

I would like to thank Netgalley and Headline for an advance copy of No Time to Cry, the first novel to feature DC Con(stance) Fairchild of the Met.

Con has been working on an undercover sting when she walks into the fake office and finds her boss, DI Pete Copperthwaite tied to a chair and shot dead. Con is immediately suspended pending an investigation but is bewildered as to why she is being scapegoated and even more so when someone tries to kill her.

I thoroughly enjoyed No Time to Cry which is an exciting read with a twisty plot. It is told in the first person by the feisty Con, never Constance or the dreaded Connie, and, while this is not my favourite format, it really suits the novel, giving it the immediacy and intimacy the plot deserves. The opening of the novel oozes atmosphere with the knives out for Con and her resultant anger, fear, distrust and impotence. It is so effective I was ready to take up the cudgels on her behalf and, as a result of being so invested, missed some of the undercurrents that become more apparent as the novel progresses. I like the way the novel starts as one thing, an undercover operation gone spectacularly wrong, morphs into something else and finally comes full circle to reconcile all the different parts, although the denouement is, in my opinion, the weakest part of an otherwise very strong novel. It is not a police procedural as Con is suspended and acting independently and reads more like a thriller with its cartoon like baddie and Con dodging more than one bullet. It's a thrilling, addictive read which had me hooked from start to finish.

I really like Con and would gladly read more about her. I'll leave it to the reader to find out about her unconventional background from hints in the novel although I think there is much more to come. She is smart, feisty and resourceful with an even smarter mouth, which I love. She talks to the dead Pete, using him as a sounding board for her ideas. This is not woo-woo territory, like the Inspector McLain novels, as she is fully aware that he is dead but a coping mechanism for her grief and fear. It adds a little light relief to a high octane, action packed read.

No Time to Cry is a great start to a new series which I have no hesitation in recommending as a good read.

A very promising start to a new series! James Oswald writes the fabulously dark McLean series and his new book follows on in the same style.

Fairchild is a new DC caught up in corruption and murder. Not knowing who to trust she turns to her family who point her in the direction of Scotland, and a familiar figure (to readers of Oswalds previous series).

I was honestly a little shocked to find a character from the McLean series featured but assume that Oswald is creating a multiverse with canonical figures. It’s a fairly unusual step but then his books do veer fairly close to the fantasy line so I’ll get on board with that.

This book is solid, well written and intriguing. Long enough to get your teeth into and introduces characters you just know will be woven into the future releases. I give this book 4 stars.

A good read. A bit different from the normal crime thriller. An interesting heroine, also a bit different from the normal detective and very likable. A good plot, took a little while to get going after a very exciting beginning. Some of the story was a little far fetched and had me thinking, surely they would have done this or why didn't she do that? But if you overlook these incidents, it was, on the whole, a well rounded and well written story. Looking forward to reading more about DC Constance Fairchild's adventures.

I’ve not read any James Oswald’s previous novels so I had no preconceived ideas about this new series.

I didn’t really have any empathy for DC Constance Fairchild and seemed to be the usual troubled, rebel women in the Police force with a bit of a temper, nothing really unique or particularly interesting about her.

Set in an bit of an unidentified London and an undercover police operation regarding organised crime and corruption in the MET police, with a bit of murder thrown in. It’s faced paced and does flow nicely and a good overall detective tale.


I would like to thank the James Oswald/the Publishers/NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair and honest review

I was a bit apprehensive about reading this, as I’ve not read any of Oswald’s other books, but as it’s the start of a new series, I thought I’d give it a go.

At first, I found it hard to get into, but I think that’s the first-person narrative, which I’m not always a fan of.

However, the more I read, the more I liked! It started to read like I was watching a detective film, with a narration forming the inner thoughts of the main character, in this case DC Constance (Con) Fairchild.

Set in London, we meet Con while she’s working an undercover case with her boss Pete. She receives a strange text from him asking her to meet, but when she arrives she finds him dead, tortured then shot.

From this point on her life starts to unravel as she becomes the main suspect for Pete’s murder.

After someone attempts to kill her, she heads to her home town to stay with her Aunt, to get away from things, and to look into the disappearance of Izzy, the sister of a former school friend.

Little does she know that this will only drag her further into the case as it widens into sexual abuse and police corruption.
It’s fast paced, gripping, and I somehow ended up at the end without realising how long I’d been reading it!

Oh, and there’s the bonus of added cat 😉

(Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC)

Beautifully crafted detective story unearthing evil close to home. Definitely a new hero worth following; can't wait to speculate characters develop in future books.

A great start to a new series, DC Constance Fairchild (Con) is on an undercover op. On returning to their operations centre ( a seedy office in a run down neighbourhood) she discovers her boss DI Pete Copperthwaite,
he has been executed by a shot to the head.
Her superiors at the MET seem determined to pin the blame for the ops failure firmly on Con.
Shes suspended and abandoned by her fellow officers.
Con though is not one to give in easily and sets out to discover who is actually to blame for the death of her boss Pete.
A trail of police corruption is discovered resulting in murder. As Con gets closer to the truth she too becomes a target.
Her story is told in the first person and it really worked well for me. The book moved at a pace and kept me gripped to the end.
Can`t wait to read more about DC Constance Fairchild, definitely a series to watch out for.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read this as an ARC.