It is not often I 'warm' to a character straight away, but with D I Robin Lyons i made an exception. The story, however, wandered with Robin looking into a murder and then a missing girl. She had been dismissed from the Met's Homicide Command, and had just luckily managed to join a friend's private investigation firm in her home town of Birmingham.

All this, and she had to move back in with her parents and change schools for her teenage daughter. Quite a change!

The other characters are strong, believable well drawn, but I just got bored in the middle of the book. So, great start, and good ending and enough to make me reach for more of Ms Whitehouses' books.

Thanks to Net Galley for the chance to read and review.

I wasn’t ok sure about this book when I first started reading it. I thought that I had got the genre wrong but as the story went along it got a bit better.
The death of Robin’s best friend the day she moves back to Birmingham and then a case of a missing person that robin’s try to find don’t seem as thought they would be linked and just 2 random incidents but this story follows the 2 and at the end you find out they are connected and how. The story keeps you guessing as to what is going to happen and I don’t think there is anyway you can guess it for yourselves.

Another fantastic read courtesy of NetGalley and Fourth Estate. This is a crime thriller with a difference. It has a much more 'domestic' feel to it rather than a police procedural novel. The book is all about love and relationships as well as being an investigation into seemingly unrelated incidents which the reader discovers later do actually connect. The book introduces 35 year old DI Robin Lyons, disgraced maverick cop from The Met who ends up in Birmingham, her home town, living with her parents and her daughter Lennie. The book invites you into the lives of Robin, her daughter, Robin's best friend Corinna, Robin's parents and brother, ex boyfriends and Private Investigator Maggie. The intricacies of the relationships, how the past weaves into the present, making the characters the people they are today, drives the book on, tempting the reader further and further into the complex web of relationships as DI Robin Lyons comes to terms with a new life, a different job and some appalling secrets. She is needed to track down a missing girl and uncover what really did happen at Corinna's house. So, so readable, so, so enjoyable and as Book One of a series, I am DEFINITELY going to be buying/reading the next book. Thank you Lucie Whitehouse for creating feisty, determined and independent Robin, a single parent and woman for whom rules don't always matter...

This novel makes for an interesting start to a new series. The relationship between the characters in the first chapter was confusing at first, but they were a diverse, lively group of characters. There's an unusual style of writing which is similar to note-taking with its staccato sentences or listening to someone gabbling rapidly in a disjointed fashion on the telephone. It wasn't my favourite format but it worked okay and the plot was interesting. Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK.

I enjoyed this book. Could have given Robin a real shake at times. Good characters which would make a good reason for a sequel. Perhaps a little rushed in the last quarter of the novel but that said I was enthralled with the twists and turns of the storyline. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it.

This is the first book I have read by Lucie Whitehouse and it appears to be the first in a new series about ex detective DI Robin Lyons who has been dismissed from the Met for misconduct and so has no option but to move, with her 13 year old daughter, back to Birmingham to live with her parents. She gets a job as a private investigator with her mother’s friend. But the same day that she returns she finds out that her best friend has died in a house fire and her husband, who has disappeared, is the main suspect

I really enjoyed this book, which is not particularly fast paced but I did find the complex story interesting, and I didn’t guess the twist at the end. There are a lot of characters but unlike some other reviewers I didn’t find this confusing. I also liked the setting of Birmingham. It’s a city I don’t know particularly well but Ms Whitehouse’s descriptions brought it to life for me. Although it is crime fiction I also liked the way that it explored family relationships and friendship.

I felt the character of Robin was very believable. She is a woman trying to do her best under difficult circumstances. She doesn’t always get things right and that has consequences for herself and her family. I also liked the character of Samir, and it will be interesting to see what develops in future books between him and Robin.

Robin is a total pain in the arse but her heart is in the right place and we do love a flawed protagonist. I got a bit confused who was who in the first third of the book with lots of characters to keep track of but on the whole I thoroughly enjoyed. Hope this will become a series!

4 stars from me

I really felt for Lennie throughout this book - what a great kid!

Robin is her own worst enemy, she never quite knows when enough is enough, when to rely on other people and when to keep her mouth shut! But she pays one hell of a price for her actions and so does poor Lennie.

I thought Critical Incidents was a really solid 4 - the blend of investigations, intrigue and characterisation was spot on and the humiliation of being back in her childhood bedroom was tangible.

The storyline appears simple to start with but gets more complex as you read on, it certainly keeps you guessing and needing to keep on turning pages!

The only character I really struggled with is Luke, especially so at the very end, not sure at all of his motivation? 

Synopsis: A gripping literary thriller and the first of a new crime series, from the bestselling author of Before We MetDetective Inspector Robin Lyons is going home.Dismissed for misconduct from the Met’s Homicide Command after refusing to follow orders, unable to pay her bills (or hold down a relationship), she has no choice but to take her teenage daughter Lennie and move back in with her parents in the city she thought she’d escaped forever at 18.In Birmingham, sharing a bunkbed with Lennie and navigating the stormy relationship with her mother, Robin works as a benefit-fraud investigator – to the delight of those wanting to see her cut down to size.Only Corinna, her best friend of 20 years, seems happy to have Robin back. But when Corinna’s family is engulfed by violence and her missing husband becomes a murder suspect, Robin can’t bear to stand idly by as the police investigate. Can she trust them to find the truth of what happened? And why does it bother her so much that the officer in charge is her ex-boyfriend – the love of her teenage life?As Robin launches her own unofficial investigation and realises there may be a link to the disappearance of a young woman, she starts to wonder how well we can really know the people we love – and how far any of us will go to protect our own.

Dismissed for misconduct from the Met's Homicide Command after refusing to follow orders, Robin had no choice but to take her teenage daughter Lennie and move back in with her parents. Robin now works as a benefit-fraud investigator. It's only her best friend Corinna that seems happy to see Robin back. But when Corinna's family is engulfed by violence and her missing husband becomes a murder suspect, Robin can't stand idly by while the police investigate.

There are a lot of characters in this book and I found myself forgetting who some of them were. It's also a bit of a slow burner. The final third of the book is where it starts to get a bit better. There are three different cases and som jumping back and forward from present to past. We already know that this is the first book in a new series, but the conclusion to the story only confirms this. I will read the next book when it's published.

I would like to thank NetGalley, HarperCollins UK, 4th Estate and the author Lucie Whitehouse for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was engrossed in this story and delighted to learn that there are more books about Robin Lyons to follow. She is a complex character; flawed but loyal, with a strong moral compass that gets her into trouble for not following orders in her job at the Met. Disgraced, she has to abandon London and move back in to her childhood home in Birmingham, sharing a room with her teenage daughter. She gets thrown a lifeline of a job as a PI, but events in her own life take a sinister turn and grief and determination to seek justice for her best friend mean she soon goes rogue from her job detail again.
The plot is excellent, intense and moving. I will definitely seek out the rest of this series as it is written.
My thanks go to Harper Collins and Net Galley for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.

4.5*

Not having read any of Lucie Whitehouse’s previous work, I had no idea what to expect. So, let me set out what you can expect from this book: a cracking pace, believable characters, realistic relationships and an edgy atmosphere. It’s not a simple read - there are several parallel threads being followed by lead character Robin Lyons, ex-DCI at the Met who has found herself in circumstances that have taken her home to Birmingham with her daughter, Lennie. There are a lot of characters to keep up with but it is absolutely worth it as the pieces drop into place.

A really readable book and I will be recommending this strongly.

A minor note: one of my recent bugbears in books is the unnecessary mention of brands. Here I stopped counting at 12 mentions of brands which instead could just have described the object. For example, why not just mention shampoo rather than a particular brand of shampoo? It also dates the novel unnecessarily.

In any event, I can’t wait for the next Robin Lyons book in the series!

Many thanks to NetGalley, HarperCollins UK, 4th Estate and Lucie Whitehouse for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A thoroughly enjoyable thriller that promises to be the first in a great series. Robin Lyons leaves the Met Police in disgrace and is forced to move back to Birmingham to live with her parents. She, along with her daughter Lennie, are now living in bunk beds in her childhood home. She takes up work as a private detective, but when her best friend Corinna and her family are involved in a serious act of violence, she can’t keep out of the formal police investigation despite their entreaties to do so.

The writing in this is first class and the plot cracks along, leading you down plenty of alleyways and keeping you guessing. I very much enjoyed reading this and am looking forward to seeing more in the series.

A really good introduction to what could become a whole series featuring the main characters.
Although I found it a bit confusing trying to sort out the characters in the first few chapters, the storyline kept me interested to the end.

This is a powerhouse of a novel!

It took me a little while to get into, due to what felt like a lot of character names to get to grips with, but once I did I was completely hooked!

DI Robin Lyons is a brilliant character who I really warmed to. She makes mistakes and has flaws, which makes her so much more human and personable. She also stands up for what she believes in - to start with, she's been suspended from the Met for refusing to follow orders from her boss because she was convinced that they'd be going after the wrong man. She ends up working with her mother's friend, who is a private investigator, to make ends meet when she has to move away from London back to her childhood city of Birmingham. The contrast between her previous life and her new one is interesting to read about too.

Critical Incidents has several paralell storylines, all of which are really interesting, but particularly the one most close to Robin's heart - what really happened to her best friend Corinna, and her missing husband. It's quite a complex plot, in that there's a lot going on, but it really works.

I really enjoy police procedurals, but because Robin is no longer with the police we get to see a fresh take on a police procedural. This is because Robin may know how things are done in the Met, but she has to find workarounds in her new investigative role as she can't rely on the access she used to have as a DI. She also doesn't have the same automatic level of authority, so it's interesting to read how she tries to overcome that as she works with Maggie to try and solve various cases.

I loved this novel and, from that ending, I'm really hoping it's the start of a brilliant new series!

Robin Lyons is instantly likeable, although she also makes you want to shout at her for her bloody-minded attitude and the trouble it gets her into.
Recently returned to her family home in Birmingham following issues on the job at the Met, she starts work at a PI firm and soon finds herself embroiled in a missing persons case alongside the stalking of benefit frauds.
Unfortunately she cant help herself but also try to remain involved in a case in London and tries to use her police contacts once too often for her PI work.
The relationship between Robin and her family is tense, with her golden boy brother seeming to stir up trouble for her at every opportunity and her teenage daughter struggling to settle into life away from her home and friends.
Then a shocking accident involving her best friend and their family rockets Robin headlong into another investigation with far more sinister outcomes.
A brilliant PI novel with excellent characters and a meaty story line to get behind.

I enjoyed this very much and it certainly kept readers guessing until the end, although the resolution was perhaps a little rushed and the 'explanation'/reveal a little unrealistic or at least unlikely. I was really pleased to read that this is expected to be the first of three books with Robin Lyons and it' s certainly well poised for a sequel. Good and believable family dynamics.

Turning that age worn maverick cop trope firmly on its head, this book focuses on Robin's life as her career at the MET lies in tatters after she followed her own path, away from the team dynamic and bent the rules one too many times.
Forced to move back into her parents home and share a room with her teenage daughter, she at least has the comfort of knowing her best friend will be there for her. When a series of violent events means that she is more isolated that ever before, she starts her own independent investigation into what happened to her best friend and husband, using the tools available new her in her new role as a PI in a family friends firm. Not just a thriller, this book carefully deals with family ties and friendships, and questions how well we can ever really know anyone. Robin is also a great character; her heart is in the right place, but she is stubborn and sees accepting help as a sign of weakness. It was interesting to see how she started to acknowledge these elements in herself and try to change, but then very humanly mess up.
I'm hoping that this wasn't a stand alone book and that it will be the stat of a new series, as I am keen to see where Robin goes next in life.

My thanks go to the publishers and Net Galley for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.

The first in a new detective series by Lucie Whitehouse, this story starts as Robin returns home to her parent’s house in Birmingham after being let go by the Met when she refused to arrest someone she didn’t believe was guilty. Robin starts working for family friend Maggie, who happens to be a Private Investigator.

As Robin is working on 2 current cases, plus the original case in London, there are a lot of characters to keep track of, but once you have got your head round who is who, the story picks up pace and you won’t be able to put the book down. There are many twists and turns and you won’t know where the cases are going next.

As for the ending, I can’t wait for the next book to find out what happens next!

I need more. Oh gosh do I need more. That last page? How could you just leave it there! Argh! Thankfully this looks like the beginning of a series and I think I'll really enjoy reading onwards.

That said, the book is definitely a bit of a slow-burn read. I found I had to stick a post-it note on the case of my Kindle and write characters down as I went to try to keep everyone straight as there were 3 different cases and some switching between the past and present throughout. I found that I was really gripped on the novel by the final third. The main character, Robin, can be a little grating at times in my opinion but I quite liked her and found myself agreeing with her point of view a lot of the time as she really seems like a woman who was trying her best with all the circumstances she had. It's nothing really original in terms of a mystery/thriller book, many of which have similar elements out there, but I'd say this is a pretty solid one to be released this year. Some of these elements are slightly cliche and I would like to see a new spin on things, but y'know what? I enjoyed it. Solid 4 stars from me. Good job all around! What can I say? I love a crime novel.

I’d like to thank HarperCollins UK/4th Estate and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Critical Incidents’ by Lucie Whitehouse in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Robin and her daughter Lennie are returning to Birmingham to stay with her parents following her sacking from the Metropolitan for not obeying orders. That same day Robin hears that her best friend Corinna has died in a house fire and her husband Josh is missing. The police are searing for Josh as they think he’s responsible but Robin knows he’d never hurt Corinna. Meanwhile, Robin is working as a private investigator for her friend Maggie and her first job is to look into the disappearance of Becca whose mother has reported her missing.

‘Critical Incidents’ is an extremely well-thought-out and tense thriller with several side-plots that added to the overall story and kept me engrossed. Every now and again there was a character that I couldn’t immediately recall but they all played an important part in the story and slotted in nicely. As the tension increased I found I was gripping my Kindle tightly, through each twist and turn to the shocking and thrilling conclusion. Lucie Whitehouse gives some excellent descriptions, especially that of Robin when she was ‘spat out of London like a piece of gristle’. I understand this is the first in a new series and I’m delighted that I’ll be able to read more of Robin, her family, friends and life. I can wholeheartedly recommend this thriller and I’m looking forward to reading the next one.