This debut novel has a solid mystery at its core, but you have to do a bit of wading through the rest to get there. Between memories, dreams, and a secondary plotline about our main character, the story has some serious lags and feels a little convoluted at times. Oh, and the characters! There are a lot of characters introduced throughout the book, and with so much back and forth, I failed to connect with any of them, including our Detective Beck. So, for me, this one doesn't quite deliver on the promised 'gripping thriller' claim next to the title - at least not until that last third or so of the book. Then, it picks up considerably, and we do get a good twist. I'm not sure I'd call it 'stunning' (again with the added line next to the title), but it is good. Tightened up, this could easily have been a five star read, but it is what it is and was just okay for me. The author does show talent, and I'll be interested to see how he develops as this series progresses.

3.5 for the ending!

I liked Beck. He was quite the character! Claire, his partner, was a good match for him. The pace was good and kept up the suspense. The murders are quite grisly, very graphic. The killer’s perspective is chilling and well written. But the ending, pretty awesome! Good writing and excellent characters. Great debut!

I always enjoy the start of a new series. It is a chance to be introduced to some colourful new characters with interesting back stories. Where She Lies is no different. At times I struggled to warm to Finnegan Beck: he is a borderline alcoholic who sleeps with married women and seems to have little respect for anyone, especially his bosses. But behind all of this is an intriguing man who is struggling to fit in to a new community and is clearly plagued by events of his past. I wanted to get to know him and work out what caused him to behave in the way he did.
Where She Lies begins with a girl waiting for someone in a dark wood at night. As a woman myself, I am aware of how vulnerable this can make you feel, and I found the atmosphere it created truly chilling. The creepy feeling did not let up for the whole novel, and I wanted to know what was happening in the small town of Cross Beg.
The tension in Where She Lies builds quite slowly, but as it reaches its ending, there is a flurry of action. All the small jigsaw pieces slot into place and the novel becomes a whole lot more frantic, keeping me on my toes until the last page.
I feel that Finnegan Beck has a lot more to give, and I look forward to seeing where the series goes next.

A really good debut novel. This is a really good thriller with plenty of twists thrown into the plot. I liked the setting and the characters. Beck is a really interesting character and I hope that there is more of him to come.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

This is the debut novel by Irish author, Michael Scanlon. It is also book #1 in the Detective Finnegan Beck series. The beginning book in the series introduces us to Sergeant Beck who has been demoted from Inspector in a busy Dublin police station to Sergeant in a sleepy Irish town of Cross Beg. Nothing ever happens here and Beck is biding his time until he can leave. When 15 year old Tanya Frazzali is found strangled in Cool Wood, Beck seems to be the only person who thinks this wasn’t a random killing.

What a great start to a series! Detective Finnegan Beck has obviously come to the local Gardaí under a bit of a cloud and nobody seems to like him. It’s plain to see that he doesn’t really want to be there and is just waiting for an opportunity to leave. His previous role as Inspector gives him plenty of experience in dealing with cases such as the killing of young Tanya Frazzali, but his superiors don’t appear to want his opinions and give him the menial jobs of the case. Initially I didn’t understand what had happened in his past to warrant this kind of behaviour but as the story moves on things begin to make sense.

When Beck is paired up with Detective Garda Claire Somers, the story really came into its own! I loved their working relationship together and to be honest, I loved Claire’s character who didn’t seem to take any nonsense from anyone! Beck is also a great character. He blatantly has his flaws, but uses these to make sure he finds the killer. Beck is also a troubled character with a chequered past but this is what makes him so interesting.

The whole story feels very dark and intense and the pace builds perfectly slowly. It is a cleverly thought out plot and I can just imagine this book being made into a hard hitting drama series! There are very few light-hearted moments, unlike other books of its genre, and this is crucial to keep the whole atmosphere tense, powerful and emotional. The parts which had some dark humour in it usually featured pathologist, Dr Derek Gumbell, who I thought to be a fantastic character!

I’m not Irish myself, but this book most definitely is. The book gripped my attention from the very first page and I couldn’t tear my eyes away from it. I loved the little Irish phrases and words which were slipped in and the characters Irish accents. This made it feel so different from other Police crime books which are set in England, and my imagination ran wild with pictures of the little Irish town with its hills and alleyways. I’m assuming the author also has a background within the Irish Police Service as the book is so well researched.

A fantastic start to the series and I just know I’m going to enjoy the ensuing books. This is definitely a name to be keeping an eye on! Highly recommended! Thank you to the author and Publisher, Bookouture for giving me a copy of the book.

A good solid book from a debut author. The characters are interesting with plenty to offer in future stories.

The plot was a good twisting read that kept you guessing and there was some good sub plots that tied in well.

All in all I enjoyed this book and I look forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for my ARC.

Det. Finnegan Beck is demoted and sent somewhere else. He thought he would be bored. Then a teenage girl, Tanya, is murdered. The drifter who found her is the suspect. When Beck starts investigating he realises things aren't as they seem in this town. And things were not as they appeared with this girl. Then a suspect is found dead. As we watch Beck and his partner Claire investigate we realise there is a lot more than meets the eye. Beck is also under investigation for a short time. I enjoyed this book and it was previously titled The Quiet Hours.

Thank you to Bookouture for letting me take part in this tour and for my copy of this book via netgalley. I am a sucker for an Irish accent so a Detective series set in Ireland was an instant must.

The main character is Beck. Beck has recently been moved to Cross Beg from Dublin. There is a big mystery as to why Beck has been demoted and moved to the sleepy town of Cross Beg. I am intrigued to find out more of Beck's backstory as the series continues. I want to know how he got into the situation in Dublin that led to his demotion. I feel there is quite a story there.

This book, however, is about the murder of Tanya. A teenager who is found strangled in the woods. There are multiple suspects and as the story unravelled I really struggled to work out who the culprit was.

Michael did an excellent job of building the suspense and mystery. The beginning was slow but as the story developed the I was hooked. I really raced through the last third of this book!

I really enjoyed unravelling this mystery and I can't wait to return to Detective Beck and his story.

It's nice reading series, because every new book is like meeting up with 'friends', but I also like first parts of series and when they are debuts moreover, it gives a special touch. 

Apart from trying to figure out who the culprits are, I also have to get to know the team. Finn Beck is the main character and the author certainly does a good job in keeping me guessing why he ended up here. Little by little he feeds us bits of information about his background without letting us forget about the crime that is going on. 

I like the way the story was structured and I was as curieus about the person Finn Beck as I was about the exposure of the murderer. The author also gives us a glimpse in the head of the criminal.

In my opinion it was a good debut that formed a perfect base to build upon and turn the series into must reads. 4 stars.

Thank you, Michael Scanlon, Bookouture and Netgalley for providing a review copy.

Beck has been sent to a rural backwater, as punishment from his superiors. He thinks that nothing happens in Cross Beg - he is wrong.

A series of murders occur in Cross Beg and Beck does his best to solve them, despite issues with the drink, with ex partners and ex colleagues too. He is a man in crisis and the author does a good job of portraying him. It would be incredibly boring to read a police procedural such as this, if the main character was some perfect cop, to be honest.

I liked the character of Beck and the secondary characters too. There was a lot going on, after a bit of a slow start, and I am looking forward to reading other books by this author in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture.

4.5 stars from me.

This book is an enigma. On one hand there is nothing new about the main character. Finnegan Beck is a recently demoted, alcoholic, drug abusing, police detective. Hopefully this is just the case for fictional detectives and not ones in real life! He has been transferred to a hole-in-the-wall station after something happened. This is part of the story so I won't add any details. He doesn't do well with relationships. Basically the same as most every male detective we read about. The story starts off with a young girl who is murdered. Clues start to point to her having a relationship with an older, unknown man. Again, something that seems to happen all the time, if you believe today's detective fiction. However, despite these common aspects, the story and characters are compelling. I really enjoyed reading as Beck made deals with himself and interacted with those around him who took advantage of his demoted status. So it must be Mr. Scanlon's writing. He made the people and the story stand out. I look forward to seeing what happens in future books in this series.

It's hard to believe this is a debut novel! The book reads like it is already in the middle of a series, and the Finnegan feels like a character you've known for years, who has had his troubles and is now facing the results of them. It will be interesting to see if new books in the series go back and look at events that lead him to Cross Beg. He is a character that is not only flawed, but brilliant (think PBS' Sherlock Holmes), with few friends and some bad habits. And those friends may get him into more trouble than he can handle, while he lays 'low' and tries not to solve the murder at hand, though he can't help getting involved and doing so! This is a book you'll race through and beg for another (and good news, Michael is signed on for 2 more!)!

Where She Lies is an engaging debut! It was a bit slow to start, but after halfway, I found it to be really engaging. Recommended!

Inspector Finnegan Beck has been demoted and sent to Cross Beg, where nothing really happens. He reckons he'd find it easy to stay out of trouble here until the body of a young girl us discovered.

An interesting crime thriller that didn't give away any clues till the very end. A page turner if you like this genre.

Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for the review copy of this book

Overall: I must start by saying, I have never, ever read a whole book in one day… until now. For Scanlon’s debut novel, he really hasn’t disappointed. The story follows detective Finnegan Beck from his life in Dublin as Detective Inspector to a demotion in isolated, rural Cross Beg where he is assigned to the murder of a young local school girl. It’s an exciting case to follow with many thrilling, unexpected twists (and more murders along the way!). Throughout the book, we of course get to learn more about Beck, who is a very interesting and complex character. I really enjoyed it. Alongside the main case, there was also the case into Beck’s demotion. We also got to meet a great set of other main characters, who each had their unique charms. I look forward to understanding them more - I do hope there will be a next instalment! 
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Full review on my blog.

I received a free advanced copy of this book from NetGalley / Bookouture in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. All opinions are my own.

For a debut novel .... not bad! The beginning was a little slow and I found myself having a hard time connecting to the characters. I continued on and I'm glad I did. About 2/3 of the way through, I found that I couldn't put it down and had to see how it ended. The ending did not disappoint. I will definitley give book 2 in this series (if there is one) a chance.

Thank you#netgalley and #bookoutore for the eARC.

There’s something about this book I like. Reminds me a bit of some of the Brit tv shows I watch. Not enthralling but there’s that ‘something’ I liked

Sergeant Finnegan Beck is a complicated man. Having been demoted and relocated he finds himself in the small town of Cross Beg where, it seems, nothing ever happens.  Then a fifteen year old girl is found dead in the woods and things change fast.

Although this is a multi layered story it is an easy read; the main protagonists are those we see everywhere and make you wonder what might be going on in your own town. The author doesn't complicate matters by having too many secondary characters, using them well as the conduit for information relevant to a case which doesn't follow the usual parameters of a serial killer mystery.

As the body count rises Beck has to also deal with hostility at his new station, an internal investigation into his previous position, and an amorous landlady as he tries to find his way through a small town environment he isn't used to. The introduction of one of Beck's old friends gives us an insight into his character and although seriously flawed he is likeable and would definitely work over the promised new series of books.

I was able to read an advanced copy of this book thanks to Netgalley and the publishers and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good murder mystery and wants to begin a new series of well written detective books starring Finnegan Beck.

As dark as a Guinness, this is my first Irish procedural. When we meet Finnegan Beck (could there be a more Irish name?), he has been demoted and is now living in a backwater town in the middle of nowhere. But he never gets the chance to get bored, as the body of a teenager turns up. Beck is tired of everything and just wants to drink until he passes out, but old habits die hard and he can’t help getting involved in the investigation, even if his superiors are not very supporting. It also doesn’t help that everybody is keeping secrets, which means that we get red herrings galore. It seems like there should have been a previous book but, since there isn’t, Beck’s backstory is explained here and it helps round out the character. And there’s the rub… I couldn’t warm up to him. I don’t mind self-destructive selfish coppers but, somehow, I just didn’t like Beck. The book more than made up for it with his partner, Claire, a sassy and super-competent Garda who won’t let him get away with anything. Regarding the plot, I loved it. I knew who the baddie was, I was so convinced and then… I was wrong. I love it when I’m wrong.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/ Bookouture!

I received a copy of this from NetGalley in exchange for honest feedback.

This book had high star ratings but I’m not sure I was reading the same book. I found myself easily distracted and couldn’t really connect with the characters. I did have to give it a big thumbs up because of the ending! It was a redeeming quality.