Detective Ellen McClure is on the trail of a sadistic killer who enjoys playing psychological games. The killer, hiding in plain sight, has been observing his latest target, Connie Taylor, in a café. Having spent months gaining the trust of a waitress he secretly despises, he now plans to brutally torture Connie that evening to extract vital information before ending her life. His chilling internal musings reveal the depth of his depravity and calculated cruelty.

Really enjoyable read.

A great little storyline that kept my interest. Managed to suss the twist quite early on but didn’t understand the why until later. Great writing

I didn't care for this plot - well written, I have enjoyed other books by this author. This one just didn't work for me. It could have been the young girls - likely the trigger for me.

So, I did find that I spent much of this book knowing exactly what was going on and how it would all play out...until I didn't. There were some definite and much-appreciated surprises here.

I did know the who pretty quickly, but I was wrong about so much more.

It's a quick moving story and, while the plot is not original, there are things about it that aren't quite the ordinary.

I enjoyed this one!

I will make you pay by Caroline Bale was the first book I have read from this author and I was hooked within the first few pages, Plus, What a brilliant start to a book!!!!! I loved all the characters and they fitted in within this book nicely. One this that was excellent as well it had plenty if twists and turns throughout that will have you hooked on a great storyline

I highly recommend this book and I will be reading more by this new author to me.

Big Thank you NetGalley and Joffe Books for the ARC. I loved it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this fast paced thriller. Very gory at times and made me gasp out loud. Loved all of the characters and found the story engaging throughout. Looking forward to more in this series.

A brand new book and a debut author! Wow what an amazing page turning book so many twists and turns once you start it you won’t be able to put it down

This is a brand new book, from a debut author, so I was a bit wary about reading it, but I needn't have been as it is a great story.
The story follows DI Ellen McClure as she is given lead on the investigation of a murdered former prostitute who's head was dumped on a door step of a house in York.
For a debut novel this works very well with the action kicking off from the start and then dipping and rising again as you get through the book, leading up very nicely to the big finish.
The book main characters have great back stories, although I am not sure how realistic it is having a DI who disobeys rules and procedures as much as Ellen does, as far as I know if you break all the rules and are as much of a renegade as she is then you wouldn't be picked for the DI role. Apart from the characters are very well developed and believable, with the plot line running along very well with no holes in it, although the beginning is very gruesome.
Overall this is a brilliant debut and I really cannot wait for book two to come out as it kept me hooked and the ending was unexpected and brilliant.

A solid, fast paced and well written police procedurial/ crime fiction with well etched out characters, which deals with child sexual abuse, corrupt police officers and a raging psychopath out on a revenge spree which leads to gruesome murders.

My thanks to NetGalley, the publisher Joffe Books and the author Caroline Bale for providing me with an e-ARC of the book. The author is a psychotherapist by profession and she uses her expertise well in this book to create a believable plotline and characters.

What a fantastic debut book. DI Ellen McClure has moved to York with her teenage daughter Zoe following a difficult case and also the breakdown of her marriage. She is faced with a gruesome murder. Connie Taylor was brutally murdered but her head was left some miles away on a doorstep after being doused in acid. Ellen is made Senior Investigating Officer on the case but this makes her unpopular with her colleagues as they know the reasons behind her move to York. The person who is willing to help her with the case is Sarika. They discover that Connie was a waitress in a cafe but had also been a sex worker. The rest of the team think that Connie was murdered by one of her past clients but Ellen thinks there is more to the case as Connie and her friend Vicky were abused a number of years ago whilst in a care home and had recently gone to the police to report this and named the main instigator. After this Vicky received threats on her and her daughter Kallie’s lives and she in now on the run. Ellen knows that the killer is after them and needs to find them before he does. In doing this she puts her own life and Zoe’s in danger. This book was filled with tension and suspense. A clever and complex plot with plenty of twists and turns and a brilliant ending. I loved York as the background for the book as living fairly local I knew everywhere Caroline was describing. I am hoping this will be the beginning of a new series featuring Ellen. Well done Caroline, brilliant read.
Thanks to NetGalley and Joffe Books for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

What a great first book
This book was easy to read and drew me in from the beginning
The ending was good leaving it open for another book

I didn’t really enjoy this book. And I’m sorry to say I didn’t finish it either. I found myself disengaged from the storyline.
I’m sorry I didn’t finish it and have to give negative feedback

A great plot, very well executed, with plenty of action and twists to keep you guessing. If graphic descriptions of murder scenes is your cup of tea , you'll be in good company, as this book is not for the faint hearted!
Thanks Netgalley and Joffe Books for the opportunity of reading and reviewing this novel

Excellent read. Hard to put the book down. Right from the start you were sucked in and new this was going to be a good one. The storyline was wicked. Not quite knowing where it was going next. There was lots of twists and turns in the road.

Historic aex crimes, blackmail and murder. From the start this book grips and keeps you guessing
Definately reccomend

I really enjoyed this book. I adored the story line and loved the main characters. I read this book in one sitting and would highly recommend this book.

Too gory for me and I'm not that faint hearted normally. A psychopathic killer tortures and kills a former sex worker, beheads her and leaves the head on the door step of a "posh house" but leaves her id under the head so that the police rapidly know who she was, where she lived and, as a result, the rest of her body. The Senior Investigating Officer is not a pleasant person, aggressive, disorganised and abrupt; she's also unpopular because she did the right thing in the past and ensured that a bent copper was caught. Her personal life is a mess (aren't they all?) with a teenage daughter spending time between mum and estranged/divorced husband who is trying to get custody while she is also doing up an old houseboat for their home. She is trying to balance a personal life with a very hard job but I just didn't feel that sympathetic. She does have a steady DC working with her but the rest of the team are antagonistic, jealous, misogynistic and so on (haven't they all retired yet?). Bring in historical child grooming and abuse (why not? Everyone else does these days), yet more police corruption, not to mention the local press and you have a steady stream of psychological mayhem to follow. I'm heading the other way however. Thanks to NetGalley and Joffe Books for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed the plot. Was very hard to put down.
I give this book 5**** just because i loved it
Cant wait for other books

Thank you NetGalley and Joffe Books for this arc.

This started with a very gruesome murder and seemed to be off to a running start, but slowed down for detailed and redundant explanations of police procedures of collection of forensic evidence and repetitions of the character's backstories. I can find some info dumps acceptable, but in this case, there were just too many and too often that I found them disruptive of the story's flow.

I also had a hard time connecting to any of the characters. The main character of DI Ellen McClure in particular wasn't very likeable, nor could I find any rationale for her being named as SIO in light of her inability to "play well with others". Her personal life was an absolute mess (no surprise) and she seemed determined to make her professional life match. I didn't find any of the others characters to feel "real" either in terms of development. They just seemed to be scattered in to meet the story's demand. The "twist" at the end just seemed to come from left field (though there could have be some clues earlier in that my eyes just glazed over).

2.5 stars rounded down. An okay read, but ultimately unsatisfactory for me.

I thought this book was quite enjoyable if a bit slow to start. I liked both of the female cops but thought the description of some of the older male officers was a bit clichéd. Surely all the misogynistic dinosaurs have been weeded out of the service by now. How Ellen managed to control her temper in the face of such chauvinism escapes me.
All the excitement and tension in the story only really got going in around the last 20% of the book and I thought the case was wrapped up a little quickly. However, I will watch out for any future work by this author, hopefully featuring the main characters from this story.

Review posted on Goodreads and Amazon.