Expertly paced, intriguing and with a strong emotional kick - this is a great start to a fab new detective series.

Wow,this book i read in one go! I was gripped from the beginning. I will certainly be on the lookout for more off this author! Just wow. Talk about frightening and gripping. A must read

This is an awesome start to what promises to be a great new police procedural set in Aberdeen. The main character of DI Eve Hunter is returning to work after a terrible attack and she is faced with a lot of mistrust from some members of her team who feel she shouldn’t be back, added to this on her first day back she is faced with a gruesome murder and as the bodied start to pile up up Eve is struggling.
This really is a gripping and gritty read and I did not guess who the perpetrator was despite reading a lot of mystery thrillers and all goes down to the brilliant writing by Deborah Masson.
This is in my opinion a book that is very well crafted, enjoyable and the characters all believable and I am looking forward to reading the next in this excellent new series.
My thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, Corgi for giving me the chance to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Given the title of this police procedural, you should realise the nature of the novel and therefore the nature of the crimes within. Gruesome is not the word. Aberdeen does not come out well in this storyline! It's well evoked by street names, history of the Granite City and its people etc. But this won't be on any tourist board websites anytime soon.

Boy this is dark. Gruesome and dark. They say Aberdeen is the granite city? Well now it’s the gory and gruesome city too if this novel is anything to go by.

Interesting premise - DI Eve Hunter is back at work after an accident on the job. She’s recovering but things wil take time and part of her worry is about returning back to work and being with the team. Its interesting to get so close to the police’s worries and fears in this way. She’s not expecting her first case back to be easy but it’s stranger and more gruesome than she thinks.

Reading the novel is like diving headfirst into a swimming pool. You don’t know how deep it’s going to be, what the water temperature is like and you don’t even get time to jump as someone shoves you in… I gulped, felt a bit sick and then spend the rest of the novel furiously paddling to stay afloat. Plenty of waves and people shoving your head underway as you read too to keep things interesting.

As I said before, Aberdeen comes across ‘well’ but it’;s not the best of impressions! A gritty Scottish city with its gritty new police detective. With POVS from the killer and the police, this is a cat and mouse read.

This is a creditable debut novel from Deborah Masson which despite a few reservations I did enjoy. The central character is DI Eve Hunter who returns to work after a six month absence to investigate a series of very gruesome murders. What unfolds is a twisty and gruesome tale which costs the lives of several victims. The story is told principally from Eve’s perspective interspersed with the killer Then and Now. This works well and dangles tantalising hints which adds intrigue.

I think the team that Eve leads is an interesting one and I’m hoping there is another book as I think there’s a lot of potential here. They are all different, DS Scott is reliable, very honest and a good friend to Eve and she needs it. DC Jo Mearns is spikey but I warmed to her character as the book progresses. DC Scott Ferguson is a good officer but arrogant and he likes to undermine Eve if he can. Their boss is DCI Hastings and he’s a no nonsense kind of guy that is respected but not always liked. There is a lot of tension between the team and this comes across well. This is due to an investigation that left Eve injured and her friend and colleague DS Sanders paralysed and there are many that blame Eve for this. We are really kept in the dark about what exactly happens in this prior case and it took a long time to find out and I began to find the hinting a bit irritating! This happens in the first half of the book which I feel is a bit slow and repetitious but thankfully the pace picks up in the second half which is tense and exciting with several jaw dropping moments.

The murders being investigated are certainly gruesome and dark. I could not understand why the team did not investigate an historic case that had similarities earlier as you would hope that in real policing that would be done as a matter of course. The plotting is perhaps a tad far fetched but it is certainly intriguing and memorable. There are a lot of twists that I did not see coming and the end where the killer is caught is a cracker. That section is written so well you are left almost breathless. The final section of the book is good too as the team ‘put to bed’ their problems with each other.

Overall. a good read that definitely leaves me wanting more from the author and this team of characters.

Bearing in mind I only started reading this book two days ago and have already finished it, I would definitely consider Hold Your Tongue a page turner!

As a debut, Deborah Mason writes confidently, especially in a genre that can be very tricky to hook a reader. Aberdeen works as a fresh setting for a police procedural, with a host of believable characters, including DI Eve Hunter.

The book takes place as Eve returns to work after an ordeal, only to be landed with a vicious murder case, where a young woman has been butchered to death. Feeling under pressure from her past mistakes, and with her superiors breathing down her neck, Eve feels she has something major to prove to her team, and herself. You’d have to do some great detective work to sift through the red herrings and figure out the killer in this page turner - good news for lovers of this genre.

I’m looking forward to reading more of Eve, and whatever twisted ideas Deborah Mason has to offer.

Many thanks to Net Galley and Random House for sending me an advance read copy in exchange for an honest review.

For a first book it wasn't bad. If I compare it to the many police procedural I read it is unforgettable. The writing was okay and the story was interesting.

An exciting police procedural told in the third person, mainly from the point of view of DI Eve Hunter. A body is found in a hotel room with ritulastic aspects which leads Eve to think this may be the work of a serial killer. It turns out she is right and what follows is a fast paced twisty thiller. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for an advance copy of Hold Your Tongue, the first novel to feature Aberdeen based DI Eve Hunter.

On her first day back at work after six months recuperation for an injury sustained on the job Eve is plunged straight in to a murder inquiry. The body of a young woman has been found in a hotel room and the ritualistic aspects of her death are enough to worry Eve and her team. Correctly as it turns out because she’s not the last victim.

I thoroughly enjoyed Hold Your Tongue which is an exciting police procedural with plenty of twists and turns. It is told in the third person from various points of view, mostly Eve with contributions from her team. I think this works well as it gives the reader a wider perspective on events without being distracting. The police point of view is intercut with chapters from the unnamed killer, which further alternate between his history and his current day thoughts and actions. I found the history fascinating and well designed as it gradually teases out the story but the present day musings aren’t particularly illuminating, being more of the same I’m too smart to get caught variety. I liked the plot with its twists and steady stream of reveals although it’s not for the faint hearted with a fair amount of violence, both current and historical.

Eve returns to work after an attack which injured her and her partner DC Sanders. Much is made of her guilt over the attack and the friction in the team from those who also blame her for it. I didn’t find any of this particularly convincing and found the lack of detail of what actually happened early on in the novel very frustrating. It is gradually explained over the course of the novel but it’s difficult to navigate all the bad feeling without understanding why. Having said all that, the team starts to meld by the end so I’m really looking forward to the next novel as I think this is a very promising start.

Hold Your Tongue is a good read which I have no hesitation in recommending.

Gritty, Gruesome and NOT to be missed!!
Hold Your Tongue is a shocking and brilliant debut by an author who has the rare talent to drag the reader right into the heart of the story and keep them on the edge of their seat until the very last page.
I loved DI Eve Hunter’s ability to be both fragile - emotionally and physically broken, and racked with guilt - and at the same time 100% badass! She was an instantly likeable heroine and one I can’t wait to read about again.

Thank you to the publisher and the author for the advanced read.

Hold Your Tongue - Deborah Masson

This is a pretty decent debut novel from Ms Masson, I've got high hopes for the next instalment of this Scottish police procedural set in Aberdeen. My own personal preference is for characters to be written as they'd speak using slang spellings for local dialect etc (where its appropriate obviously). I enjoyed this book taking us straight in to the action shocking me with the actual physical violence, only a special kind of twisted could inflict those kind of injuries on another human being.

I always enjoy books where we have more than one point of view combined with short easy to read chapters, they hold my attention much more, plus they always allow me to sneak one or two more. There was one or two events The details we learn from the perpetrator were eye-opening but I felt needed a little tweaking, one in particular could have been shortened as it seemed a little convoluted.

We are introduced to DI Eve Hunter has just returned to work after a violent attack that caused horrendous injuries to herself and her partner Sanders. Following said accident her new team are distrustful of her I have to say Eve is a better woman than me, I was only reading this and my right hand itched to slap DC Jo Mearns, she was so blatantly disrespectful towards Eve.

Her first assignment back on duty is a brutal and vicious murder case, a woman is found mutilated and murdered with a news article pinned on her chest. The next week there's another body found, it too was mutilated and left for dead. Eve is feeling that she has something to prove to both the team and her bosses but as there's little or no clues she's feeling the pressure from the head honchos.

When it came to the conclusion of the story I have to admit that I didn't guess who it was, that pleases me greatly. With all the red herrings and twists contained between these pages its certainly makes for a novel definitely worth a read. I have no problems recommending it to all of my bookworm friends.

Read for an honest review. Thank you, Netgalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers Corner

Wow, for a debut book this is a cracking read. Started off well and got better and better the further I read. Think the author has set the bar high here. . I found it to be a real page turner and a very good and thrilling read that really got my attention. Likeable main character who returns to work after 6 months off and is thrown straight into a murder investigation. Author created a very good background history, saying why DI Hunter has been off and how this had affected her and her relationships with her work colleagues. Quite a few twists and turns in the story, with references to older cases where links are found to the current murders. I thought I knew who the killer was and I was wrong. Was very shocked when I found out who it was.

Hope there will be a second book, I would definitely read it and like to see how DI Hunter and her team
develop.

Thank you to Netgalley

Morgan’s incredibly gritty thriller excels where others have difficulty matching with its troubled characters, backstory and gruesome crimes providing a whirlwind of crime and tension. This is a novel that hits all the right marks that most crime stories often lack.

The characters are richly written and stand on their own against the backdrop that Morgan uses. They are well developed and provide enough angst, pain, suffering and pathos to keep you interested but at the same time staying very true to their humanistic approach.

The crimes and plotting are ingeniously done and Morgan shows a great fortitude for the subject matter. You can tell a lot of work went into the psychological understanding of the crimes and police procedure. This kept the novel intriguing and combined this with the personal dramas and situations within the characters personal lives we end up with a winning formula.

Hold Your Tongue is an excellent crime novel that works on all aspects providing an insightful and thought provoking and a damn good read. This page turner gets it right on so many levels and it is really hard to find anything negative to find. Great characters, fantastic backstory and crimes that are gruesome and a conclusion that makes perfect sense; a crime winner on all fronts.

Loved it .... read a few books recently that haven't captivated me but this one did : well written, good story line, great characters, lots of twists & turns and a suspenseful ending too. Highly recommend.

Based in Aberdeen, Hold Your Tongue is a thriller which is packed full of drama. It follows DI Eve Hunter as she returns to work after a 6-month forced break and it thrown straight into a gruesome case. Women are being murdered by a serial killer in a horrific way.

Hold Your Tongue is about more than just Eve though. Although the main focus of the story, every member of her team gets plenty of airtime and I enjoyed how complex and 3 dimensional every one of them were. Each have their own flaws, their own strengths and their own weaknesses which means that very few characters are fillers.

There was a drawback to this though. Hold Your Tongue is a debut novel but written in a way as if it was a series. In giving the characters so much history and so much of a back story, I constantly felt like I was on book 2 of a series where I had missed whatever had come before. I will also say that I found the ending to be a little too neat. I love a good twist without too many loose ends, but this felt all conveniently resolved.

That being said, I did really enjoy Hold Your Tongue and look forward to what will be coming next from Masson. Once I got into the rhythm of the book, I really enjoyed her writing style and there is no doubt that it kept me turning page after page.

This ARC was courtesy of netgalley - all thoughts and opinions are mine and unbiased
I also post to Amazon, goodreads, Kobo and B&N

Wow - this is a debut novel - what a career start - can't wait to read more from this author

I can't tell you how much I loved this book - I was drawn in from the very first page to the last - couldn't put this down

I loved everything about it - the story, the characters, the use of language - wonderful

Can't wait for the next one

Wow! What a fantastic page turning debut, made even better by being set in my City. Loved everything, great characters, the gruesome murders and the descriptions. Just great. I will be recommending this to everyone. Really hope it is the beginning of what's sure to be a great series.

An amazing read. I Could not put it down. Really draws you in and keeps you hooked from start to finish. Looking forward to more from this amazing author!! Highly recommended book.

Oh wow what a stunningly good read. Yes the formatting was a little but off putting but the story itself was outstanding.

I really liked Eve, and in a way I was able to identify with her. Lots of red herrings, I had one oh my god moment before I realised it was yet another clever diversion from the author. Neatly solved but no boxes and bows involved. Thank you Netgalley for the free read.

When Amazon lets me review I will add the link, meanwhile I have reviewed on Goodreads.

I did kind of enjoy this but there were a few things that stopped me really loving it.

Firstly the book is set in Aberdeen but none of the characters use Scottish words or phrases let alone anything specific to Aberdonians. To me, the setting didn't mean or add anything to the story.

Secondly, I didn't really like any of the characters. some of them felt very 2 dimensional and others felt a bit...confused and overloaded.

I think there is an excellent book in here (and the characters definitely have potential for future adventures) and there are glimmers of it in places, but overall in it's current form it's a solid average.