Chris Carter is an author who never fails to disappoint and this latest book is no exception.
Written in Blood starts with a thief called Angela stealing a bag in a bar but what the bag contains is a journal that is of huge importance to its owner, a serial killer. Angela thinks she does the right thing in handing it over to police but the owner will do anything by any means necessary to trace her and get it back.
And so the rest of the story unravels in to a huge, gripping, twisted game with cops Hunter and Garcia as they try to protect her, profile the killer and stop anyone else been killed.
The pace is fast and the tension very high. The characterisation is brilliant and the authors knowledge and experience of criminal psychology really shines through in the detail.
I felt I leant quite a lot overall and marvelled at the techniques of the profiling.
Long after I put the book down I kept thinking about it. As a Mum of a Son, how scary if these kind of Government 'mission impossible' top secret, no name, killing special forces exist and they recruit young lads from the streets and borstals etc it was certainly a harrowing thought but not as much as the dark web that is included in this book and the people/customers that frequent those sites, it certainly was an eye opener to something I had never thought of.
The ending of the book was rather predictable but it didn't detract at all from the enjoyment.
Less gore than a normal Carter book but a thicker more complex plot that didn't require it.
A book I would highly recommend.
My thanks go to the author, publishers and Netgalley in providing this arc in return for my honest review.

Another gripping, fast paced and dark thriller from Chris Carter.

Carter writes atmospheric, edge of your seat novels with plenty of twists and turns and Written In Blood is no exception. - Carter's background in criminal psychology really adds to the level of detail, authenticity and definitely provides shock value.

Whilst less gory/more of a slow burner than previous novels, I still really enjoyed this. Hunter and Garcia are a fantastic crime duo who work well together and I always look forward to the next installment in this series.

The only downside for me is Carters style of writing. It's a bit too oversimplified and cheesy at times and too much information is repeated from previous novels with regards to background information on the characters. However, I can overlook this to a certain extent when the plotlines are this good!

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster UK for the ARC.

How do I start this other than....
MORE LAYERS THAN AN ONION..MORE DEEP
THAN THE OCEAN..MORE IMAGINATION THAN THE LOVE CHILD OF TIM BURTON AND ROALD DAHL...

What Chris Carter can't do with a blank manuscript and an overactive imagination is nothing short of miraculous.

In his latest offering we are drawn into a story within a story within another story,His characters are complex some loveable some not so it's the readers own perception that makes your journey with this book a unique experience I was hooked from the first line..
Chris is known for his gore factor and essentially this book is lacking a little in that area,but do not for one moment let that fool you that this book isn't worthy of your time cause if you don't read it because of that one thing let me tell you your life wouldn't be lacking but it would be a few hours less enriched... anyway
My review my opinion
Love it,Love the likeability of the characters.
Love the fact that carter nurtures his characterswith the same love and care that parents nurture and love their offspring..
Buy it,Read it,Love it,wait for the next one...

Being a huge fan of Chris Carter I was very excited to start reading ‘written in blood’, Chris Carter is one of those authors that never let you down and whose books somehow manage to keep getting better and better. I have been an avid reader for the whole of my life and I can say without hesitation that Chris Carter is in my top 5 of favourite authors. 

In typical Chris Carter fashion ‘Written in blood’ had me wholly gripped throughout its entirety, and I can’t help but liken it to the film ‘Hostel’.

Another fantastically unique and captivating novel from the mind of a genius. If I could give it more than 5 stars I would!

It goes without saying that any book written by Chris Carter will be amazing from start to finish and as usual he delivered with this one.Impossible to put down as there’s a cliff hanger at the end of almost every chapter so you just have to keep reading

Gripping from the very beginning. This book could to use with Detectives Hunter and Garcia hunting the worlds worst serial killers.
You dont need to have read the full series of books to read this book but I always find it helps and they are all amazing books anyhow so you won’t be disappointed.
Written in Blood starts with a prolific thief making the biggest mistake of her life, she thinks she is doing the right thing but soon realises that she can never go back! At times you will be ready to shout out in frustration and anger as the cat and mouse games begin with best Detectives on the case. A must read the only disappointment is you won’t be able to put it down and the book will be finished too quickly.

I am a massive fan of Chirs' writing so was thrilled to read this so soon.
He has taken a different sort of stance when writing this one. It's not his usual style for Hunter but it worked well.

There is still a lot of gore and a lot ot mind tricks that keep you guessing.
He still packs a punch but allows you to connect to another character that isnt Hunter or Garcia.

Fast paced, full of action. Perfect at keeping you on your toes. Really shows how smart Huntet actually is. Very well researched as always.

WOW! Blew my mind to bits.. Written In Blood is truly brilliant it chills you to the core of your bones, once I started reading it I couldn't put it down, Chris Carter is brilliant at Scaring his readers to death, the character of Robert Hunter is pure genius it's unlike anything I've ever read before it's very disturbing and unsettling, Written In Blood gave me nightmares a few of the things that happened in the book just didn't leave my mind I ended this book wanting more Written In Blood grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go until you've read the last word on the page, utterly disturbing chills you to the bone 5 stars truly brilliant I loved it from start to finish I loved it so much I want to read it again Chris Carter is the new generation of Horror

"Both subjects had to endure the sort of pain and agony that not even the Bible talks about". Great line.

***SPOILER ALERT***

It's always nice to slip back into a familiar series. I loved being back with Hunter and Garcia. Although, I've now read all of the main installments as well as the short story, so 12 Hunter novels in total, and I still cannot visualise Hunter when I'm reading. What!

The Characters:
- I couldn't get on board with Angela, I think just mainly because she was just so defiant. She went against advice that was clearly the in her best interest. Yes, she's 21 but it doesn't make it any less annoying. What's more, her stupidity got Hunter injured. Almost killed, in fact. There were many times I just felt like I wanted to shake some sense into her.
- On the subject of not so likeable characters, I actually hated the killer for once 😂. Ugh, he just made me want him to be taken down by whatever means Hunter decided.
- As always, it's great to be back with the Hunter/Garcia duo and I absolutely Captain Blake, she's never really more than a supporting character but I think she's brilliant! I'm always happy when she makes her appearance.

So, the story...it's definitely a slower burn than some previous installments. I'm very much a fan of the opening gruesome scenes that I'm become accustomed thanks to the earlier books, but this one does have it's payoffs. The action doesn't really start until a little after the quarter way mark, but there are some definite high points. For me the biggest one being the 'murder journal'. At the risk of sounding like a bit disturbed, the journal entries were definitely the most enjoyable element for me. The suspense while waiting to find out what was in all 16 journal entries was unreal. My biggest complaint was that we only got to see a few. Unfortunately, this brings the blood and gore factor down a lot. Sad times 😕

Overall, I definitely got Hostel vibes from this one. Especially towards the end and definitely when the killer is talking about how he got into this 'line of work'.

I'm still undecided on my rating for this one. I think it's been consistently sitting at around 3.75 but I'll round up to 4 for the NetGalley star system.