Now everyone that knows me, knows I love a good binge read ... sooooo ... binge read is exactly what I did. I was so captured by this series and the characters that I barely paused to eat.
Apart from the fact that the narrators Point of View jumped about a little mid chapter, I loved The Stolen Child. The plot was deviously plotted and some of the bad characters left me wanting to scream at their unconscionable depravity. Coombs has a real handle on the streets of London and really brought them to life.
Likewise it was brilliant to be re-introduced to Enver Demirel. I loved the diverse nature of the characters and Coombs clearly researched well for this novel. Gripping and nail-biting are only two words i would use to describe this.
My recommendation is that when you open this book, you allow yourself time to be fully drawn into Hanlon's world, because I guarantee you will binge read the other three like I did.

I don't think this is the right time for this book. At least not for me. The lead detective, Hanlon, is a study in police overreach and abuse or power. The missing children case was predictable and there to highlight the do-whatever-it-takes style of policing that is really a relic of the past as a lead character.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book.

This was my type of book. Plenty of action; great plot; believable; easy to read.

DI Hanlon teams up with Sergeant Enver Demirel (and what an unlikely team they are on paper) to solve the mystery. It is "refreshing" to see a police officer take the law into her own hands to bring justice where a normal course of policing would not solve the crime.

I am looking forward to continue reading the DI Hanlon series and I hope that Enver features in all of them and they continue to make a great team.

I am sitting on the fence between a 4 and 5 star rating for this, and have eventually decided it is slightly higher than 4.5 so it gets a 5 from me.

DI Hanlon shows no mercy to criminals, she plays no part in cosying up to her superiors. She gets results her way. With Demirel assigned to her she has to solve the cases of missing and killed children, and not by the book.
An enjoyable read, although disturbing with its subject matter.
Previously published as Time to die by Alex Howard.
This book was given to me by Netgalley and publishers in exchange for an honest review

Another DI Hanson novel, and I could not put it down until I had finished it, it is such a page turner

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo meets Jessica Jones.

I am *obsessed* with Alex Coombs and DI Hanlon.

First - I need to talk about wring style and sheer command of the english language. There are some books where you could skip over the odd word that you don't recognize and still be able to get the gist - this is not that book. I'm very grateful I had this on my kindle so I could look up the words I didn't know (abattoir, for example). The sentence structure, the grammar - this book conveys more in a single paragraph than some do in entire chapters.
I will not lie - the imagery is so intense that one night I could not sleep because scenes from the book were playing with movie-like intensity through my mind and I couldn't the gut twisting emotional response.

Now, to talk about the story - Hanlon is *amazing* - she plays by her own rules, deals with the consequences, and is the fiercest force in the entire Met. She's principled, intense, and a bit of a lone wolf - expect for those that have worked with her before - they know she/s about justice more than the law, and admire her for it.

I've rewritten this review several times to try and pay appropriate homage to Hanlon, but she's an enigma in her defiance of the rules - she's a cop but not manly, she's unruly but not without friends and support, she's physically fierce and does not need rescuing.

I'm obsessed and need to read the entire series, and then read it all again.

The author takes one on a dark journey to the very worst scenes of human depravity. Yet, this novel is written in a sophisticated style with an intellectual depth that is reminiscent of the great Colin Dexter and the equally great Reginald Hill.
DI Hanlon is a maverick with a propensity for violence and a firm belief in her own form of justice. Rescuing a young child from the clutches of a paedophile involves a violent bloodbath.
A powerful book that addresses some very dark issues. Alex Combs is an author to watch.

I found this a difficult read. The subject was really disturbing. I did carry on reading to the end but I, personally, just didn't enjoy it. If you enjoy gruesome, sadistic and being shocked then this is perfect as there is no holding back. It was quite a slow read to start with so I've rated it 4 stars because, although it's not my kind of read, someone will love it.

A high octane, highly emotive subject is the heart of this case. Admittedly the characters are caricatures and obvious ones at that but overall an entertaining read despite the harrowing subject matter.
Do we really need to be told a few thousand times that Demirel used to be a boxer? Or was the word count short?

From the beginning of chapter 2 I realised that I had read this book although I could find no record of the author. Eventually after some research I discovered that it was previously released as Time To Die by Alex Howard back in 2014. I enjoyed the book very much at the time but if I had purchased this edition I would be absolutely fuming. Surely the fact that the book is a re-release under a pseudonym should be made clear.