A fabulous book. The plot was very interesting & the characters very believable. I coulput it down as I really wanted the lead character to solve the crime. Excellent.

Although I thought this story was a good read, I can’t say I found it particularly gripping or thrilling. Interesting yes, and well written. Even though there was a lot going on it felt slow-paced in areas, with too much unnecessary detail. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had read the previous book, but I didn’t know there’d been one until it was too late. I liked the character of DCI Lyons but her personal problems left me feeling frazzled! A single mother with a teenaged daughter, a past relationship with her boss, several issues with her immediate family, and two murders and a missing person cold case to solve. Phew - at times it was a bit much for me, and I found the story line complex and sometimes confusing. I would recommend it to others though, especially if they’d read the prequel.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the digital copy.

Robin Lyons is back!

I personally love the balance between Lyons inner demons and her personal life with complex and interesting crime fiction. Once again we are treated with multiple engaging cases, whilst exploring familial relationships and the possibly clichéd supressed emotions and feelings. Regardless, it all flows well and makes for a great read.

Thanks you NetGalley and 4th Estate for a Review Copy

Lyons is a great character and her flaws and experiences lend a sense of realism to the character and are well placed throughout the text as reminders (or introductions for new readers) o her past.
The story itself was a slow starter for me but once it picked up the juxtaposition between the police investigation and the far right racists spouting their diatribes all over the internet and getting in the way of justice was a great comparison.

Great story keeping you on tenterhooks through so much of it as to who is trustworthy and who isn't. So many twists!

I have to say that I felt this book got off to a very slow start and I really didn’t think I was going to enjoy it. It does, however, pick up pace and it does have a good storyline. I didn’t really take to the lead character DCI Robin Lyons, I think because she’s a bit stereotypical of fictional female senior detectives with her being a single parent who spends too much time at work at the expense of her daughter (who seemed a lot more switched and worldly wise than her mother at times!), with a chequered past in the police, a difficult relationship with her mother, an even more difficult relationship with her brother, a previous relationship with her boss, a non-existent relationship with her boss’s boss. It was all a bit much!

However, having said all that, it is a good storyline with two young women being murdered in similar circumstances within a few days of one another and in a similar way leading everyone to think there might be a serial killer around. As the book went on I got more into it and I did enjoy it.

I would read another by this author and may even look out for the next one featuring DCI Lyons.

My thanks go to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in return for an unbiased, unedited honest review.

3.99 stars, I'd say. A really great police drama with enough of Robin's personal life to make her feel a bit more human. I'd forgotten loads of the previous instalment of the series, but it was drip fed in a nice enough way that it all came flooding back before long. Lots of twists and turns with some brilliant character development - can't wait for the next book!

Amazing book. A good second in a series. When 2 female bodies with very similar injuries are found 2 days apart, people start imagining a serial killer - but a serial KILLER is not what they get. DCI Robin Lyons is back in Birmingham permanently and life moves on, certainly not quietly or fairly.

Loved it. Read it in one sitting.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher I read a free advance review copy of the book. This review is voluntary, honest and my own opinion.

I’m afraid I got very fed up with Risk Of Harm and gave up.

A young woman is found murdered in a derelict factory in Birmingham. DCI Robin Lyons and her team investigate but have great difficulty in identifying her. And, for a long time, that’s the story, except for the usual tropes about The Press Being All Over This and so on. The rest is all about Robin’s Involved Personal Life and Personal Demons. In the first four, shortish chapters we get: a terrible recent trauma in which her daughter was nearly murdered and which may threaten her objectivity on this case; an immediate boss who is an old flame; a pantomimically useless and sexist Deputy Chief Constable who hates her and insists that she gets a “nice quick solve”; and a difficult relationship with a DI whose case she solved previously and whom she has now beaten to the post of DCI. I was already wondering how much more of this was going to be trowelled on, when – surprise, surprise – there’s her racist brother who has hated her since she was born and is making life very difficult with her family.

I’m afraid this was the point at which I began to crack. Good writers can give us detectives whose personal lives are interesting and believable but which don’t dominate the story with endless, overblown “issues.” (John Rebus, for example, or Manon Bradshaw, to name but two). This sort of heavy-handed stuff just annoys me, I’m afraid. It drowns out the plot with implausible conflicts and pressures everywhere and takes the place of real insight into the human problems which crime causes.

It’s possible that I’m being too harsh and that I have missed a classic piece of crime fiction in the later parts, but I doubt it. I do know that plenty of people will enjoy this and my irritation is a matter of personal taste. Nonetheless, I really couldn’t be doing with Risk Of Harm and personally I can’t recommend it.

(My thanks to 4th Estate for an ARC via NetGalley.)

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an advance copy of this excellent book. As a long-time reader of British crime fiction, I am always looking for new authors who add something good to the genre. In Lucie Whitehouse I think I have found such an author. Having not read the first in the series I was still able to appreciate some of the backstories and enjoy this book to full. The plot is complex as is the private life of the lead character Robin Lyons and keeps the reader interested from the start.I shall be reading the first in the series now and look forward to the next whenever that may be.

I really like mysteries and thrillers and this story was up there too. The story gets you hooked from the beginning and you just need to read to find out more. Look forward to the sequel.

I've read the first book and enjoyed it so was looking forward to this one. This book was much more slower paced and took a while to get going. Some detail I didn't think was really necessary.
This has all the hallmarks of a good series. Robin Lyons is a good, well developed character and I look forward to more cases. Current cases interspersed with a cold case make for a satisfying plot. There are elements of Far Right political groups thrown in the mix.
Overall well written and a well developed plot. I look forward to the next one

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
Thoroughly enjoyed the first instalment from Ms Whitehouse and was curious as to whether she could successfully follow it up. I need not have had any fears as she has if anytihng surpassed the first book. A very decent read that hooked me in early doors and kept me guessing to the end.
Here's to the next instalment

I really enjoyed the first in the series and was looking forward to reading this. I was not disappointed and loved every bit of it from the mystery to the characters.

DCI Robin Lyons is back, from working in the London Met, in Birmingham . She is now reporting to her teenage sweetheart Samir.
A young woman is found in a disused factory and Robin sets out to find her killer.
Another body is found and a cold case of a missing teenager rises. Are these cases connected or not?
The relationships between Robin, her family and colleagues is well written and adds to the interest and tension in the story.
The addition of the right wing pressure group makes the book very relevant to current times.
I did find some parts a little unbelievable but overall enjoyed this book and would recommend. An exciting and unpredictable ending. Looking forward to the next instalment.
4 Stars ⭐️
Thanks to Netgalley for allowing me to read this book in return for a fair review.

D C I Robin Lyons a single parent to her teenage daughter, despite problems from her past in the Met, a dysfunctional brother and a past relationship with her current boss. Despite all this manages to solve 2 murders and a missing persons case and comes to terms with her family problems. An interesting storyline.

A second novel featuring DCI Robin Lyons, who has returned to her hometown of Birmingham after a controversial spell in London. Opening with finding a young woman’s body in a derelict factory, the story goes onto follow a highly-charged investigation into the abduction and killing of young women. The novel also encompasses themes of race and extreme right wing violence. It is a real pleasure to be back in the world of Robin and her young daughter Lennie in this engrossing and intelligent crime thriller. Highly recommended.

Another great detective novel in the DCI Robin Lyons series by Lucie Whitehouse. This one sees Robin leading an investigation into the murder of two women - their deaths may or may not be connected.
But what makes these novels so good is that Robin is such a compelling and well-rounded character. She is a single mum to Lennie, sister to vile brother Luke, and daughter who can revert to petulant child in a heartbeat.
You can absolutely read this as a stand-alone novel but I’d recommend the series from the start.
Well done to the author - another one to recommend to those who like a good plot and even better characterisation.

I really enjoyed this! There is enough depth of character with our detective, Robin, and her background that you completely engage with her; couple this with a tense plot and this is definitely a winner! I loved it.

There are some important underlying themes relating to black lives matter and exploitation running alongside a compelling murder enquiry ; there is family drama, a love interest and some twists and turns to keep you completely engrossed.This novel would make a great drama and having read it, I am now going to have to backtrack and read Critical Incidents, which I was unaware of, and I will be certainly be front of the queue if there is another book with this great character.

This one was a bit of a slow burner for me, it took me a while to warm up and get involved with all that was going on. Two bodies have been found and the puzzle is whether they are linked and then slowly by slowly there start to be links with a fascinating cold case of a missing person.
The linked story around the personal life of the detective makes good reading and the last third of the book when the backstory starts to unravel is really enjoyable. I thought the conclusion was ingenious and I loved the ideas but like I said, it just took me a while to warm up. Definitely worth a read. Thank you.