Loved it
A teenage girl witnessed the dumping of a body in a remote lake and her report to the police leads to an investigation by Detective Superintendent Sophie Allen and her team
This book is set from most members of the Police teams point of view which I think worked really well as it allowed me to see further into their investigation. This is the first book I have read in this series so I didn’t know a lot of the characters backgrounds which made it, at times, slightly tricky to follow along all the time. However this didn’t dampen my enjoyment of the story and the characters leapt of the page to me
I will admit that a big part of the draw for me with this book was the location it is set in, as a child I often holidayed in the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset and have many happy memories of the area which I think helped a bit with my being able to picture the scenes and the locations that the characters visited. I enjoyed seeing the area from the darker side as well, even the most idillic places have an undercurrent and this book brings the two sides of the area together in a brilliant manner
I totally loved this story and was unable to put it down right from the very start, and I would recommend it to those who enjoy a detective story full of twists that will keep you on your toes and an ending that you won’t see coming

The writing and plotting are well done. There are a few twists in the book and it all comes together in the end. I enjoyed this little novel and will continue to read Michael Hambling’s books in the future.

Great book, by an author I will read more of! Thrilling plot, great writing and brilliant characters. Highly recommend to others.

A young girl is in the woods when she sees a body being dumped in a pond. Sophie Allen and her team get on the case but she has one hit by a car and then another is missing. So short staffed she has to get members from other locations to help her.
As always this story grabs you and doesn't let go until the end.

Although number 10 in the Sophie Allen series it can be read as a stand alone novel

A strange opening mini chapter and then it is off, twists and turns aplenty as the team try to locate a missing girl ,a team member that has disappeared after going for a bike ride and a local bent copper is no where to be find

Prepare yourself for a read that never lets you breathe

A young deaf girl but she does have implants and also as with deaf people they have other heightened senses and she does just that by using them, as she witnesses a body being disposed of in a flooded quarry near the farm where she lives. she quickly hides till safe to go home.
Superintendent Sophie Allen and the team need to get a grip on this as one of their own has gone missing although he wasn't that well like he was still a copper. Another missing person and is there anymore?
I have read Hambling before always a good read and I would like to thank Joffe Books and Netgalley for a review copy and this is a personal review.

Superintendent Sophie Allen has her work cut out in this story. A young deaf girl witnesses the disposal of a body in an old flooded quarry and then she goes missing, one of Sophie's team goes missing and another suffers a hit and run. Another body comes to light when the quarry is drained. The local bad guys seem to be uppping their game and more people go missing. There's an awful lot going on in sleepy Dorset! The characters are very well written and it is so refreshing to find a senior police officer with a happy family and home, a supportive team and generally good relationships. Some of the, shall we say dimmer, bad guys are fun and the descriptions of local places spot on. Bit of a rushed end perhaps. Thanks to NetGalley and Joffe Books for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

This is a new author to me and I really enjoyed this it was such a page turner. It was such a novel plot and the ending was brilliant.

I know realise that this is part of a series but it didn't really matter as it just flowed.

I was given an advance copy by the publishers and netgalley but the review is entirely my own.

This is another exciting police procedural in the Sophie Allen series. It is such a breath of fresh air to read about a team of detectives where no-one is a maverick with a drink problem and a precarious relationship with his or her superiors. Even though this is book ten in the series it can easily be read as a stand-alone. I would highly recommend it.

This is the latest in Michael Hambling's DCI, now Superintendent Sophie Allen series set in Purbeck in Dorset, and Sophie here has problems with her police team, a suspected corrupt police officer, Stu Blackman, is missing, and a junior member, DC Tommy Carter has been in a cycle hit and run. 12 year old deaf Amy Burbeck is in the process of checking her batboxes when she happens to see something that scares her, men pushing a dead body into a disused clay pit, she then goes missing. However, when the disused clay pit is searched, aside from the recent corpse, there is another body. Are there connections? This is an entertaining and engaging crime read, full of intrigue, suspense and tension. and some surprising twists. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

Sinister Goings On…
The tenth in the Detective Sophie Allen series of mysteries finds more sinister goings on in her patch, a seemingly peaceful area of Dorset. With dead bodies piling up and her own team in disarray can she keep her head above water long enough to solve these recent crimes. With a likeable protagonist and a colourful cast of supporting characters, not to mention a clever and twisty plot, this is a worthy entry in this long series.

EXCERPT: They watched as the pumps started up. The plastic pipes jerked like injured snakes as water began to move through them on its short journey to the next pool, hidden from view some four hundred yards away. At first it was difficult to believe anything was happening, other than the discordant sound of the generators. It was ten minutes before Sophie could spot any sign of a drop in the water level. She walked away to make a quick phone call to Matt Silver, her boss at headquarters. He'd been less than pleased about the cost of the operation and was obviously still jittery about it. By the time Sophie returned, the level had dropped a foot. As time slowly wore on, a few scattered bits of junk started to appear, dripping with muddy liquid. Some were unrecognisable, thickly coated in an orange-brown layer of muck. Bits of piping, tin buckets and an old set of bed springs. Sophie looked at Greg and shrugged.

By mid-morning the pool had shrunk to half its original volume and more objects were beginning to appear, all coated in slime. It looked like something from a ghastly horror movie or art tableau. The macabre scene wasn't helped by the stink of decay. Several suspiciously lumpy shapes appeared, impossible to identify from the bank. All were coated in a brown slimy ooze.

'I don't like the look of them,' Sophie said to Barry and Rae, both of whom had just arrived from the incident room.

The onlookers ranged around the rim of the pit watched in silence as the water level fell to a few inches and more grotesque shapes appeared in the sticky ooze. Greg Buller gave a thumbs up and several of his team, clad in chest high waders, moved into the remaining puddles, each roped for safety to a colleague on the bank above. They carried hoses and sprayed water over the lumpy shapes as they advanced, revealing their original form. An ancient bicycle. Several half-rotted tree stumps. A couple of sheets of corrugated iron. An old mattress near to another set of bedsprings. A hose was played onto a lumpy shape that could have been another tree trunk. It wasn't.

ABOUT 'BRUTAL CRIMES': Ten-year-old Amy Birkbeck is checking her bat boxes late one cold January evening in the woods by her house.

She witnesses something no child should ever see — a group of men rolling a body into the deep pool of the disused old clay pit.

Meanwhile, DCI Sophie Allen’s team is falling apart.

Local officer — and suspected bent copper — DS Stu Blackman is missing.

And new recruit, DC Tommy Carter, is knocked off his bike in a serious hit and run.

Then a second body is found in the disused clay pit. And it seems the dead man is connected to a suspected arms dealer . . .

There are dangerous goings-on in Detective Allen’s quiet patch of Dorset, and she doesn’t know who to trust.

MY THOUGHTS: Although I didn't enjoy Brutal Crimes as much as I did other books in this series, it is still a good read.

I loved the character of Amy Birbeck - she is an incredibly resilient and resourceful child - and she was definitely the shining star of this story.

There's a lot going on to keep Sophie and her team occupied - a missing child, and two missing policemen to start with - and the situation just gets worse from there. But for some reason, this read just didn't flow as easily for me as previous books in this series have.

One reason I enjoy Sophie's character is that she is strong female lead detective who isn't carrying loads of baggage and who lives a relatively normal life. A female Alan Banks. DCI Sophie Allen is happily married to the father of her two adult daughters. She has a great relationship with both her daughters and with her mother, who’s quite a colorful character. She works well with her team. A nice woman who gets the job done. A breath of fresh air!

One of the downfalls of Brutal Crimes is I missed the insights into Sophie's personal life. She has a delightful family and we see nothing of them in Brutal Crimes.

A good solid addition to, but definitely not the best book in this series.

⭐⭐⭐.6

#BrtalCrimes #NetGalley

I: @joffebooks

T: @JoffeBooks

#contemporaryfiction #crime #detectivefiction #policeprocedural

THE AUTHOR: The mystery writer Michael Hambling is a novelist very much one of his background, hailing from Dorset in the United Kingdom. Writing with a definite British set of sensibilities, he manages to convey a different style of writing through his books, which is why so many have taken to his work. Using his British surroundings as the backdrop for most of his works, he creates mysteries that really keep his readers guessing constantly throughout.

Michael Hambling is not a social media user.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Joffe Books via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of Brutal Crimes by Michael Hambling for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review is also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage

When it rains, it pours. It starts with the murder of an unidentified man. Several men rolled the body into the bottom of an abandoned clay pit. None of the men noticed ... there was a witness.

DCI Sophie Allen's team seems to be coming apart. New recruit, DC Tommy Carter, has not shown up for work. This was his last day before he would know if they were going to keep him on full-time. Another local cop, long suspected of being corrupt, is also missing. And then there's the report of a missing 12-year-old hearing impaired girl who didn't go home last night.

Connecting the crimes should be easy .. but then another body is found in the clay pit .. a woman killed in a similar way to the newer body.

Dorset seems to have exploded in violence, murder, and missing persons. And Sophie doesn't know who she can trust.

This is a riveting crime/mystery with suspense starting on the very first page. The characters work well with each other, interacting with bonds of friendship, and knowing that their backs are covered. There are some twists and turns that lead to an explosive conclusion. Although 10th in the series, this is easily read as a stand alone, but the characters have grown and matured over time and it's well worth the time to start and read in order.

Many thanks to the author / Joffe Books / Books n All Promotions / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

This is book 10 in the addictive Detective Sophie Allen series and the books just get better and better.

Amy is a very independent teenager struggling with deafness she is very invested in nature and the countryside around her. While checking her bat boxes one night she sees a body being dumped in one of the clay pits. Was she seen? She doesn't know but it frightens her enough that she hides in the woods. When she is found and tells her Mum what she has seen the case is brought to the attention of Detective Sophie Allen.

As the Clay pit is drained it gives up the secrets hidden in its murky depths and what follows is an intriguing, adrenaline pumping investigation with so many shocking twists and turns I just had to keep turning the pages.

The intrigue continues to ramp up all the way to the very end. A brilliant read, in my opinion this is the best book yet I am looking forward to reading more from this talented author.

I have been a fan of Michael’s work for a while now. I love the series featuring Detective Chief Inspector Sophie Allen. ‘Brutal Crimes’ is the tenth book in the series and it was released on 28th September 2021. It’s another cracker of a read, which I thoroughly enjoyed but more about that in a bit.
It didn’t take me long to get into this book. In fact the synopsis grabbed my attention first and then the story within the covers of the book sealed the deal as it were. Once I started reading, I found that I just couldn’t stop. My Kindle wasn’t exactly glued to my hand but it might as well have been because it travelled everywhere with me. I just couldn’t bear to miss a single second of the story. The crimes and the characters intrigued me. I had my own theories as to who the perpetrator was and I had to keep reading to see if I was on the right track or if I had wandered down another path entirely. I became so wrapped up in the story that I lost track of just how quickly I was getting through the story. All too quickly I reached the end of ‘Brutal Crimes’ and I had to say farewell to DCI Sophie Allen and her team. I found ‘Brutal Crimes’ to be a gripping read, which kept me guessing and which kept me on the edge of my seat throughout.
‘Brutal Crimes’ is superbly written, which is also true of the series in general. Michael certainly knows how to grab the reader’s attention and drawn them into what proves to be a compelling story. For me, the story hit the ground running and maintained a fast pace throughout. Reading ‘Brutal Crimes’ felt like being on an at times scary and unpredictable rollercoaster ride with several twists and turns along the way. I felt as though I was part of the story and that’s thanks to Michael’s very vivid and realistic storytelling.
In short, I thoroughly enjoyed reading ‘Brutal Crimes’ and I would recommend it to other readers. I will certainly be reading more of Michael’s work in the future. The score on the Ginger Bok Geek board is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.

Thank you to #NetGalley for allowing me to read #BrutalCrimes by #MichaelHambling
This is the 10th book in the Detective Sophie Allen series and although I did enjoy it I think it would be better if you read them in order to get the full impact.
When a young girl sees two men committing murder in the middle of the night it sets in motion a chain of events that stretch all the way to the Middle East. But Sophie and her team are missing one of their own officers who has gone awol. A good story but hard not knowing the full dynamics of the series.

So, yet again I attend the party late as this is apparently book 10 of an on going series. So believe me when I say I gave a sigh of relief when I found I could read it as a standalone. But also saying that I would assume I'd have got even more out of it had I started at the beginning. So it's up to you.

I read this as a standalone and having never read Hambling before I was impressed.

It has a lot of twists and turns and at times I was actually questioning who the bad guys were. That's how well written it is.

I enjoyed it a lot. Worth a look.

Brutal Crimes is the tenth instalment in the Superintendent, formerly DCI, Sophie Allen series. It's based in Purbeck, Dorset, mainly around the beautiful area that lies between Wareham and Corfe Castle, a locale that is a mix of hills, woods, heaths and farmland. More importantly, it has several ominous-looking flooded pits and pools. Amy Birkbeck, a young deaf girl, witnesses something horrific when she’s out in the woods checking on the bat boxes she keeps there and then vanishes off the face of the earth. She had seen two guys dumping a body in a pool situated at a disused clay pit. At the same time a local police officer and new recruit to Sophie’s team, DC Tommy Carter, goes missing, too, after not showing up for work one morning. It turns out he had been out on his bike and been involved in a hit and run leaving him in a shallow ditch by the roadside. And as if that wasn't enough, a corrupt cop, Stu Blackman, also happens to be MIA. Are the three events connected?

And why is a wealthy arms dealer, living locally in Dorset, starting to come to the attention of the county’s top investigation unit, run by senior detectives Sophie Allen and Barry Marsh? This is an engrossing and compulsive addition to the series and a tale of kidnap, violence, courage and even romance with a complex, multilayered plot that keeps you invested in the divergent storylines which eventually come together, and it has some great twists and turns along the way. It's told from a few different perspectives giving you a fully rounded look at the thoughts of those involved, and I found myself racing through the pages. Add to this plenty of reveals, surprising developments and a fitting conclusion and you have yourself a humdinger. The characters, however, are what make the series unmissable as they're authentic, flawed and act like real people which doesn't always happen in thrillers or police procedurals. A compelling, absorbing and entertaining read. Highly recommended.

Sophie Allen and her team get a message that that their new recruit, Tommy hasn't come to work; then a 12 year old deaf girl, Amy, is missing. They find skid marks and then Tommy in a shallow ditch. He had been hit by a hit and run while on his bike early that morning. It turns out that the missing girl, Amy, saw two men roll a wrapped up man into the water and she spent the night in a fork in a huge tree. Then the police are told that policeman Su Blackman is missing. The police pull up Blackman right where Amy told them he'd be.

The reader finds out that Vinnie Foster is doing favors for a wealthy Arab man, Suleiman Hamdi. And, the two men at Sunnyside Cars, Micki Rollins and his mechanic Crustie are doing some jobs for Suleiman and Vinnie (including getting rid of dead bodies). A former maid of Suleiman goes missing. Policewoman, Rae, visits Amy, and goes to watch her cross country races (which is a very good thing!). There's a lot going on in this book, and it keeps the reader guessing and interested.

Thanks to Netgalley for the chance to read and review. I really enjoy the books in this series and it was good to catch up with the characters. I read this book in a couple of sittings and enjoyed the twists and turns. The only slight criticism is I felt the ending was parcelled up in a hurry. Would still recommend this series.