A pastor stabbed to death. A secret torture room. A man bound to the bed.

Later, elsewhere, another body tied down.

The victims didn't know each other. No connection.

DI Henley and her team really have their work cut out..

Excellent

Nadine Matheson has written a superb sequel to The Jigsaw Man. The Binding room is gruesome, spine- chilling and horrifying and yet it is very addictive due to the cast of characters . I love the relationship between the police in charge of the case. There is humour and sadness but it makes such a wonderful story. Can't wait for the next one.

With thanks to netgalley and Harpercollins for the opportunity to read in exchange for an honest review.
Called in to investigate the murder of the Pastor of a super church, Anjelica Henley discovers the body of a young man who is near to death. This discovery leads to other, similar bodies who have undergone ‘exorcism’ to cure their mental health problems. The investigations overlap and twist and turn giving the reader a gripping story. There were lots of mistakes in the text - misspellings or even the completely wrong word at times which I hope are sorted out for the final print and e-book editions. But this was a great read.

This is the second book in the DI Anjelica Henley of the Serial Crime Unit, series. I really enjoyed the Jigsaw man and this was equally as good.

Pastor Caleb Annan is found brutally stabbed to death in his church, The Church of Annan the Prophet, in Deptford. Whilst at the church looking around the crime scene, DI Henley discovers a second victim in another room, who at first appears to be dead but he is found to be clinging to life by a thread, after being tortured. After another body is found, again tortured with the same MO, it appears they have a serial killer who seems to be a religious zealot, attempting exorcisms.
A gripping plot, quite brutal and disturbing at times especially when from the victim’s point of view, whilst they are being tortured. The developing relationships within the team add to the book’s appeal, both with the bond between Henley and DC Ramouter and the tension and attraction between Henley and Stephen Pellacia.
The book deals with mental health issues and how someone can go from having a career, home and marriage to living on benefits in a rented flat. Good ending, I didn’t see it coming.

The Binding Room is another excellent thriller from Nadine Matheson, with a chilling investigation that had me hooked from the start.

I really liked how complex this case was as Henley makes some pretty shocking discoveries about the victim. It actually made it more interesting what they uncover because you can see Henley struggling to focus on the fact that he’s a victim and that there’s a murderer still out there. Even the rest of her team struggle to keep their emotions in check. It’s a very disturbing case overall and I can’t say I’ve read anything quite like it before. It’s very gruesome at times and has some really disturbing characters.

The urgency of the case also had me on the edge of my seat. As more bodies are found, Henley and her team are racing against the clock to find the killer. I definitely felt that urgency throughout and I had a sense of dread for the majority of it. I thoroughly enjoyed the cat and mouse game that took place in The Jigsaw Man and was looking forward to seeing where the story would go next. However, it’s clear that the characters are still haunted by those events and they can’t forget what happened. I did appreciate how the characters hadn’t moved on and we were able to see how it still affected their day-to-day lives. It made them feel more realistic and I’ve honestly become so attached to them.

After having read two incredibly fantastic and full-on twisty reads from Matheson, I cannot wait to see what Henley and her team face next!

Detective Anjelica Henley confronts a series of ritualistic murders in this heart-pounding thriller about race, power and the corrupt institutions that threaten us
When Detective Anjelica Henley is called to investigate the murder of a popular preacher in his own church, she discovers a second victim, tortured and tied to a bed in an upstairs room. He is alive, but barely, and his body shows signs of a dark religious ritual.
With a revolving list of suspects and the media spotlight firmly on her, Henley is left with more questions than answers as she attempts to untangle both crimes. But when another body appears, the case takes on a new urgency. Unless she can apprehend the killer, the next victim may just be Henley herself.

This is a gripping read.
Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start.
Love the well fleshed out characters and found them believable.
Great suspense and found myself second guessing every thought I had continuously.
Can't wait to read what the author brings out next.
Recommend reading.

I was provided an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher. This is my own honest voluntary review.

A gripping thriller revolving around an independent church , a murdered black wealthy church leader and a community on the brink of rebellion. An explosive mix from a brilliant author which continues to follow the journey of DI Henley and the Serial Crime Unit . No need to have read her previous opus to be able to follow this story and fall in love with the tortured and complex Anjelica Henley. From endoctrination to racial tensions, every topic is approached expertly and draws you in the high octane adventure which will keep you wondering until the very last page.

This is the 2nd book in the series featuring DI Angelica Henley and her team.
A murder in a church, then a young man found in a dark, hidden room, barely alive, bound to the bed, unconscious, are the two crimes linked? This story is dark, gruesome but very addictive..
The author is very clever with her characters and building the plot.
If you are a fan of crime, murder and twists along the way, then this is a must read.
One word would review this book - Brilliant!
Thanks to Net Galley and HQ for an ARC of this book in exchange for a review.

This is the second book in the Anjelica Henley series and although it can be read as a standalone.it would be better to read the previous book ,The Jigsaw Man, first.
The main character is believable and well characterised.
The murders are quite gruesome and not for the more squeamish reader, but it is not easy to work out who the killer is and so the reader is kept guessing.

Another case for Detective Inspector Anjelica Henley and her team from the Serial Crime unit based in London draws them and readers into the dark world of disturbing religious rituals. Character-driven with authentic character backstories, development and flaws. It creates a credible ethos that gives credence to the horrific crimes. Disturbing at times, it relies on character reactions and short detailed descriptions to convey the crimes effectively. This urban thriller explores contemporary mental health issues, racism and political manipulation with insight and sensitivity through the balanced and believable characters.

I like the medley of personal and professional in the detectives' lives and the dynamic within the team. The plot is impactful and relevant and builds to a satisfying conclusion.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

This is Detective Inspector Anjelica Henley's second book, but you should be able to dive right in without reading the first if you like.

She works for the Serial Crime Unit, London Met. and one day they're called into a case of a dead preacher - stabbed to death pretty gruesomely. But nearby there's a room with a young man in it, barely alive, clearly starved and probably tortured. What happened to him? Was it the preacher? And how are the preacher's family going to feel about that?

The crime scenes are grim but the cops are competent, which I always enjoy. They have a lot of suspects to get on with - as well as issues in their personal lives (Henley but also her sidekick Remouter), which helps round the characters out as real people.

The case was interesting (and unlike some crime thrillers, I could see how it happens. Religion can have incredible power) and various twists and turns kept my attention right to the end.

Firstly I would like to Thank Netgalley and HQ for a copy of this book and to the author Nadine Matheson.

This is the second book in the series,my rating is 3.5 star rating rounded it up to four. I did enjoy this read, for me it was lacking the intensity and gruesome and gory details.The first book The jigsaw man was fantastic read, and the characters come alive In this book.DI Anjelica Henley and Salim Ramouter and the team investigate a murder of a pastor in a church,And she discovers another victim in another room who is barely alive.The pastor stabbed multiple times.and the other victim tortured.will they find the killer? It's best to read the first book to get to know the characters looking forward to the next instalment..highly recommend.


This book has been reviewed on goodreads and Amazon UK.

The Binding Room is a book that sends those uneasy feelings of dread, horror and squeamish ripples across your body. This is a book that offers no easy answers, but the bloody remnants of ordinary people and their ruinous actions.

I adored The Jigsaw Man, when I read it last year, with its darkly enthralling, gory cat and mouse game around London with interesting perspectives. This built on that explosive foundation to craft an incredibly suspenseful, wonderfully crafted and intensely gripping mystery. I definitely know that I will be picking up whatever Matheson decides to write next.

Right from that grisly opening, Matheson had me hooked once more. The writing and the pacing is once again superb. It is caustic in its rawness and inability to look away from the horror. This is a book that does not hold back, conveying every inch of Anjelica’s vulnerability and fractured life. Her personal tension and the way it interacts with her approaches to cases is fascinating and offers a unique slant for her character. I love how authentic Matheson is at depicting the impact of trauma and the way past cases haunt Anjelica.

This is a book that sits in those shadowy parts of life and really digs beneath the surface to examine reputation, religion and particularly the cult of celebrity. We really dive into those ethically and morally dubious areas, leaving us to question what the ‘right’ path is. There are plenty of relevant social issues touched upon here, from racism to political pressure and influence on policing, to the abuse of religious power. A few scenes made me physically recoil from their detailed torture and detail, but these are not just fictional events.


The Binding Room is an acerbic thriller with a socially conscious and ethically thought-provoking edge to it that really makes it stand out from the crowd.

📚BLOG TOUR📚

📖BOOK REVIEW📖
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#TheBindingRoom by @queennads @hqstories

⏩for synopsis

You know a book that’s a slow burn… but a good slow burn… well this is that!

I’ve got nothing but praise for this author; what a power up this book is from her first book. This really felt much more professional, well put together and slick. I loved everything!

Once again I really enjoyed the characters - especially Ramouter who’s character and domestic story I find really intriguing. Main character Henley carried the plot and investigation well and enjoyed being back with the investigation team - they all compliment each other and have their own place and side stories within the series.

The plot took its time to reveal its secrets with each chapter a pleasure to read. Although it’s a little bit of a longer read, the more the better here. I really felt like I was part of the investigation team and trying to piece everything together as the clues came in.

If this book is anything to go by, this is going to be one hell of a series 👏

Thank you to author #NadineMatheson and #HQStories for including us on the blog tour and allowing us to read this one early!

This one is OUT TOMORROW!

Good Luck with publication!

-EMILY

@the_book_girls_1

⭐️ 4.5 ⭐️
Rounded up to 5 stars.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC, in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

The Binding Room is the second book in the DI Henley crime thriller series; it can be read as a standalone but I’d highly recommend reading The Jigsaw Man first to familiarise yourself with the characters and the backstory (it’s also a fabulous read).

Matheson’s writing style is excellent — it’s fluid, engaging and extremely easy to read. The characterisation is also superb; DI Anjelica Henley is a likeable, feisty character and I’ve enjoyed watching her personality develop — she’s fast becoming one of my favourite fictional female detectives. I particularly love the camaraderie Henley shares with her colleagues, their dialogue and banter is always authentic and believable and there’s a real sense of warmth between the team.

The Binding Room is nicely paced and deftly plotted, with just enough twists and turns to keep you guessing. It’s a gripping, gruesome, dark read and I loved it!

The Binding Room is the second in this series and would highly recommend the first one being read which is The Jigsaw Man to ge5va grip of the characters and their backgrounds.
DI Henley is a member of the serial crimes unit in London, she has a lot of baggage with her that you know about if you read The Jigsaw Man and makes this a much more interesting read. She is attending a church where the pastor has been found murdered, covered in multiple stab wounds. We follow Henley and her team as they try to find the killer as she battles to keep her home life from going under.
I enjoyed this book and the multiple ways it went in both plot and suspects. It did lack a bit of tenseness and excitement at times and I think this is why I enjoyed The Jigsaw Man over this one. I can’t wait to read the next as I feel Henley will start to come to terms with her personal life more or at least I hope so!
I would like to thank Netgalley and HQ for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

A gripping and complex police procedural, The Binding Room is another deftly plotted and strongly developed thriller with a dark and gritty crime to solve.

I read the first book in the series, The Jigsaw Man, over a year ago, so I was worried that I wouldn't remember the characters or previous events very well. But as soon as I started reading about Henley and Ramouter, I could instantly remember everything about them, which is a huge credit to Matheson's meticulous character development.

This can most definitely be read as a standalone, but the characters are under a lot of pressure and stress from their previous case so you might miss out on a bit of the context if you haven't read the first book. Either way, you're sure to easily engage with this brilliant cast of diverse characters and get to grips with their relationships quite easily.

At 500 pages long, my opinion of this second book is exactly the same as the first, in that it would have been a 5-star read for me if it was 100 pages shorter. But although it is a lengthy book, the pace remains fast and there is always something going on. The characters are twisted, the crimes are shocking, and you're sure to be left guessing until the final page.

Matheson has yet again proven that she is a phenomenal crime writer with this latest instalment in a standout detective series, so you definitely need to put this author on your radar if you haven't read anything by her yet!

Oh my days wow what a book. It was sick and twisty and I loved every single word of it, just a heads up it’s certainly not a read for the faint hearted but for me it’s been one of the best reads of the year! Although this was the second DI Henley book I hadn’t read the first and had no problems at all getting into this one.

The binding room is a very unique thriller unlike anything I’ve ever read before. DI Henley and her team are called when a local pastor has been found stabbed to death with multiple stab wounds.

As DI Henley takes a further look around the crime scene it soon becomes clear this is no ordinary murder scene, she discovers a hidden room at the back of the church. In that room their is a man tied to a bed who has clearly been tortured, had his feet burnt and left for dead.

As the investigation goes on more bodies turn up in different locations however the circumstances are the same. Tied to a bed, tortured and left for dead. DI Henley and her team try to work out who is behind these horrific crimes and what is the motivation behind torturing innocent people.

With a whole heap of people who could be involved DI Henley not only has to work out who is behind the torturing and with very little evidence and none of the victims being linked to each other she has little to go on. On top of the the murder of the local pastor needs investigating however with home playing away from home and having various complaints such as rape made against him DI Henley has a number of people who may have been behind his murder but with so many twists and turns I never once saw where this book was finishing off and just when I thought I had it took me down another path.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for an advance copy of this book. I will certainly be looking for more books by Nadine Matheson and I look forward to reading the first DI Henley book.

I enjoyed this book and found it an easy, and compelling read. Some of the characters are stereotypes, and some of the dialogue is a bit cliched, but in general it is an entertaining (if somewhat gruesome) book.

A very good 2nd book in the series, i enjoyed it because it was such an easy read, with a good story and good characters, very strong 3/5