Thanks to Netgalley and Storm Pulishing for access to this arc in exchange for my honest review.

I'm not sure that this book is for me. I was lost many times and just the pages without knowing where I was going. The only character that was likeable was Frank for me.

Another classy thriller from Daniel Cole. DC Scarlett Delaney is working to get rid of a stigma attached to her. Her mentor Frank is assisting. When another body is attributed to "The Jackdaw" they are right in the thick of it. This changes when Scarlett meets the enigmatic Harry Devlin. He gives her new insights into the killer. This comes at a cost in which she could lose everything. As the bodies mount up, she treads the tightrope between the wrong and right side of the law.
There are some interesting twists here. There are highs and lows. An interesting read.

Although the story is full of plenty of suspense with twists and turns, I disliked the characters. They weren't likeable at all. The story was okay but when reading it I couldn't help but think of how cold and heartless they seemed even though the words were there the feelings weren't. I didn't hate the book but I definitely wouldn't read a sequel. I would give the author another go though because the book was captivating if not for the characters.

This is a superb action filled crime thriller. Daniel Cole brings us characters that are entertainingly flawed, yet I found myself rooting for them. The plot has twists and turns entertaining the reader and keeping you guessing to the end. Yet not the end, hoorah, as this is the first in a series. Thank you to Storm Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

This was fun.
It's basically Out of Sight flirting with JDC's-style of locked room procedural sprinkled with the panache of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
And just like those it has the same level of fun and murder- the abundance of. :)

Bare bones: A young and ambitious police detective, Scarlet Delaney wants nothing more than to prove herself at work and thus diverge herself from the legacy of her notorious father. With her best friend/ stand-in father and partner Frank Ash, she is part of the police task trying to comprehend a miraculously elusive serial killer, Jackdaw, whose impossible murders are puzzling detective force. Following her own hunch and breaking even more rules while investigating, she stumbles across Henry Devlin, an assassin for hire who has his own reasons to pursue Jackdaw. Together they make an uneasy alliance that pushes them deeper into conspiracies and deceits.

Now, if you've read Daniel Cole before, you kind of know what you can expect: stylistically, he didn't stir too far away from his previous work. Jackdaw is not a realistic procedural with deep and complex characterization: its main task is to amuse you, characters are over the top, larger than life and murders are fantastical and well constructed puzzles to solve. And then Cole still has some surprises left in his pocket for readers.
Character-wise, though, don't expect another Ragdoll trilogy. In my opinion, one of its strongest aspects was Fawkes and compared to him, Scarlet and Henry are a bit too safe and cliche. She is young and ambitious, hothead redhead; he is a suave, silvertoungue, competent and charming. Both of them are gorgeous. They are not bad characters, they just fit the stereotype. That is the main point of distinction compared to Ragdoll, because the amusement largely relies on the set up, but there is enough bricks laid out for that to shift to the characters. We did get main bullet points about Scarlet's father from Frank's memories, but I feel this may be explored further in the next book. And speaking of him, Frank is perhaps where we get those Ragdoll flashes of greatness and he is, in my opinion, so far the best written character in the book. For example, we are told that he and Scarlet are extremely close, but the emotion, where we are actually shown that, entirely come from Frank's pov scenes, and not hers. Scarlet is basically Jackdaw-oriented and that's the most I can tell you about her. A lot is told about her and Henry and I do find it annoyed me more with her because Henry is by design a mysterious guy, one we are not to know completely, so I hope Cole will develop her character more.
I actually want to see where will Cole take this story further, but I have no doubt it will be entertaining. We left Scarlet and Henry in interesting place and I have no idea how will they deal with aftermath of Jackdaw, but I have no doubt Cole will find the way. :)

As usual from Daniel Cole, Jackdaw is a twisty, highly creative spin on the police procedural hunt-for-the-killer genre. I heartily recommend this for anyone who reads crime fiction. It's creative, shocking and at times moving and I'd love to see this one get made for TV too, following Ragdoll!

I would like to thank Netgalley and Storm Publishing for an advance copy of Jackdaw, the first novel to feature DC Scarlett Delaney of the Met and hitman Henry Devlin.

DC Scarlett Delaney finds herself in charge of hunting a serial killer known as Jackdaw after their habit of taking a piece of jewellery and leaving scratch marks on the victim. The murders seem impossible, so Scarlett is pleased when Henry Devlin, a man with his own reasons for finding Jackdaw, lends a helping hand.

I can appreciate what the author is trying to do in Jackdaw, but it didn’t click with me. The novel is a light hearted romp with any number of seemingly impossible murders and the old trope of the suave bad guy falling for the well intentioned detective. I will admit that it took me a few chapters to realise that it was meant to be if not comedic then intentionally over the top. This realisation didn’t help and didn’t draw me into the read.

The novel is clever in the way the murders are executed (pun intended) and I liked the twists, which again are clever. I also liked the overarching plot. I know, there is nothing new in the hunt for a serial killer or the bad guy lending a hand, but this is different in ways that I can’t disclose without spoilers. Why, then, did it not click with me? This is due to the way the novel is written. I found it bitty and it seems to be written as a series of scenes rather than a cohesive whole. I didn’t find a strong through line while reading it, although, to be fair, it comes together well at the end. I never felt the urge to keep reading or to pick it up again when I put it down. As a result it took me days rather than hours to read.

I think that I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to read Jackdaw and that coloured my opinion, so there will be readers who see what I did and others who see a rollicking, fun read. I can recommend it as a clever read.

Detectives Frank Ash and Scarlett Delany are on the hunt for the infamous Jackdaw killer. Also on the case is assassin Henry Devlin and they form an uneasy alliance to try and find this menace before any more bodies turn up.

This was a bit of a 'suspend your disbelief and hold on' type of read that I was not 100% sold on, but made for an entertaining read!

Well-written detective story. The pacing is terrific, the dialogue memorable. I will definitely read the next one in the series..
Thank you to Daniel Cole, NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the arc of this book.

I've said before that I would hate being in a cat and mouse thriller because my attention span wouldn't allow it. At some point, I'd be like, can we just get to it? I ain't got time for all this. Unsurprisingly, this disinterest often seeps into my feelings about other cat and mouse thrillers. However, not this time. This story and its cat and mouse shenanigans drew me into its (mouse) trap, as I really enjoyed Henry and Scarlett playing each other.

Chaotic and confusing, and yet I could not put this down. This book had be so invested in the lives on two very different people - and I need more answers. The ending has thrown me - will there be a second book?

I love a good serial killer read and Jackdaw did not disappoint.

I like that it was told from a few different perspectives. The characters were interesting and likable, especially Henry and Scarlet. The story was full of twists and turns and there were a few that shocked me.

I really enjoyed Jackdaw and I'm looking forward to book two.

4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I'm probably not alone when I got quite excited to see new Daniel Cole, having loved the Ragdoll series. However Jackdaw is simply not in the same class.

At first it gives the impression of being in the same genre of thriller - quite gory with unnerving undertones of something truly sinister - but then you get the first "joke" and you think huh? After four or five of these attempts at humour you realise that Daniel Cole is trying to switch up the thriller genre to something with a bit more of a fun side. For me, this really didn't work.

I also found the characters of Henry Devlin - handsome assassin about town and Scarlett Delaney - daughter of a serial killer turned cop - to be really quite irritating.

The plot was somewhat ridiculous and the reasons for Scarlett's required demise made no sense by the end of the book.

In fact the only thing I really liked about the book was DS Frank Ash otherwise I thought it a bit silly and disappointing.

I note from the acknowledgements that there will be more to this series.

Thanks to Netgalley and Storm Publishing for the advance review copy.

Jackdaw is the first book I have read by Daniel Cole and it won't be the last.

Jackdaw is a cleverly written thriller following a detective and assassin.

This book is full of twists and an ending with a twist.

If you enjoy dark witty humour, this is the book for you.

The one thing I would say is that some scenes are pretty far fetched and bordering on unrealistic but it still remains an entertaining read.

I would recommend it and will definitely keep an eye out for his other novels.

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy.

Jackdaw by Daniel Cole. #Jackdaw #NetGalley

Filled with Twists and turns, this novel of hunting for a killer will keep you up at night! Highly recommend to all crime lovers.

Daniel Cole is easily one of my favorite new author discoveries this year, so of course I was very excited when I heard about this new series coming out. Add the fact that I always love a good crime thriller with a serial killer angle, and there was no way that I was going to pass up on the opportunity to read Jackdaw... And WOW, what a ride it turned out to be! If you like your thrillers on the action-packed, exhilarating and over the top side, you will be in for a treat with this one.

Like I said before, I have a weak spot for a good serial killer thriller, and Jackdaw offers us not only a serial killer investigation but one of the main characters is also the daughter of a serial killer turned detective. Especially the second provides us with such a fascinating angle, and while it has been done before, I liked how this particular element was incorporated into the plot. This doesn't mean that I couldn't appreciate the serial killer investigation itself as well though, and there were so many clues as well as red herrings to unravel along the way.

I really liked the alliance between Scarlett and Henry, and this unlikely partnership is definitely what took the story to the next level for me. Sure, things can be said about the credibility of it all and certain aspects being completely over the top. This is definitely one of the reasons Jackdaw won't be for everyone, and if you are looking for a realistic murder investigation you will be in for a disappointment. BUT. If you are able to suspend your disbelief, just sit back and enjoy the ride, this first book of a new series almost reads like one of those Hollywood action movies. Make sure to prepare yourself some popcorn and brace yourself for a very wild and twisted ride!

I do have to say that there was something off about the pace in certain parts. I think this has mostly to do with the sometimes abrupt POV switches; there are times that the story changes POV multiple times in the same chapter or even the same page, and this can be a bit disruptive. It made it a bit harder to get a proper feel for the characters, and I would have preferred spending more time with each one without interruptions. I did very much appreciate the incorporation of that same kind of humor I've become used to in the Fawkes And Baxter series.

All in all Jackdaw turned out to be a solid start of a new series, and after how things ended in the first book I'm definitely curious to see where things will go next. If you don't mind an over the top plot that you have to suspend your disbelief for, lots of action and danger lurking around every corner, Jackdaw is a great choice!

This is my first novel by author Daniel Cole and I really enjoyed this novel.

We follow detective Scarlett, who has very interesting background as she tries to solve the brutal Jackdaw murders. Scarlett is on the case with Frank, who I thought was a great character and a handsome encounter who is a private investigator Henry.

Scarlett and Henry seem to have chemistry from the get-go and made for an interesting side-line story. I really enjoyed Scarlett and Frank as characters, Henry not so much, found him a bit too suave for my liking but that's just my opinion.

The scenes in the book are quite brutal and may upset some readers, but the story really outweighs that small negative.

Daniel Cole's writing is full of intrigue and dark humour and the characters are super interesting and relatable. I will be reading more of his work.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publishers and author for allowing me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I’ve read all the previous books by Daniel Cole and was thrilled to be approved to read his latest.
This is the first of a new series and is a great start. Detective Scarlett Delaney, daughter of a notorious serial killer, is trying to prove herself as a detective. She is on the case of the Jackdaw, a murderer who steals from his fist is and the murder scenes seem impossible.
At one scene she meets Henry Devlin who has been hired to find the Jackdaw.
Lots of twists and turns with both characters seemingly likeable.
I can’t wait for book two.
Thanks to Storm publishing and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I raced through this crime novel. An interesting twist on the serial killer themed books. I really liked it. It’s got pace and plenty to hold your interest from start to finish. No slow boring bits (hurrah!).

Detective Scarlett Delaney is new to the force when she lands slap bang in the middle of the hunt for a serial killer who gruesomely murders his victims. Then they seem to vanish into thin air. Scarlett is the daughter of an infamous serial killer herself and that plays a part in the plot.

The serial killer she is hunting for is named “The Jackdaw” as he/she takes a shiny token from each victim. Enter Henry Devlin, a charismatic but dangerous criminal with his own reasons for pursuing the Jackdaw. Together, they form an uneasy alliance, but as they get closer to their prey, the threat surrounding Scarlett intensifies.

I loved both Scarlett and Henry as main characters and their relationship is complicated and it’s like watching the dance of two moths seeking out the same flame. The dynamics between a criminal (and he is a very bad boy) and a Detective is unusual indeed. Think James Bond (handsome, suave, clever and bold) meets Agent Scully. An attractive redhead with oodles of ambition.

The Author Daniel Cole has a brilliant imagination as the methods of killing and disposal of the bodies are both complex and clever. Very clever thinking to make the storyline diverse. Loved that. It barrels along with plenty of twists and surprises. So much is intertwined in the plot but in no way does it get confusing. The writing is really good. I cannot wait for the next in this series. A solid 4 stars for The Jackdaw. If you love crime you’ll really enjoy this.

Daughter of a murderer, Detective Scarlett Delaney is involved in a mysterious case. Victims are left with scratch marks and killed in public view, the killer is nicknamed the Jackdaw. Circumstances led to an introduction to the charismatic Henry Devlin who helps work out some of the impossible details of these cases. With her boss and father like mentor, DS Frank Ash being skeptical of Henry, Scarlett goes off on her own with drastic consequences.
The characters were rather likeable and could relate to their feelings and actions. Some graphic details really help set the scene. Fast paced and easily devoured, I can see a new series centred around Scarlet.