First and foremost, I'll say that the descriptions of the murders, the state of how they were found, everything that happened to them and basically the majority of this book made me want to🤮. Yet, I still enjoyed it.

Even though we knew the killer from the beginning, this book offered a deeper exploration into the reasons behind his actions. The flashbacks to his childhood, where he was molded by his serial killer father, gave us insight into his transformation. This helped us understand the twisted rationale behind his victim selection. Moreover, his continued 'guidance' from his father, manifesting as his father's voice in his head, made him one of the most captivating killers in the series.

Shifting focus to Anna and her team, I felt this story skillfully wrapped up some loose ends while making Anna herself more compelling. She's starting to see that the world isn't simply black and white, and it's acceptable to navigate that gray area within reason. I liked how her feelings for 'Parole' highlighted her human side, and her admission that she wished things could be different between them. The emotional depth added a new layer to her character.

The book feels like it could serve as the series finale, with a strong female character making her departure, and a morally ambiguous character - one of many - finding justice, while another ends up with a slightly wounded heart but also a newfound freedom. The core gang disbands too swiftly and without much resistance. I must admit, with the shake-up in her team, I'm very curious to see how things will unfold and what new dynamics will emerge.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Joffe Books; thank you. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Copy Cat by Emmy Ellis is a riveting psychological thriller that delivers suspense and intrigue from start to finish. Ellis crafts a chilling narrative centered around a mysterious copycat killer that keeps readers guessing. The plot is tightly woven with well-developed characters whose interactions add depth to the story. While the pacing is generally strong, a few moments might feel slightly drawn out. Despite this, Ellis’s skillful use of suspense and her gripping storyline make The Copy Cat a highly engaging read. It’s a solid choice for fans of psychological thrillers who enjoy a complex and twisty plot.

This is my first Emmy Ellis book, but certainly not my last.

The start of the book, the graphic details, gripped me from the first sentence, ‘A brood of maggots writhed beneath the discoloured skin, creating an undulating blanket.’

The book follows 2 different times 1993 and present day, the murderer is introduced at the start of the book so we are following the development of him and his son, Rory. We then have the separate story of the ‘Kings’ who are a present day gang, the stories never really cross over they are two completely separate ones, which surprised me as I thought that there would be something more than the police investigating both?

We follow the multiple stories and points of views of around 5+ characters, there were a lot of characters introduced very quickly, but I know this is book 3 of a series so I’m guessing the majority would have been introduced slower in previous books. I read this as a standalone.

Overall I enjoyed the book, I enjoyed the serial killers and I enjoyed the main part of the plot, I have however given it only a 4 star as I believe that so much more could have been done with linking the stories throughout.

This book was such a good read it was like a movie . So good even though you no who the killer is it still keeps you hooked .

Disturbed, evil, and a web of lies! Once again Emmy Ellis has hit it out of the park. This book kept me on the edge of my seat and waiting for the next thrill!

A grim read that was right up my alley. I love stories like this. Very twisty and gruesome. A great edition to the series I'm hoping more books like this will come out

I found parts of this book disturbing and difficult to read. Explaining how the son came to follow in the father's footsteps was gruesome. Oddly, the back story seemed to take a way a lot from the what should have been the primary focus, too. This made the investigative wrap up seem rushed.

My thanks to Joffe Books and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Copy Cat’, book three in the Detective Anna James series written by Emmy Ellis, in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Two boys go into an abandoned warehouse to drink alcopops and smoke their new vapes and find a body covered in blood. As they rush to get away a man comes into the warehouse with a green-painted face and wearing camouflage gear. When DI Anna James and her team start investigating, the method of killing reminds them of similar murders that happened thirty years ago when the wives of the victims received a letter with guinea pig fur attached to the corner. It can’t be the same person after all these years so it looks like they have a copy cat killer on the loose.

‘The Copy Cat’ is the third in this series where we know from the beginning the identity of the killer although it takes DI Anna James and her team a while to work out the connection between the previous gruesome murders and those happening at the present time. I like the characters of Anna, Lenny, Sally and DCI Ron Placket who work perfectly together and are easy to relate to. I was disappointed that the arrest of the killer was rushed and I think it should have been carried out by Anna herself, but nevertheless there was plenty of suspense and twists to keep me glued to my Kindle. It’s been interesting to read more of Anna’s relationship with Joshua ‘Parole’ Cribbins and now that some members of the team have left I was hoping that the ever-helpful PC Ollie would be recruited into their ranks but perhaps next time. Is this the end of the series or is there going to be a book 4? I hope there will be as despite knowing the identity of the killer in advance it’s been a very enjoyable novel that’s found easy to read.

The Copy Cat opened with an explosive, gruesome first chapter. It was a strong start but unfortunately the rest of the book didn’t quite live up to the promise of the opener. The chapters with the killer Rory were the strongest. The police based ones weren’t quite as cohesive for me and they didn’t feel like an actual police team.
I think if I had read the previous books in the series it would have helped with a bit more of a bond with the main characters that didn’t have much time to develop in this one book. However it can be read as a standalone.
I am undecided whether I would read any more in this series. It seems from other reviews like they are improving so I may give one more a go.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Love Emmy Ellis books

This one didn't disappoint. What a fantastic read I couldn't put it down. What a gripping read

Thanks for the opportunity to review

3.5* Book 3 has a gut-churning opening, but has this series mostly back on track.

This book should come with a warning of unstomachable horror, depravity and evil, because it's blunt, brutal and descriptive. It's what book 2 lacked, though I could've done without the details. It makes you wonder what genes could breed such evil and how that evil goes on to breed another generation. It's truly horrible, and there's animal abuse, though not graphic/fully on-page and mostly in the past. That needs a warning, too, as we Brits are animal lovers.

So, there's gruesome crimes from 30-odd years ago, and from the here and now. They're committed by a perpetrator who's shown from the start, but who's utterly invisible to the police and who it only feels got caught because of a separate and spur-of-the-moment decision and GBH. There wasn't any police work/detecting that got close to suspecting him. Full stop. There's was too much going on, with the mole being mostly outed in book 2, and surveillance being upped; with the stuff in a detective's personal life coming to the fore and culminating in a very convenient out for someone who was perhaps shades of grey; there was more of Anna and Parole, who I think could have worked in another life; and there was filler, too, unfortunately.

The book very much feels like the series could end here, as one of the strong female characters departs, and one shades-of-grey person - there's more than one - gets a form of justice, and another gets a slightly battered heart, but also a freedom of sorts. The gang at the core of the series disbands far too quickly and easily, without the expected hydras and tentacles that you expect from gangs. It was a little anticlimactic, tbh. And showed even more people as being shades of grey. Still, it was worth a read, but neither this nor book 2 live up to book 1. Oh, and again, the author confuses Muslims, Hindus and what's not acceptable diet wise to both, which smacks of not doing basic homework and editors not doing their job. I mean, you don't need Google to help, it's so basic. And to make such mistakes is disrespectful and tokenism.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Joffe Books for my reading pleasure.

Hold on tight, what a ride! Great detective series with a seriously disturbed and evil killer, a strong and human team, and several subplots that keep everything moving at a relentless pace. This author never disappoints!

After how much I disliked the first two books in this series, I swore I was done. However, I did not realize that I also had the third book already on my kindle and I dislike making things as not finished without giving them a chance, so I reluctantly opened this one expecting to hate it as much as the others.

HOWEVER. I actually ended up enjoying this one a lot more than the others.

Yes, we still knew who the killer was from the get go, but I felt like this one had more of an in-depth dive into the why. The glimpses in the past to when our killer was a boy of ten being taught and molded by his serial killer father gave insight to how the killer ended up becoming what he was in the future (and allowed the reader to understand the twisted way that he was choosing his victims). I also found it interesting that he continued to receive "guidance" from his father (in the form of hearing his father's voice in his head), this made him one of the more interesting killers I've seen in this series.

Moving on to Anna and her team, I feel like this story wrapped up a few loose ends nicely while making Anna herself become more intriguing as she has begun to realize that not only is the world NOT black and white, but it is okay (within reason) to walk in that gray area. I liked how her feelings for "Parole" showed her human side, and how she admitted that she wished things between them could be different. And I must admit, I'm curious now with the shake up to her team, how things will move forward.

All things considered, despite the rocky start to this series, I feel like the author is finally hitting their stride, and I will at least read one more before I decide whether to continue on or not.

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.

Oh my goodness a great thriller, gruesome in patches.
I loved the way the characters were crafted and the story flowed really well.
My first time reading any of Emmy Ellis’s books and can’t wait to get my hands on some more.
If you like feeling a bit uncomfortable and on the edge of your seat with your books grab a copy today.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of this book.

When a man is found dead detective Anna James and her team investigate. As always with this series, we know who the murderer is and why, normally linked to past events.

I enjoyed this, the set up allowed me to concentrate more on the police procedures without second guessing every character. The side story with corrupt police officer Peter was explosive in this installment. Wow! Anna is a strong character and while disappointed she falls for Parole in the first place, I couldn’t help but root for them!

I’m really hoping for a book 4!

Another good book
I absolutely adored Anna and the team
Detective books are my favourite and this one did not disappoint I like how we already know the killer it’s a little different .
The crime was gruesome and very well written and researched I learnt a bit from it
I’m enjoying getting to know the team and how they work together 3rd book in the season and just getting better

I absolutely devoured this book! Such a fun thriller! Not a lot of twists and you know what is going on while the “good guy” main characters don’t, but in this particular case, this is done really well!

I was super invested in everyone’s individual stories, despite there being a lot of characters and different timelines—this is rare for me! I was expecting Anna to be a Mary-Sue character, but I found that all of the main characters were complex, flawed, and interesting individuals.

I appreciated that all references to animals were not graphic—I’m an ethical vegan and it bothers me when authors add animals into horror just for the sake of being shocking and disturbing. I also really love when authors add riddles to their stories—I was floored by this one!

With this being an uncorrected proof copy, there were obviously some errors—Most notably, the author using the wrong character’s name in the wrong place. With that being said, this was still one of the better books I’ve read this year! I definitely want to read more from the Detective Anna James series! I LOVED this story! A gruesome and gory 3.75/5 stars, rounded up!

Two young boys head to an old, abandoned warehouse to drink alcopops and hang out. When they barge the door open, a swarm of rats scurry towards the other side of the room. The eldest of the two boys pans his phone torch over to where the rats had come from. Dark patches. Clothes. A suit. A green tie. A man. The victim has been slashed with a knife and rats have eaten his face!! Great read!!! Very gruesome but great read!! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one! This book had great suspense, intriguing, action, gruesome murders, mystery, serial killers, revenge, and some crazy twists and turns! The story was very interesting and had me glued to my kindle! I highly recommend reading this book! Thank you NetGalley and Joffe books for sharing this book with me!

Thank you NetGalley and Joffe Books for the eARC.
Wow, this was a nail biter, riveting and tense.
I really like D.I Anna James and enjoy the fact that she needs her quiet time, that she prefers to stay home and read rather than go out at night.
This time there's a body found by 2 teens and the body is horribly mutilated. I must admit that I have difficulty reading the details of the murders, as well as the peeks into the minds of the killers, so I tend to skip those bits.
But the rest of the book (including the previous ones) I love. It won't stop me from reading the next one!

I devoured this, the 3rd in a great series. The book weaves a complex web of secrets and lies. A copycat killer is on the loose and will keep you on the edge of your seat, wondering what's real and what's just a clever ruse. With its eerie atmosphere and gruesome details, it is sure a gripping and unsettling read, looking forward to more in the series.