Sorry, I didn’t download this before it was archived.
Really sorry, thought I had.

|I purchased and read it

I highly recommend you read book 1 first, this is going to make me double check when I read a book from now on I take note if its a series and read in order. It definitely is not a stand alone book because the main character has things happen and circumstances that the reader needs to call back on in memory whilst reading this.

Jane Bennett, senior Detective Sergeant for instance I need to go back to book 1 and get the references to what lead to this in her life.

We find Jane not having a good day at all, she is struggling, she has a son who has autism, her Boss returns to work after some time away and they don't have the best of an easy working relationship.

Her mother who is looking after her son is angry and annoyed at Jane because it seems to be work, work, work and takes upper hand more that her sons care [in her opinion]

On top of all that, shes trying to solve a crime.

Loved it, great read, well developed characters and the writing flowed well.

Thank you Pan Macmillan via Net Galley for my copy

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

DS Jane Bennett takes charge of South London's Lewisham murder squad following the temporary suspension of her boss, DI Mike Lockyer. His involvement with a female witness resulted in her murder. Mike returns to work but he's a shadow of the detective he was a few months before. Bennett gets a desperate call from an old friend to say that her husband, retired colleague Mark Leech, has gone missing. Blood spatters found in the home suggest that she doesn't have long to find him. When Jane is sent to a site in Elmstead Woods she stumbles upon a sinister murder scene. A tomb has been created, and the body she finds is not Mark's - as she dreaded and suspected - but that of missing university student, Maggie Hungerford. Her killer recorded her last moments, even providing an air supply which was only cut off when the game lost its thrill. Two men admit to having had a sexual relationship with Maggie. Both deny murder. Someone is lying. And Mark is still missing. When another tomb is discovered, an anonymous tip and mounting evidence suggest a disturbing link which threatens to derail both cases and let a murderer walk free. Lockyer is shocked into supporting Bennett in a case which becomes ever more ominous and dangerous as the investigation deepens. They know that their hunt is for a killer with a mind so twisted that he, or she, is likely to stop at nothing.

This is the second book in the D.I. Mike Lockyer series...I hadn't read the first one (although I was pretty sure I had at the time I requested this book) and I do think it would have been good to have read The Cradle Will Fall.

After the finale of book 1, D.I. Lockyer is resting up and D.S. Jane Bennett steps up to investigate this mystery. They are a good team together and I think I would have liked to have seen how this combination got together. Definately back to Book 1 for me after this.

However, the story itself was a bit flat. It got up to speed pretty quickly but really failed to hold me there as the murder investigation unfolded...

...and then the ending that seemed to be completely out of whack with the rest of the story. Left me disappointed.

I will go back and read the first story and see how that stacks up before deciding on whether to tackle book 3...


Paul
ARH

Was interested when I got it but not anymore. Clearing through old galleys so i know what I'm still interested in.

Picked up the first book to read prior to this and disliked it a ton. Hated the characters, and the story. Do not wish to read another.

The villain in this novel is freaking sick. I recommend it for people who like twisted mysteries