Ruthless

With many thanks to Netgalley and Swift Press for this free arc and I am leaving this unbiased review voluntarily
Ruthless sees the return of Heloise and Erik in this brilliant Danish series. The combination of journalist and police officer gives the series a good dynamic and this is portrayed again wonderfully in book number three. Well written - and well translated - Anne Mette Hancock once again serves up another tension filled story. A good flow and pace to the book as we follow Heloise and Erik separately and then as they and the plot come together. An absolute cracker of a twist at the end! If you like your Scandi-Noir then this series is a must!

A new to me author, one that I'm hoping to read more books by as this was quite thriller to read. I quite liked Heloise: being down to earth, thinking there is something more going on, and yet a bit naive in several situations.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book.

Anne Meete Hancock in Ruthless, (aka Pitbull), continues her series with a Copenhagen police detective and an investigatory journalist. This is the third book and having read the previous two, I would potentially claim this one is the best yet. She has a unique voice and a compelling style in crime fiction.

Heloise has undergone recent loss with the death of her parents. From her own personal understanding of grief she has become a volunteer at a hospice to ‘befriend’ and visit terminal patients who have no-one else. Furthermore to raise awareness and prompt more people to come forward she has agreed to do a piece for her publication.

This is the impetus and the plot driver in a story about facing up to death, making peace with yourself and to prepare for any afterlife you anticipate.

In moments of lucidness the old man, dying of cancer has revealed a little of his past. Then during one conversation he appears confused and rambles on about judgement and a provides a name which as a reporter, Heloise immediately latches upon.

The novel then reflects her dangerous enquiries into the past which throws up police corruption, missing girls and drug and people trafficking.

I love the pace of the author’s writing; her peeling back of characters, so all is never clear in terms of friend or foe. Glimpses reveal possible danger and threat to both Heloise and her detective friend she asks for help along the way. The tension builds especially as nothing is what it seems and the truth has been buried for so long. No-one wants to talk about the past but from the information she receives she hopes, “the truth”, will not spoil her trust and respect for a dying man.

The thrills keep on coming as more facts are exposed. By asking the right questions, facts, details and people are not who the reporter initially believes them to be. However, she seeks the truth, for good or ill, clear information to allow an old man to die in peace, without the past being any threat to him. To hold his hand at the last and offer some form of absolution.

A complete novel in that it is story led; a story that is only slowly revealed, like a landscape waiting for the mist to clear. There is action. Tension and thrills throughout.

We want Heloise to succeed; we want the mystery solved and gain empathy for an old man wishing to rest in peace.

Yet nothing can prepare us for the drama and the breathtaking conclusion to Heloise’s quest.

A wonderful book from an accomplished writer who is sufficiently different in this genre to be both original and contemporary. A relatable story, across interesting locations where an author can satisfy a reader’s desire yet leave you immediately wanting more.

This series just gets better and better and darker as they go along. What a book. After a slowish start, it really ramped up, and that ending just blew my mind. What the??? It has been a very long time since a book got me like that. I can't wait to see what happens next.

Heloise and Erik are such great characters, I love their banter and that they would do anything for each other. Heloise hears the ramblings of an old, dying man and can not make sense of the,l, but she knows there is something there. She wants to help the man be at peace before he dies, so she sets off to find out what happened all those years ago. The investigation will lead her down a seriously dangerous path and bring her into contact with some truly vile human beings. But it is not all doom and gloom. A face from her past comes back into her life, which was a lovely storyline.

Thanks so much to Swift Pressfor my advanced copy of this book to read. Published on August 1st a must read series

What a thrilling read, I was questioning things throughout the whole book, and just when I thought I'd cracked it, the final amazing twist at the end came.

Journalist Heloise Kalden and her detective friend Erik Scháfer are back for another tense Scandi thriller.

This time Heloise is volunteering for a charity which provides hospice support for people at their end of days. Heloise’s client is Jan Frischoff. He’s sometimes lucid and on one occasion mentions a past event which haunts him.

In her relentless pursuit to help Jan and discover the truth, Heloise digs deeper and uncovers a string of missing person cases, murders, cover ups, and police corruption. Soon both she and Erik are facing violent dangers from Jan’s past.

If ever there was a jaw dropping ending it’s in Ruthless. Never saw it coming. It’s shocking but the perfect ending for building anticipation while awaiting the next book in this brilliant series.

Thank you to Swift Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.