Patricia Gibney has a way of hooking me from the very start of each book.
This one starts with an unknown woman running away from something or someone. She is in terrible pain and blacks out.
The story cuts to a boys football match, a final, everybody should be happy, but not everybody has a caring and loving family to support them.
Mikey Driscoll had scored the winning goal in the Cup Final, as he is on his way home he is picked up and given a lift. Two days later his body is found.
What comes next is a story that follows DI Lottie Parker and her team as they investigate Mikey’s murder. Then more bodies start to be found, and the pressure is on to find the killer.
But that is far too simplistic a description of the book.
This book doesn’t just look at the murders. Patricia Gibney looks at family dynamics, and how not everything in the family is how it seems to somebody looking in from the outside.
Latch key kids, bingo moms, single men and women bringing up families, teenage angst, unlikely friendships, all play a big part in the story.
And it’s not just the victims and criminals that are having a hard time.
Lottie, her son, two daughters and grandchild, are all living with her Mom, and its driving her crazy.
Her home had been destroyed in a fire and she is renovating her new house. But even that comes at a cost, to her and somebody close to her.
At work, her boss has it in for her, and would like nothing more than to see her fail.
The chemistry between Lottie and her DS is still bubbling along, but she is terrified to take comfort in his arms.
This series of books is great. The attention to detail that Patricia Gibney gives to the stories make them amongst the most realistic books I’ve read.
As well as the crimes in the books there is the ongoing story of Lottie, her family, and her team, and for me, that’s where she has the edge over most Crime Writers these days.
I love these books, and look forward to each new one that’s published.
This is the 5thin the DI Lottie Parker series set in the mid-Ireland City of Ragmullin.
Although it can be read as a stand-alone novel to get the best out of it I would recommend reading the series in order. Follow Lottie her family and her team as Patricia develops and grows the characters and their relationships.
Believe me it’s worth it.
Pages: 458
Publisher: Bookouture
Publishing Date: 3rd October 2018
Available to pre order at Amazon:
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