The first two books in the Shrap Nelson series set in current day London.
There are going to be the inevitable comparisons with Lee Childs and Jack Reacher made by people who read these books.
For me, they are much better, but that may be because I’m not a fan of the Reacher series.
The main character, Shrap Nelson, is an ex-military police officer suffering PTSD, and in the first book she is living rough on the streets of London.
In Rough Justice the closest thing she has to a best friend, a fellow vet living on the streets, is being sought by the police who believe he has killed a woman.
Shrap doesn’t believe it, but before she can talk to him he is found dead in the street, a burning corpse.
Again Shrap doesn’t believe he either died by accidentally setting himself on fire, or committing suicide, which appears to be the way the police investigation is going.
One Officer is also doubtful of the veterans involvement in the murder of a young woman, and of his accidental death.
Detective Gareth Trevelyan is a recent transferee into the Criminal Investigation Team and is a bit weary of raising his concerns.
But when he starts to bump into Shrap during his own investigations he sees the benefit of having her as a very unofficial part of the investigation.
Living the homeless lifestyle makes Shrap almost invisible, she can get close to places and remain invisible by just sleeping in a doorway. Who ever takes any notice of anybody sleeping rough.
The murdered girl was a sex worker, only she wasn’t. The Police are happy that she’s just another street walking prostitute, so are happy to close the case quickly.
The girl worked as an erotic dancer at a club run by and Eastern European but that was all she did.
The investigation opens up a real can of worms. The Eastern European is running drugs and most of the girls working at his club are on the game.
He has small time local hoodies running the drugs for him and they present as big a danger as the boss himself.
The story in this book is really fast paced and makes an excellent read. Shrap and Trevelyan make a great partnership.
The plot is very realistic and brings the dangers of living on the street to every chapter, what it also brings to the fore is the community amongst the homeless and how they look out for their own.
Book 2, Unlikely Saviour, follows on quickly from the first book but now finds Shrap living in a hostel.
The son of one of the hostel workers is a graffiti artist and when he and a friend witness a body being dumped in the Thames they make a run for it. Unfortunately his friend doesn’t make it home.
The police are again reluctant to take the disappearance seriously.
But when a body turns up, just where the youth said he’d seen a body being dumped it starts a race to find the missing teenager.
The dumped body turns out to be another ex military veteran who runs his own investigations agency.
He has three current cases on the go and any of them may have thrown up somebody who wanted him dead.
But which one is most likely to have killed at least one person, and whats happened to the missing teenager.
Shrap uses her investigative skill and the skills she has learnt living on the street to help Trevelyan carry out the investigations.
Other police officers are beginning to appreciate Shraps skills and the value she can bring to an investigation, including Trevelyan’s boss, and she is given a bit more access and a lot more leeway.
This is another cracking story, and this time its got a surprisingly different ending I didn’t see coming.
The clues were there all the way through the book but they were cleverly disguised.
Two brilliant books in what I hope is going to be a long series.
Pages: Rough Justice, 360. Unlikely Saviour, 310. Publisher Mortlake Press. Audiobook length, Rough Justice, 9 hours Narrator Caroline Fantozzi. Unlikely Saviour not available.
Both books available on Kindleunlimited in the U.K.
nigeladamsbookworm 