BOLD LIES. Rachel Lynch

The Lake District

DI Kelly Porter is back for her 5th outing in this cracking series. This time the crimes aren’t just focused on her patch in the Lake District. This time the crimes are connected to London and Kelly’s old team are investigating.

Kelly has a close knit team covering the North of the Lake District, and she has a close knit series of friends who support her when she’s on, and off, duty.

So, when one of those friends finds the body of a man on a boat he has been restoring Kelly and her team start their investigation, little knowing how far reaching the investigation would be, and who would end up being involved.

As the body is found in the Lake District a hit is made on an underground chemistry lab in London, and 2 respected research chemists are killed. It’s not long before a link is made to the three deaths and Kelly’s Team start to work with their colleagues in London.

So what is the link between the three murder victims, what were they working on, and who wanted to stop them.

The Police are not the only ones investigating the crimes, a freelance journalist is also on to the story, and as Kate travels south to work with the London team, the journalist heads north to follow up on her lead.

As the investigations continue more people are put at risk. The high tech approach of the Met is shown in stark comparison to the hands on local investigation of the Lakes team. Can they, between them, identify the motive for the killing, and ultimately the killers.

Rachel Lynch’s stories are always well narrated around a central cast of characters and are set in a beautiful part of the country. By branching out and sending Kelly back to London in this book she has introduced a whole new dynamic to the books. And it’s not just the crimes and the countryside that’s different. A bit of Kelly’s previous life is coming back and trying to get to know her, making working life in London very unhappy, will it affect her work? Will it affect her relationships back home?

This book is about more than the murders at the beginning of the book. It’s about power, and influence. It’s about relationships, past and present. It’s about Kelly’s new life, and her old, and many other strands that make this book one that I didn’t want to put down.

Will the crime get solved, will Kelly’s old life return to ruin the new life?

This is a great read, the whole series is stunning. Can it be read as a stand alone. Yes, but some of the nuances of the story might be missed if you read this before reading the others.

Pages: 313

Publishers: Canelo

Publishing date: 27th May 2019.

Bitter Edge Rachel Lynch

This book has the best opening chapter I have ever read. In that one chapter the story of a young fell runner with everything to live for, until she gets injured and becomes hooked on prescription drugs, which leads to her taking illegal drugs until she can’t take it anymore and kills herself, is laid out and sets the tempo for the whole book.

The book looks at the pressures put onto children at secondary schools and sixth form colleges. The on-line bullying, we all hear about, but more surprisingly the often ignored on-line peer pressure. The pressure that is not just put on impressionable youngsters by their immediate peers, but also by the new breed of celebrity, the “Influencers” on sites such as Instagram.

It looks at the boredom of the youths in smaller countryside towns and the way the drug dealers are moving into the countryside to target these kids.

Rachel Lynch has written some great books in this series. DCI Kelly Porter is a great charter and easy to engage with, but for me it’s the crimes and the locations which make these books so stunning.

Everybody would have an idyllic view of the towns around the Lake District, but I suspect that Rachel Lynch’s version is much closer to the truth.

In this book Porter investigates the sudden deaths of students from the same school. She is convinced that somehow the suicides are linked, and her and her team start to uncover a tale of bullying and drug taking. One teacher is suspended following a complaint by a student which leads to the discovery of some illicit images on his computer, but is he being set up.

The head teacher lives in ignorant bliss, whilst teachers are losing control of the school. Rumours are rife and the investigation is sent off in all directions, but is there any truth behind the rumours, they can’t all be lies.

As the investigation continues a girl goes missing and the team fear she is going to be the latest in the long line of suicides, or if Kelly is right, the latest murder victim.

As well as carrying out the investigation Kelly’s personal life is in turmoil following revelations about her mother and father. Her Mom is battling a terminal disease and trying to find peace in her life before it’s too late.

All of this takes place over Christmas which seems to give an added poignancy to the story.

I started this review by saying the opening chapter was the best I’d ever read. It had me hooked into the book straight away. 

The rest of the book? 

It certainly didn’t disappoint. There were times when I couldn’t put it down, and there were times when I had to put it down, and just take a breath.

This book could be read as a stand-alone.

It’s the 4thin the series and I would recommend reading the others first, just to get the full impact of this one. 

Pages: 296

Publishers: Canelo

Publishing date: 25thFebruary 2019

Dead End Rachel Lynch

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This is the third book in the DI Kelly Porter series.

Kelly is one of the most realistic of fictional cops, and as such I find it really easy to empathise with her.

Coupled with the fact that I think Rachel Lynch is writing some of best crime fiction out there at the moment, means I was really looking forward to this book.

I wasn’t disappointed.

When the “Lord of the Manner” Xavier Paulus the second is found hanging by his grandson it appears to be nothing but a tragic suicide.

When the Police first look at the scene they tend to agree but somethings not right. As Kelly and her team start to look into the family, its history, and the strange relationships that seem to have been forged in the mansion, they become aware of its hedonistic past.

Meanwhile 2 girls go missing from a camp site in the Lakes. Kelly and her team also become involved in the hunt for them and start to find a history of girls, who look similar, also going missing.

As they investigate both cases a body is discovered, but who is it. With so many girls having gone missing it could be any one of them. It’s a surprise when they find out which one it is, and how long she’s been dead for.

Then there is always the red herrings that Rachel Lynch always writes into her stories so wonderfully. Find me a Police Officer who hasn’t gone barking up the wrong tree, I don’t suspect there are many around.

This book had me reading into the early hours. At times it’s a bit of a cosy read. Then just when you least expect it, it grabs you by the throat.

Can this be read as a stand-alone? Yes, but why would you want to miss out on the first 2.

Pages: 299

Publisher: Canelo

Available now

Deep Fear Rachel Lynch

 

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Earlier this year I reviewed Dark Game by Rachel Lynch. The book in which she introduced us to DI Kelly Porter. It was one of the best debut crime thrillers I had read for a while so when I saw the second one was about to be published I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it.

Deep fear see’s the unassuming DI Kelly Porter still living at home with her mom and suffering harassment from her sister, who has her perfect life of Husband and family. But things are about to change Kelly’s Mom is ill, and spending a lot of time in hospital.

Meanwhile somebody is killing people in the Lake District and the pressure is on Kelly and her team to find the murderer.

People are being targeted then killed. The killer is posing their bodies to suggest the failings that lead them to be killed. Along with the murder, mutilation, and posing of the bodies, the killer is leaving cryptic clues in the form of quotes from the Lakes poets.

As the body count rises, in a very short period of time, the team struggle to find the connection between the victims which would help them identify the killer.

All the time Kelly is working hard on investigating the murders the pressure is on at home as her sister and her argue constantly bout their mothers care.

Will the duel pressure of work and home life be too much for Kelly? Can she devote enough time to both?

The story rattles along and has a terrific ending that left me open mouthed for a good few minutes after I’d finished it.

I have often heard the expression “the difficult second” usually attached to music artist and records, or actors and TV series. I always wonder if the second book in a series will live up to the promise of the first.

Well this one has, and more. This is a cracking book and I can’t wait to see what happens in the next one after the trauma of the end of this one.

Pages: Kindle size 1184KB

Publisher: Canelo

Publishing Date UK: 14th May 2018 available to pre-order on Amazon

The link below is to my review of Dark Game, the first in the Kelly Porter Series

https://nigeladamsbookworm.wordpress.com/2017/12/17/dark-game-rachel-lynch/

Dark Game Rachel Lynch

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2017 has seen the publication of some fantastic psychological thrillers, and if this book is anything to go by 2018 is going to see even more.

Kelly Porter is a 36-year-old DI in Cumbria; but that was not where she started her Police career, she has recently moved home from the Met, and she brings with her all the experience of an officer who has served time on an MIT in London.

However; she is not like most protagonists in this situation, she actively tries to not come across as the big-city-girl and is very easy to like. She is struggling with living at home with mom, and having an over-bearing sister living nearby, but as far as her job goes, she’s good and she just lets her professionalism speak for itself.

To start with she is given cold cases to review whilst she is mentored by her predecessor before he moves on to his new job. So, when she digs into the case of a girl who was murdered after being kidnapped during a family outing, and there appears to be a link to a current crime, she is soon thrown into the thick of a serious investigation and takes over as the SIO.

Amongst the small towns of the Lake District there is a growing community of immigrant workers. Amongst these workers are a community of illegal workers held against their will and forced into prostitution and drug abuse.

When one of the local businessmen dies whilst engaging the services of one of these sex workers it starts a chain reaction that uncovers layers of evil that unfortunately do not only exist in fiction.

The young girls forced into working as prostitutes; the human trafficking that gets them into the country, the vicious gangs that are responsible for the trafficking. Then there’s the other crimes that the gangs bring with them. Dog fighting, humans forced into fighting, rape and murder.

This book holds no punches, and certainly has no filters, as it follows Kelly Porters investigation into an ever increasingly serious criminal investigation.

Each new chapter holds another revelation, some of which I didn’t see coming; each of which seems to get more violent as the higher ranking criminals realise that Porter is working her way up the food-chain and is getting close to them.

People who read this blog regularly will know that I place a lot on reality. Rachel Lynch has done her research. The story is frighteningly realistic; the crimes, as they take place are described brilliantly. The crime scenes, and the effect they have on the Police, are stunningly written. The chain of events that transcribe the investigation are logical with no big leaps of faith. In fact, the way the investigation opens up, and the processes the officers go through, are perfectly written.

I hope this is the first of a series. If it is, the next one can’t come soon enough.

 

Published by Canelo

Publishing date: 29th January 2018.