Back of the book :
TICK…
In the city of Stoke, a teenage girl is murdered in the middle of the day, her lifeless body abandoned in a field behind her school.
TOCK…
Two days later, a young mother is abducted. She’s discovered strangled and dumped in a local park.
TIME’S UP…
DS Grace Allendale and her team are brought in to investigate, but with a bold killer, no leads and nothing to connect the victims, the case seems hopeless. It’s only when a third woman is targeted that a sinister pattern emerges. A dangerous mind is behind these attacks, and Grace realises that the clock is ticking…
Can they catch the killer before another young woman dies?
What I think :
2014.
Melissa likes to jog everyday. She’s in training for the London marathon. She has a two year-old son and originally started running to get rid of her ‘mum tum’, but now she does it to stay fit and to get some ‘me’ time. Sadly today will be Melissa’s last run, or for actually doing anything really, as today Melissa is murdered. Because as she was running through the small wooded area she regularly runs through, someone strangled her.
2019.
Five years later, Lauren and her friends Courtney and Caitlin are doing a cross country class in the field next to their school. Lauren stops to re-tie her trainers and her friends carry on back to school. When Lauren doesn’t arrive back at school twins Courtney and Caitlin go back to find out where their friend has got to. The twins find Lauren laying on the grass. She’s been strangled. How could this have happened in broad daylight in the matter of minutes that she’d been gone ?
Three days later young mum Diane is kidnapped and her body is found the next day on the outskirts of Central Park. She’d been strangled.
Does the city of Stoke on Trent have a serial killer on the loose ?
It’s up to DS Grace Allendale and her team to find the killer before they strike again …
I really loved the character of Grace, after having to move to Stoke on Trent after her last case had affected her personally, she’s still trying to find her place in the team. She’s also trying to make her relationship with Simon work. But she seems to finally be happy.
The story moves quite quickly from the start and has lots of twists and turns to keep you hooked. The story has some chapters told from what I presumed is the killer, so that also keeps you interested as well.
It’s a bit of a follow-on from the first ‘Grace’ novel but it’s also good as a stand alone, as the author explains stuff from the first novel in this one.
A brilliant story that kept me guessing until the end. With lots of down to earth likeable characters, and plenty to keep you interested. I’m looking forward to the next book.
I give it 8/10.
Published by Avon Books on 02/05/19
A huge thank you to the very lovely Sabah Khan from Avon Books for the review copy of the book in return for an honest review.
Here for your reading pleasure is an extract from the book.
Extract :
Grace never went with the adage that the wealthy were any better than the ones scraping around for pennies. She firmly believed there were shades of polite and ugly in every level of society. She’d seen compassion from a drug user at the lowest ebb of his life; she’d seen injuries of domestic abuse caused by a high-ranking politician. So much went on behind closed doors regardless of class.
Arriving back from a meeting with Allie Shenton, a colleague who oversaw six local community intelligence teams, she felt a buzz of activity as soon as she opened the door to the office where her team was located. Her phone went off and she slipped a hand inside her jacket pocket to retrieve it. It was her boss, DI Nick Carter.
Grace could see him sitting in his office. She raised her hand to show him she was here as she walked across to him. Something must have come in while she’d been out. Adrenaline began to pump through her, as had become natural.
‘We’ve had a call of a suspicious death at Dunwood Academy, over in Norton,’ Nick told her. ‘Female, sixteen years of age. Out on a cross-country run, got left behind. First thoughts were she’d had some kind of seizure. Two pupils found her; one ran to get help. By the time their teacher got to her, bruising had started to appear around her neck.’
Grace pulled a face. ‘Do they suspect foul play from anyone there? The teachers, or the pupils?’
‘I’m not sure. Can you task someone with getting everything ready here and then we can go in five?’
‘Will do.’ She headed back to her desk.
Perry Wright, one of two detective constables on her team, was sitting opposite her.
Candys BookCase 