London in Black

Great thriller in a near future London after a devastating series of terrorist attacks. World building is spot on - you can understand the changes that have taken place and they fit well into present understanding of London.
Some broad brush characterisation in the supporting parts; I was initially irritated by the style of giving the main character both dialogue and her unspoken thoughts, but I grew to enjoy this aspect, particularly as her thoughts were generally rather entertainingly honest!

Overall, a great thriller with some genuinely nasty impact.

I was hooked from the cover and description, it had that element that I was looking for from this type of book. I enjoyed that this had a great female detective in the near-future London. The concept was everything that I wanted and enjoyed the characters throughout everything that I was looking for. Jack Lutz has a great writing style and left me wanting more from them. It had that thriller element that I enjoyed and glad I was able to read this.

London in Black, while initially jarring in its stylistic choices, is definitely a book that grew on me. As many others have commented, the short sentences made my reading experience a little choppy, but the more I read, the more I enjoyed it. As readers, we are placed so deeply into Lucy's mind, never getting anything from another character's point of view. Her guilt, her frenzied character, her personality, they all lead to her rapid-fire narration. Either Lutz found his footing as he wrote, or I did as I read because, by the end, I was so hooked that I couldn't care less about sentence structure. Even in the beginning, when I felt more unsure of the read, I never had the urge to abandon it because of the great job Lutz does weaving a compelling story, and my roommate can attest that in the last 50 pages, I was reacting audibly.

As we learn more about Lucy and her past, she makes her development steadily, and it's such a treat to see her final realization at the very end, even if I didn't expect it. (As an additional note, Lutz sets this up so well--great foreshadowing, but I never saw it coming!) Sharp, brave, and (at the risk of sounding dumb) just super cool, Lucy becomes someone you root for wholeheartedly. I definitely recommend this book as long as you stick with it!

Thanks so much to NetGalley, the publishers, and the author for the opportunity to read this as an eARC!

Fast paced, action thriller!
Excellent story, with thought out characters and lots of twists and turns in the plot.
The book follows Lucy, a police detective in London, 2 years on from a horrendous terrorist attack that killed lots and maimed more. The original terrorists have been found but copy cats keep striking with new attacks, in the same way as the original attack 2 years earlier.
Lucy is hell-bent on getting to the bottom of the copy cat attacks as she is personally invested - she owes a Debt.
Will be recommending this to anyone who likes fast paced thrillers, dystopian novels and strong female leads.

Lucy Stone is no stranger to pain. Lucy has a debt to repay.

Lucy is a temperamental homicide detective who lived through a terrorist attack where a nerve agent gas was deployed in post-modern London. Lucy survived against all odds, where the majority did not. Now copy cat attacks are happening daily. Many are still dealing with the after effects of the attack leaving Lucy and many other people still vulnerable to the effects, living in constant fear, reliant on a daily injection to stave off the nerve agent.

When the man who is responsible for the injections keeping survivors alive is murdered Lucy knows she must solve the case. But the clues lead to a cure for the survivors, a cure which would destabilise the whole pharmaceutical industry through loss of profits by those who require the injections. Lucy has a chance to repay her debt if she can find the cure and the killer.

I LOVED London Black.
The dystopian feel in a post Modern setting felt incredibly realistic and plausible.

Lucy is a relatable character as she struggles with her own mental health while trying to maintain and prioritise her work life.

The writing unravels the clues and back stories of the characters in a way that keeps you on the edge of your seat as the suspects ping pong back and forth.

I could not get enough of this story. It was gripping and suspenseful, gritty and purposeful.

If you want an urban dystopian novel that follows a determined FMC you need to add this to your list immediately.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It pulled me in from the start, giving me just enough information to know what was going on, but also withholding enough to make me want to read on to find out what really happened.
While the topic of the book may have been hard to imagine just a couple years ago, it was pretty relatable now, with the covid pandemic still fresh on our minds.
Furthermore, the way the story is fleshed out throughout the book is so good! At the beginning, we don't know that much yet about our protagonist Lucy Stone. We know that she's a Vulnerable, and we know that she lost a few people that she was very close to. However, we don't know anything about the circumstances in which she lost these people. As the book progresses and Lucy gets closer to an antidote, we learn more about her backstory, as well as her pressing need for the antidote. I think this was done really well, with the story building up captivatingly to its climax.
One thing I disliked about the book sometimes, which is the only reasons why I didn't give it five stars, is the way it was written. It's written in really short sentences, which made it quite difficult for me to get into a flow while reading it. However, this is definitely just a personal preference.

I recommend that you read this book if you are into dystopian sci-fi stories which are suspenseful!