A fantastic book that I read in just a couple of sittings. This had one of the best openings to a book I’ve ever read, real seat of your pants stuff Kate Marshall, trying to make a buck in university life after a discarded one in law enforcement. Dysfunctional relationships with her ex, her son and her mother in law add an arc of depth that all’s to this rollercoaster of a book ride. 5 stars.

Nine Elms is a promising start of the Kate Marshall series by Robert Bryndza. Kate Marshall is a former police detective who survived an attack by a serial killer. Great characters and a gripping storyline kept me glued to my ereader. Twisty and turny enough that you’ll get whiplash! Looking forward to more cases that Kate & Tristan will solve.

*ARC provided by NetGalley for an honest review.

This was so good!!! It was gritty and oh so dark. It could be a little too dark for some. I did read some of his earlier Erika Foster series and really liked them. I can’t wait for the second book to cone out in this series!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest opinion.

I received this book from Netgalley for review and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
This book was a thrilling adventure from start to finish. The plot is twisty. The characters strong and vibrant, likable or not.
Kate Marshall , a strong female character, is raising her teenaged son alone. His father but a nightmarish memory for Kate. When crimes against young girls begin again, she is faced with her past. With her intrepid assistant, she is drawn into the world of a serial killer and his twisted plot to destroy.
Could not out this down! Had to keep reading! I was drawn into Nine Elms and the danger so thoroughly. Can't wait for next in series!

3.5 stars

A disgraced female detective fights for redemption and to catch a killer while keeping herself and her son safe.

Kate Marshall was an up and coming detective when she caught the Nine Elms Killer - a cannibal murderer who happened to be someone closer to her than she could have ever imagined. Soon after his arrest, she was vilified and her once-promising career ended in scandal. Now a university professor, she has moved on with her life. Then one day she receives a letter in the mail asking her to investigate a missing person’s case. A cold case where a young woman has gone missing and her parents have never received answers.

Moreover, there is a copycat killer out there. Recreating the murders as an homage to his idol - the Nine Elms Killer. With her research assistant, Tristan Harper, in tow, Kate utilizes the skills she learned as a detective to hunt a killer who has every intention of hunting her.

This was a solid start to a new series. There is room for character development, and I hope to see that continue as the series progresses. I enjoyed the working relationship between Kate and Tristan and hope it continues. We learn more about Kate in this book while given some information on Tristan and his past (but not much). I hope more will be divulged about him in the future. The characters in this book were interesting and he came up with some naughty bad boys. Kate has her own struggles in this book, and I hope that in future books these struggles become less and we see her shine as a private investigator. Although we don't know too much about Tristan yet, he did get the opportunity to show off his investigator chops in this one as well.

He's off to a solid start to this series and I see it getting better over time as his characters become even more fleshed out and we learn more about them.

Thank you to Thomas and Mercer and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this book from the very beginning and it kept me interested. I liked the characters and the storyline. Will definitely be reading more books mby this author.

Dark, sometimes graphic, disturbing and intriguing. The fact that this book has a serial killer and copy cat serial killer, both of which are twisted and dark, for their own reasons, but both blaming their family history made this intriguing. Peter’s relationship with his mother was disturbing. The more secrets unraveled throughout the story kept it a very good, fast paced read. I also loved that both Kate and Varia were women in leading roles, and Kate even with her history of alcohol use was an excellent detective through and through. 4.5 stars for me.


Many thanks to the Author, Netgalley and the Publisher for allowing me to read an advanced reader copy for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A full-throttle, engrossing thriller from the brilliant Robert Bryndza.

My, my, what a sick imagination Robert Bryndza has! I mean this as a compliment, of course. This thriller has it all: a strong, yet flawed female protagonist, a serial killer from your worst nightmare and an expertly constructed plot. “Nine Elms” is a veritable page turner, and as the novel neared it’s denouement I felt my blood pressure spike accordingly. Always a good sign. For a novel to provide you with such a visceral response tells you how good it really is. Having never read a book by Robert Bryndza before, I intend to backtrack to his earlier books. I have no doubt I will enjoy them, too.

Highly recommended.

I have wanted to try Robert Bryndza for awhile now, so this ARC was a perfect opportunity. I'm happy to say I liked this one and will read more by him. Another plus is that this novel introduces a new series with the character of Kate Marshall. Kate is a disgraced, damaged ex-cop on the trail of a serial killer. The story is told through Kate and a "fan" of a serial killer. That was very interesting. This is not a happy, pleasant story, though. Dark and gruesome in parts I liked Kate and look forward to continuing her story.

Thank you to #NetGalley, Robert Bryndza and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC!

Kate, who left the police after catching the Nine Elms serial killer, is asked by a family to help investigate their daughter's disappearance because they believe she was also a victim of that killer. At the same time, a copycat picks up where the Nine Elms killer left off. I was a little apprehensive about reading this one because I didn't care for The Girl in the Ice, but I mainly disliked the detective/main character in that book. I liked Kate, though, and I really enjoyed this a lot. I will definitely read more in this series. 4.5 stars, rounded to 4.

I haven't read crime/mystery books in a while and decided to give this one a shot on a whim. I read it over the past few days and have enjoyed it with some reservations.

What I liked--

The protagonist is a middle aged woman who is fairly likeable, flawed and intelligent.

The two killers are presented as really disgusting, creepy people. I hate when authors write these kinds of characters with a touch of sympathy or appeal. These guys (the original killer that the protagonist helped put away and a copycat now killing young women) are wretched, unappealing, unsympathetic, creepy, nasty people.

The book is not ridiculously G rated and clean, but also doesn't swing into smutty or overly adult.

The writing quality is pretty good, with a good pace and voices that are easily slipped into. It's obvious the author researched things like protocol in facilities for the criminally insane.

What I didn't like --

Everything is very predictable and formulaic.

The protagonist is written as a recovering alcoholic in AA and it's a big part of her character. I just don't care to read this much about that particular struggle.

She has a 14 year old son whose father is the original Nine Elms killer and he is being raised by her mother because of her history with alcoholism. He is written poorly in my opinion. I wonder if the author has any kids, because this kid is written like he's 8, not 14. None of this relationship rang true for me as a mother of five who's had three 14 year olds so far -- not her feelings about him, not the way he acted, none of it. She supposedly is worried that he'll end up being evil like his father even though he has the personality of a sweet but petulant puppy, and it's set up like he might end up becoming close to his dad or turning bad in the next book. That whole story line rubs me the wrong way all over the place.

It gets gruesome describing the torture and murder of many innocent young girls.

There are some gaps in logic, and parts are just not easily bought. A disgraced cop gets a college teaching job just based on being involved with pretty much accidentally catching a serial killer? Did she go back to school and get her doctorate to teach while supposedly deep in alcohol addiction? She just suddenly decides to become a PI along with her professor job, with her handsome young student sidekick? Um no. They also do something absolutely ridiculous in looking for answers towards the end (no spoilers) that it's hard to buy anybody doing, and it's set up so you know miles away that they're going to do it.

This is apparently the first in a new series and it's obvious that Kate is being developed as a new heroine. I don't know if I'd read the next in the series or not, especially if it's going down the path of the boy going towards his disgusting father for no reason at all.

It's an okay read, but is a little grisly and sparse in credibility.

I read a digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.

I have read and enjoyed all of Bryndza's Erika Foster series and was eager to read this first entry in his new Kate Marshall series. Fifteen years ago Kate Marshall caught the notorious Nine Elms Cannibal but only at great cost to herself. Now she is a criminology lecturer at the local college. When there are new murders that seem to be copycats of the Nine Elms case her interest is piqued and only increases when she is asked by the parents of a young girl who went missing 15 years ago during the Nine Elms rampage, to look into her cold case. As Kate delves deeper into the current murders it seems that things are closer to home that she ever thought possible.

Kate is a very interesting new character, a very damaged ex-cop, a recovering alcoholic with a young son who has been removed from her care......sounds a little cliche-ish but the author makes it work. This story had good characters, something of a unique plot but some scenes did strain credibility. Thanks to the author, publisher and Net Galley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

WOW! I was hooked from the first chapter. Kate is a complex and intriguing character. The plot is intense. The other characters are interesting. The series is set up well in this first book. The last couple chapters felt ominous, making me anxious for the next story. This was a new author for me and I immediately looked up his other series and picked up the first book. This author is now on my must read list. I can't wait to see what is next for Kate, Tristan, and Jake.

This book grabbed me at the first page and didn't let up until I'd finished. I couldn't put it down. The characters are good (and I'm glad to see this is the first book in a series so we'll be seeing Kate and Tristan again in the future). The story is not for the squeamish, but the author does such a good job building tension and suspense that it makes this a thriller well worth reading.

I received a free copy of Nine Elms from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley!

Kate Marshall is a young police detective working on a case deemed as the Nine Elms Cannibal. Little does she know; the serial killer is a lot closer to home than she first realizes. After a series of events, 15 years pass after the Nine Elms Cannibal case, with Kate off the police force and now working as a criminology professor. Her life is seemingly normal, that is, until a body is discovered, looking suspiciously similar to the one found at the original crime scene 15 years prior. Is the Nine Elms Cannibal back, or is there a new copycat in town?

This is the opening to Nine Elms, the first in a new series by Robert Bryndza. From the very beginning of this novel, the story reeled me in. The author does an excellent job of starting the story off with a bang and continuing to keep the intrigue throughout the rest of the book. As a content warning for this book, there is a lot of violence against children, child rape, murder, child pornography, and hints of incest. At points, these sections can be difficult to read, but I feel it does not detract from the story.

I really enjoyed the two main characters in the story, Kate and Tristan. Kate was a strong female lead, and I liked hearing her story. In future installments, I would love to learn more about Tristan’s background. We get little snip-bits here and there in Nine Elms, but I am excited to dive more into his character. Additionally, I would have enjoyed seeing more of Kate lecturing to her students. At the beginning of the novel, there is a scene of her describing the Nine Elms Cannibal case to her criminology students. However, this is the only one that occurs, and I wanted to see more of her interactions with students and their reactions to what was happening in the news.

I appreciated the more realistic aspect of crime scene investigation put into this book. One of the most important things to do when a crime takes place is to preserve and protect the scene where it occurred. It always bothers me in shows and books when the medical examiner is running around the crime scene in heels, throwing her purse around, and touching all the evidence. However, the characters in Nine Elms put on full-body suits and wore gloves when picking up evidence. I am eternally grateful to the author for adding in these realistic details to save me from a heart attack.

Now, there were a few parts that I found to be a little cheesy. This section contains a minor spoiler, so feel free to skip to the next paragraph to avoid this. Towards the beginning of the book, Peter says he swallows all the letters his mother and the fan had given him as to hide the evidence. However, later in the story, Peter says he is hiding the letters from the fan in vitamin C pill capsules. This inconsistency was a little annoying, and other things like this happened throughout the novel. It was not a massive deal, but it made the story less enjoyable and contributed to a decreased star rating.

One other aspect I did not like was the font of the fan letters. I get changing the font of a letter from the regular font to make the reader feel like it was handwritten. However, the author chose the curliest, illegible font he could have possibly chosen. I felt like my eyes were going crossed, and I had to focus to figure out what I was reading. A simpler font would have worked better and achieved the same goal.

Also, as a side note, the main characters drank so much tea in this novel that it would probably fill up Niagara Falls. When in doubt, brew a cup of tea, I guess!

Overall, I enjoyed this novel and am excited for the next release in the series to see whether it builds off of what occurred in this one, or if it feels like more of a stand-alone novel. I have not read any other books from this author, but I know his other series can be read in any order, or as a stand-alone. I am hoping the Nine Elms series is more linear, where each one builds off the previous installment.

Out of five stars, I give this book a solid 3, bordering on 3.5 stars. Some improvements could be made, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading this!

Thank you #NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read "Nine Elms" the first book in a new series by Robert Bryndza, who writes the immensely entertaining "Erika Foster" mysteries in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I. Loved. This. Book. At first I was expecting your run-of-the-mill detective novel, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Years ago, as a rookie Detective Constable, Kate Marshall unmasked the Nine Elms Cannibal, at great danger to herself, resulting in her leaving the police force and turning to teaching criminology (a subject that she has intimate knowledge of).

Now, a new body has been discovered, and the MO matches the original Nine Elms killings - complete in every detail, it seems. A FAN is resurrecting the original string of killings of young girls and Kate is brought right back to the past; worried about how it will affect her son, she tries not to become involved.

But, when a couple approach Kate - and her assistant Tristan - to find what happened to their daughter, who disappeared around the same time as the original murders, she's reluctantly (well, sort of) brought into the present-day events.

Mr. Bryndza's characterization of both the original and copycat Nine Elms cannibals is right on the money, and amazingly scary.

I really cannot say too much about the actual story, as it would be giving things away. Suffice it to say that it is riveting - I actually read this in two sittings and a bit (I came close to finishing it before bed last night, but didn't want to have the climax to the story running around in my head all night).

This is an excellent debut for a new character, who I hope will have as long and storied a career as Erika Foster.

Highly recommended.

I loved Bryndza's Erika Foster series so I was excited about this new series featuring a great take-no-prisoners protagonist, Kate Marshall. Years ago Kate took down the infamous Nine Elms Cannibal serial killer who is now in prison. But unfortunately, she also had an affair with him and now has a fourteen-year-old son as a result. When an apparent copycat killer who calls himself "A Fan" begins to pick up where the prisoner left off, Kate feels compelled to help even though she's no longer part of the police force. Gritty and edgy, the novel moves along at a breakneck pace as Kate and her assistant, Tristan examine evidence and attempt to piece together the events that will point them to the newest threat. Can't wait for the next in this series!

Nine Elms is the start of a promising new series by Robert Bryndza. It’s been fifteen years since Kate solved the case of the Nine Elms killer. Fifteen years later there is a copycat on the loose. There is also a cold case that Kate is asked to investigate. What could the connection be? Or is there connection? This is a very well done police procedural. A book that was quite the page turner. We slowly get to know Kate and Tristan, a very unlikely duo, as they work the case as “private investigators”. There is plenty of room for character growth as the series progresses and I’m looking forward to getting to know them much better in the future!

This is the first book in Robert Bryndza's new 'Kate Marshall' series. Bryndza is also the author of the popular 'Detective Erika Foster' crime novels.

*****

In 1995 Detective Constable Kate Marshall of London's Metropolitan Police Service is on the team searching for the 'The Nine Elms Cannibal' - a serial killer who bites chunks from the teenage girls he murders. The killer's fourth victim was just found, and like the other dead girls, has a rope around her neck with a monkey's fist knot.

Kate's boss, and occasional lover, Detective Chief Inspector Peter Conway drives her to the crime scene and home, and accidentally drops a set of keys into her shopping bag.

At home, Kate finds the keys, which are attached to a rope tied with a monkey's fist knot. Holy crap! DCI Conway is the Nine Elms Cannibal! Conway comes back for his keys, and realizing he's been exposed, almost kills Kate before she clocks him and calls 999.

Kate is savaged during Conway's trial because she slept with him, and she subsequently loses her career, gives birth to Conway's son, and starts drinking heavily.

*****

Jump ahead fifteen years to 2010 and cannibal Peter is in a prison for the criminally insane.

Kate is a recovering alcoholic who teaches criminology at a university in Ashdean, on the south coast of England. Kate's drinking made her an unsuitable mother, and Kate's (and Conway's) 14-year-old son Jake lives with Kate's mum in London. Kate and Jake skype frequently, though, and see each other on school holidays.

Kate frets about Jake being the child of a serial killer because the boy may have inherited bad genes. Moreover, though Peter is forbidden to contact Jake now, he may try to get in touch when his son comes of age at sixteen. Kate and her mum try to protect Jake by curtailing his access to social media, but their attempts aren't completely successful.

Aside from worrying about Jake, Kate's life is going well. She likes to swim in the ocean; gets along well with her Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor Myra, who lives next door; and relishes her teaching job, where she talks about real cases.

In an ironic coincidence, Kate's school presentation about her brush with 'The Nine Elms Cannibal' is immediately followed by an email from the parents of a girl named Caitlyn Murray, who disappeared twenty years ago, at the age of sixteen.

The Murrays have come to believe their daughter was an early victim of Peter Conway, and they ask Kate to look for Caitlyn's remains.....so they can bury her.

At about the same time, the police become aware that a copycat cannibal, who calls himself a 'A FAN' of Peter Conway, has begun to mimic his hero's crimes. The copycat abducts teenage girls, bites and kills them, and leaves them in dump sites similar to those used by his idol.

Kate and her 21-year-old university assistant, Tristan Harper, start to look into Caitlyn's disappearance, and their investigation inevitably overlaps the copycat case. This annoys Detective Chief Inspector Varia Campbell, who's in charge of the copycat inquiries, and she tries to freeze Kate and Tristan out.

However, Kate and Tristan discover helpful clues, and - with a nudge from DCI Campbell - call themselves private detectives, have cards printed up, and jump into the copycat probe.

(This is a bit dubious, since private detectives in England need to be licensed.)

Kate is so disturbed by the search for Caitlyn - and the grisly copycat murders - that she's tempted to drink.....which would scuttle her entire life.

The book switches back and forth between the detectives' investigations; Peter Conway's activities in prison; and the actions of the copycat killer. We come to learn that the copycat is able to contact Peter via his mother Enid, who's permitted to visit her son without a glass barrier. Enid is a seductive, well-preserved woman who'd do anything for her beloved son.....with whom she has a disturbing relationship.

(Once again this is highly questionable. Enid is strip-searched by prison guards multiple times, but they allow her to bring in bags of sweets THAT GO UNCHECKED. And when Enid's 'hearing aid' mysteriously switches ears - which is noted by a prison guard - it doesn't trigger alarm bells. Are we supposed to believe this?)

Peter is angry at Kate for unmasking him 15 years ago, and he plots all kinds of revenge. Peter is aided in this endeavor by the copycat, who is hatching a sinister plot. In the meantime, the copycat is happily abducting and killing girls, and the torture he inflicts is described in lurid detail. So if you're squeamish, this isn't the book for you.

For me this thriller is just so-so. The story is engaging, but there are too many unlikely details.....and the relationship between Peter and Enid is batshit crazy. It's hard to believe that someone as disturbed as Peter could have functioned normally and risen to the rank of DCI.

On the upside, the characters are interesting, and the copycat's plan - though it stretches credibility - is inventive. I'd probably read the next book in the series, in hopes that the kinks are worked out.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author (Robert Bryndza), and the publisher (Thomas & Mercer) for a copy of the book.

Kate left the police force 15 years ago after she both caught the Nine Elms serial killer and bore a child by him. Wow. She's rebuilding her life slowly but surely - she's a lecturer at a University, she's dealing with her addiction issue in AA, and she's working at building a relationship with her son Jake. All this gets thrown into the air when the parents of Caitlyn, who went missing in Manchester, reach out to her because they are convinced their daughter was another victim. She, along with her assistant Tristan, realize there's a copy cat and well, fans of the genre know how this is going to go. It's a nice start for a new series- doing the setup for the characters. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Looking forward to the next one.