I haven't read anything by Ms Davidson before, so didn't know what to expect. The book was well written, and enthralling, gripping and entertaining throughout. The book starts with the murder of Andray Baxter, and the suspect is immediately identified as Jo. Jo that has a history which she doesn't want anyone to know about. This makes for a good solid read, and I will read more by ms Davidson in future.

Don’t Look Down is a good read in the Shadows of New York series. It is fast paced with a good plot and well-developed characters. Also, the inclusion of current events played well in the storyline. I would characterize this more as a mystery than a thriller, but that does not take anything away from the story or the author. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and look forward to reading more from this author. Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the opportunity to review this book.

Thrilling plot which I could not put down. Brilliant characters, and twists and turns. Highly recommend to other fans of this genre!!

4 Stars!!!

This new series is FIRE! Don't Look Down is book number 2, although you do not need to go back and read book number 1, I did. There is enough back story explained in order to pick up the relationship between the NYPD detectives Sheryn and Rafael.

If you pick this book up and are confused in the first few pages or hate Jo, the main character, initially, just keep reading.... ;)

The writing is superb! The plots are very twisty and cool. I also really enjoy the NYC setting. I can't wait to see where this series goes and what mysteries will be tackled by Sheryn and Rafael in the coming pages.

A special thank you to NetGalley, Thomas & Mercer, and Hilary Davidson for providing me with a reviewer copy.

Jo is expecting to pay is a blackmailer and gets a bullet instead. She also leaves hey blackmailer bleeding out on the floor at she escapes. She tries to flee but is caught. During her interrogation, she is shown a picture of her "blackmailer" but she had no idea who this really is.

As we dig into Jo's past, it's heartbreaking. Her sister she turned to when she had no one else was supposed to protect her but instead pimped her out. I did not like her boyfriend. I see why she didn't disclose her past to him but he didn't pay the bail she needed and felt she needed to go to prison for at least a night to, I don't know, learn a lesson I guess.

I felt the only one who actually cared about Jo in her life now was Detective Sheryn and she was investigating her!

Hilary Davidson's "Don't Look Down" is a fast-paced and twisty classic crime thriller that leaves one wanting more. The book begins with Detective Sheryn Sterling's assignment, which leads to a murder investigation involving Jo Greaver. The sound of her own blood was still beating in her ears. She felt like she had just stepped into a dream. The opening scenes were very moving, and I was worried for Jo as she waited for her next bad choice. Detective Sterling investigates a crime scene that's eerily similar to the one that Jo escaped from. He learns that there are differences in the apartment that led him to believe she was dead.

This book is very detailed and allows the reader to feel like they're in New York City. There are some wonderful details in the setting. The only way to get up was through the front door, which was wide open. Jo pushed her sunglasses up to hide her face. I couldn't put down this book until the end. Its one of those that I couldn't stop reading until the end. Joe saw her, and he cried as he tried to comfort her. She had no idea that there were people in her bed, and that she was dead .I get a sense of Jo's inner life but I don't get a good sense of how her body feels.

Sterling has thoughts about the people she is investigating. She's a fascinating character who has a unique point of view. This is a great crime thriller, with a compelling main character and a wonderful, idealistic, and sometimes challenging, lead detective.

Thank you, Thomas & Mercer for the gifted review copy via Netgalley

The second in the Shadows of New York series and I’m addicted! Hilary Davidson really did a fabulous job on this series and I’m hoping there’s more!!

Murder, suspense, love, betrayal, lies and revenge are just a few of the topics explored in this fast paced thriller.

We meet Jo and are reunited with Detective, Sheryn, a tough and fearless woman that knows the truth isn’t always black and white or clear cut. Jo is being blackmailed and is attempting to pay off her blackmailer when all hell breaks loose and they both end up being shot.

The story is good, the characters are deep and the plot just keeps twisting and getting darker and deeper.

Really enjoyed this one! And definitely recommend!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Special thanks to the author, Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for the advanced readers copy!

Jo Greaver would appear to have it all. A growing company, a loving partner, supportive friends, and up and coming success. She is also being blackmailed. When she comes to the payoff with a bag of money and a gun, the blackmailer is killed and she is injured. This seems an open and shut murder case for detectives Sterling and Mendoza and yet as the investigation goes on it just doesn’t add up somehow for Sterling.

I read this whole book in a couple of hours, which should say something about how good it is. The entire mystery is a hall of mirrors with circular clues, obvious, certainly guilty of something suspects, and a huge array of technicolor characters that should not have anything in common with each other. The author expertly juggles varied plot points using Sheryn Sterling and her partner as wonderful fixed points to keep the various threads of the story pulled tight, keeping the reading on the edge until the reveal shows how it all falls together. I have not read the first book in this series. It wasn’t needed as this stands alone nicely, however, I will make catching up a priority because these characters deserve to be read.

Jo Greaver Is very successful, but she has a secret past. Something she did as a teenager has come back to haunt her. Next thing we know there is a dead body in an apartment and Jo is on the run. Not everything is as it seems. This was a crime thriller that will keep you guessing. Thank you to net galley for a copy.

This was my first Davidson read and I really wanted to try to read the first book before reading this one since this is a series. I never did read the first one so I just decided to dive into this one blind.

It took me a while to get into and I’m not really sure why. It was a pretty easy read and I did enjoy it although I do think not knowing the series and characters held me back a bit. Hence why I prefer not to read series thrillers too often.

Solid mystery - cop procedural read!
Many thanks to everyone involved in getting me this early copy and my apologies for not getting to it sooner.

🌟🌟🌟 3 stars from me. .

Thank you so much for the copy. I tried to pick this one up but it did not work for me. Thank you for the opportunity to be an early reader.

I’m always looking for a good mystery and this one hit it on the head. It was a very engaging book and I enjoyed the hero. I enjoyed how everything pulled together at the end and the climax was fantastic.

I finished it last night, this book was quite the rollercoaster of action. It kept me guessing til the very last page. If you like Nordic Noirs you will enjoy this book. ⁣

I sincerely apologize for requesting this book - I didn't realize it was 2nd in a series and i simply don't do well reading a series out of order -

This is the second book in the series. And I didn’t even know it was a series until I went to update my Goodreads. So they definitely can be read as a standalone.

This book keeps you fully invested the whole way through. It pulled me in right from the beginning and it made it very hard to put down.

We have Jo who has made her own make up company. It is her baby and her dream. During this book you find out that Jo has had a very troubled childhood. I think that’s why her business and her company means so much to her. Because she was able to pull her self out of a life that would not have ended very well for her. Due to her past she is being blackmailed. And during this whole investigation so many other things come to light. And if you want to know what they are while you’re just going to have to read the book.

What a great book, very well written. I did enjoy the twist even though you could kind of see part of that twist coming you certainly couldn’t have gotten it all. So I am going to go back and read the first book in the series and I look forward to even more.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for my honest review

2.5/5 stars - rounded up

I’ll keep this short – I hate when I have to give a less than favorable review. Based on other reviews I am definitely in the minority for this. So I think it could be more so “it’s not you its me” with this book. DON’T LOOK DOWN is the second book in the Shadows of New York series, but it read just fine as a standalone (as I hadn’t read the first book).

I found myself in and out of the story as far as my interest. If you don’t frequent the police procedural genre then I think this will be perfect for you. For those that read a lot of these books, this might feel a little repetitive at times. Suspend some belief for this one and I didn’t feel too connected to the characters.

Again, I really think it that this didn’t mesh well with me as a reader. The writing was solid and I think Davidson put together a good mystery with some cat and mouse to it. The pacing is what got me and this one took longer than anticipated to get through.

This was my first book by Hilary Davidson. I didnt realize it was a series but went back and got the first one so I am excited to read that one also.

***Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer!***

In the interest of full disclosure, I will tell you that I did not read the entire book. I read to 150 pages and I just couldn’t stomach it anymore. Reading it was painful and I just couldn’t do it. And since I am about 98% sure I know how it’s going to end, there really wasn’t much to keep me reading any further.

This book is just not good. It’s not a good character story nor is it a good police procedural. I am not an expert in the law or police procedure, by any means, however I have read enough books and watched enough Law & Order that I know how these types of books should work. I have a basic understanding of the law and how it works and this was not even close to being accurate. This case would get thrown into the nearest paper shredder and the detectives would be berated in open court to handle a case this way.

Also, consider this your ***SPOILER WARNING***



Three prime examples that the author has zero idea how the police actually function:

The detectives go to the office of a suspect and state that they need to speak with said suspect, the fill-in receptionist advises that the suspect is not there but her office is that way so feel free to wait. Apparently this is a good enough cause for the detectives to search the suspect’s office. They do not have a warrant. They have not obtained permission unless you count the receptionist and yet they snoop through everything and decide to obtain a warrant for the suspect’s home once they find something. That is called an unlawful search and any evidence obtained in said search is automatically inadmissible in court, except in this book.
They go search the suspect’s home and find her boyfriend there, they do not escort the boyfriend outside or to a specific place while they conduct the search. He just follows them around from room to room, offering an opinion on what they find and being asked leading questions about their investigation. Apparently in this book a search warrant also means that you get to search anything in the home and seize anything you feel like. That isn’t how search warrants work. Typically search warrants indicate exactly what sort of evidence you believe that you will find or that you believe is relevant to the investigation. For example, a murder weapon, belongings of the victim, etc. You don’t just get to snoop and seize things on a whim because they might pertain to your investigation. Also, one of the uniform police officers is asked to crack open a safe. Which he does, in just a few minutes. Is safe cracking a typical skill for a beat cop?
When they find the suspect they are unconscious from blood loss. The suspect is taken to the hospital for treatment after being placed under arrest. The detectives then literally have a conversation of “Do you think we have to Mirandize her again? I don’t think it counts if they’re unconscious.” No, it doesn’t count. But apparently this is also a book that a suspect is taken into custody after suffering a gunshot wound that has left them unconscious from blood loss and they are expected in court the next day to be arraigned.
Also, on to another rant. This felt like a social justice rant. Every other page you have the African American detective making some observation about how awful things are for minorities in New York City and how wonderful white people have things. For example, “That’s assuming that the DA will arraign a wealthy white woman for possession of an illegal firearm, which isn’t likely.” Spare me. In case Ms. Davidson hadn’t noticed, she is white. And lecturing the reader about racial injustice. Personally, I am so white that I practically glow in the dark so I understand that I have very little perception of what minorities in this country experience on a day to day basis. I found it condescending for a white woman to be lecturing about the plight of another race. A plight that she does not understand.

Finally, this story is predictable. I knew how this was going to go by page fifty. All it took was one line (not a direct quote, I can’t be bothered to find it again), “If I had to pinpoint my blackmailer I would have said Lori in a second, but Lori had been dead for eighteen months.” Well there you have it folks. Two possibilities. Either Lori is not really dead and exacting revenge for some past slight. Or Lori is actually dead and someone close to her is exacting revenge for some past slight. I really don’t need to slog through 300 more painfully bad pages to find out that the ending is exactly what I think it is.

Wow! Don’t think I’ve ever read a crime thriller so fast. Won’t give a spoiler, but The Who Dunnit has you guessing until the very last page.
I did not read the prequel to this book, but I was not lost at all. It was good as a stand-alone. Would absolutely recommend to lovers of crime books. Very fast paced.

This is the second book in the series and I couldn’t wait to read it since I loved the first book so much.
I absolutely love the way this author writes her books, it keeps me hooked til the very end. She’s becoming one of my favorite authors.
Jo had a pretty rough past and all of a sudden it’s caught up to her. She’s being blackmailed and framed. Our main character, Sheryn is a detective and one of the best.
It flops back and forth between and few different characters and you learn a lot throughout the book.
I definitely recommend!