Thank you NetGalley and Avon/HarperCollins Publishers for a copy of Watch Over You in exchange for my honest review.

This is the 3rd is the DS Jo Masters series. Compared to the first two books, this one started very slowly and was difficult to grab the reader's attention. It's a very good police procedural but a bit all over the place as DS Masters returns to work after her 6 month maternity leave to investigate her friend Harry Ferman's death.

There are many recurring characters from the previous two books so it's best to read the series in order.

I’ve never read the author before, though I have false memories of reading his work. Weird! Anyway, this is a great introduction to his work and more books have been added to my TBR list. This has everything I expect from a good thriller; fast pace, twists and turns, misdirection, realistic police investigation and great characters. Josie is a great character. You get to see her as a new mother and a great police officer in Watch over You. The book is quite dark at times as more and more bodies pile up and Josie and her team discover who the killer is and just why he’s pursuing the young woman. I enjoyed everything about this book.

Third in a series but easily read as a stand alone. It is a very good police procedural but I had a hard time with it holding my interest and connecting with this book.. It may have timeline shifts from James to the present day events. It took a long time for him to be brought forth into the present so it seemed his activities didn't make a lot of sense or capture interest until late. The characters other than the police were strange and none very likeable. At some point, Megan becomes both the victim and the perpetrator and she has so much baggage and mental issues you're not sure if you're supposed to feel sorry for her or understand that she played a big part in her own destruction.
Overall a good read, just not my favorite of this series.
I was provided an advanced reader copy of the book. I was under no obligation to provide a review. The opinions expressed are my own.
Thanks to the author,publisher, and NetGalley for he opportunity to read this book.

This is the third book in the Det Josie Masters series.

Josie is just back from maternity leave and is launched straight into a murder investigation but this time it is personal as it’s the death of her friend and old colleague, Harry who has been found bludgeoned in his home…. during the investigation it is discovered that Harry had a young girl living with him and some insinuations are made which Josie does not like, Harry wasn’t like that, but is this girl the cause of his death or the murderer?

Josie is struggling at the moment with her work, life, balance and juggling motherhood and an intense job!

An intriguing plot line with twists along the way, another good police procedural story and more character development made for a great book.

Firstly a big thank you to the publishers for my netgalley read and having me on the tour. I loved his last 2 books so was looking forward to this .

For me personally it wasnt quite as gripping as the other 2 books in the series.

Though i could personally relate to Josie who was now a single mum .o felt we got to connect with her as a person in this book and not just a police officer.

Still packed with the thrill of mysterious killings.

Great plotting and pacing to the storyline.

Do check out the other blogs taking part in the tour.

Published 9th july.

A gritty police drama!

I really enjoy an exciting, gritty police drama and ‘Watch Over You’ fits the bill. It features Jo Masters, a single mum back on the front line, after maternity leave. It is the third book in the series by M. J. Ford.

Jo is certainly tested in this trial, both physically and mentally, because the subject of her investigation is Harry ... a retired policeman and close friend, who is murdered in the most gruesome and senseless way.

From the outset, Jo was obviously shocked and distraught because it raised the questions... Who and why would anyone want to kill Harry? Plus there was evidence that a young girl was living in Harry’s house. Why? It just didn’t make sense!

At each step along the way, Jo came up against a brick wall. With so many puzzles to decipher, twists and turns in abundance, with even more murders to untangle.

Jo had so many personal issues to face, on top of her professional responsibilities, showing her to be a great feisty personality. I enjoyed following the rocky road all along the way, to finally arrive at a perfect conclusion!

Galadriel.

Elite Reviewing Group received a copy of this book to review.

This is the third book following DS Josie Masters and it’s a series that I’m thoroughly enjoying. I definitely think you’d get more from Watch Over You if you read books 1 and 2 first as Jo is a character who has been through a great deal of trauma and this has shaped the woman we meet here. Hold My Hand especially sets up the backstory perfectly and is a brilliant read so make sure you add it to your wish list too.

Jo is struggling to balance her personal and working life as all working single mums do. The guilt is spoiling her love of both parts of her life and something has to give but what? But when a case comes along that has a personal connection for Jo she knows she has to devote herself to it. Called to the Murder scene of a good friend of hers, Jo is determined to find the culprit who did this. Her friend Harry lived alone but there is evidence of a young girl having been there. Who is this girl and what is her connection to Harry? A complex and twisty investigation follows that puts everyone close to the girl in danger and a rising body count leads Jo to make some shocking choices…

Watch Over You had a slow start but the last third really increased the pace so that the tension became almost unbearable. Once all the threads started to come together, it became a race against time to find the perpetrator of the trail of devastation and prevent more deaths from happening. The plot was complex but clever with flashbacks for clarity. There was a very sad backstory at one point that was the starting point for most of the crimes that took place and it was often hard for me to feel anger at the perpetrator. I just felt such an injustice that some people are pushed down a path that shouldn’t be theirs but due to circumstances beyond their control it’s the one they are set off on. That’s not to say that there aren’t branches off that path to change the direction of their journey but it’s never that easy is it?

Watch Over You was a gripping read once I got into it. Jo is a fascinating character and I find her more interesting and relatable the further we travel into this series. And although I also love the setting of Oxford and the surrounding areas, it really is Josie Masters that keeps me coming back to this author. Definitely a series you need to check out crime fans!

Josie is back after six months maternity leave & is straight into a murder investigation. This time it is the death of her friend & one time colleague Harry. It seems that Harry had a young girl staying with him. Although there are some sly comments Josie is sure that Harry was trying to help. When other bodies begin to appear Josie finds herself hunting a serial killer & wondering if she has come back to work too soon. Can she really do her job properly whilst being a good Mum?

I had read the previous books in the series & really enjoyed them. This one was a bit of disappointment- bit too much maternal angst & not too much story. Fortunately it did pick up & after about halfway through I was engrossed. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.I'm looking forward to what happens next.

This book is the third in a series featuring Jo Masters. I hadn’t read the previous two, and this is perfect as a standalone, but I’d love to go back and read the other two.

This is such a gripping book. It had me reading late into the night, it’s very hard to put down.

It starts with a prologue that it is intriguing, as it’s hard to see where it links into the rest of the story. There is, in fact, a dual storyline and timeline, and eventually it begins to make sense. This really ramps up the tension.

I wasn’t sure about Jo at the beginning, but as I got to know her better I really liked her. She’s trying to balance new motherhood with her return to work, and when one of the victims is her friend, Harry, she’s determined to track down the killer.

This book is real edge of your seat stuff. The plot is complex and compelling, and as the pace increases towards the end, it’s impossible to stop reading.

A superb police procedural, thrilling and at times shocking, but with really authentic characters. Absolutely recommend it very highly.

4.5 stars

This is a really good police procedural/detective fiction story. I wonder if it is the beginning of a series since it does feel like the cast would easily move into recurring characters verses main characters.

I wasn’t really a fan of having James as a main POV character. I would have left his POV at just the prologue and then pushed him back to background status until he showed up in the story.

To me, Jo (DS Josie Masters) was the main character here. Her conflict between leaving her young son and then having to work the case of her old boss was compelling.

I would have loved to see a partner come into the picture at some point but most of the people working with her really seemed more of the recurring variety than the sidekick variety.

Definitely want to continue on with this author. Definitely loved her style.

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.

I have been back into police procedural reading this week with the entertaining Watch Over You. It sees lead character Josie Masters returning to work after her maternity leave and finding herself thrust directly into a murder investigation.

Thrust may not be the best word to use in this instance. Josie is determined she will not be stuck behind a desk on her return to duty so she takes the opportunity to get involved in active cases as soon as she gets into the squadroom. Unfortunately for Josie the first incident she attends turns out to be the death of a friend and former colleague. His body is found in his home, a nasty head injury appears the cause of death. Josie had bonded with Harry (the deceased) during her maternity leave and the pair often met for a chat in Harry’s local pub. Josie cannot let someone else handle this case.

While inspecting Harry’s house for signs of an intruder Josie and the Scene of Crime team find evidence to suggest Harry had a house guest. He never mentioned this to Josie and there is no sign of anyone else in the house now, yet the evidence is clear – Harry hadn’t been living alone. So where was this mystery (female) guest?

When questioned neighbours indicated they had seen a young girl in Harry’s house. There is also the suggestion that the girl had been angry and was spotted running away from Harry’s house on the day of the murder. Josie had a suspect but very little to go on other than knowing she was looking foe a young girl with long blonde hair.

Fate was to throw Josie a helping hand – but at a steep price. A double murder elsewhere in Oxford shows a link to Harry’s death. The link being the blonde girl. The police now know her name and it seems she may be connected to another case Josie’s colleagues have been working on, the death of a young drug dealer.

The body count is mounting up and Josie is no closer to finding the blonde girl. However there is a new added complication – the blonde may also be in danger. Can Josie find her to get the truth about Harry’s death before it is too late?

Watch Over You is a perfect pick for readers that want to be in the thick of an investigation. The story does have a few cut-away moments which set up some key background events, however it is very much Josie’s story. The death of her friend. Juggling baby and a busy return to work. Dealing with a difficult ex and reintegration with her colleagues. Plenty going on and the author balances the story well.

My thanks to Avon Books U.K. for an invitation to receive a digital edition via NetGalley of ‘Watch Over You’ by M. J. Ford in exchange for an honest review.

It is the third in his series of police procedurals set in Oxford and featuring DS Josie (Josephine) Masters. I had previously read and enjoyed ‘Keep Her Close’, which ended with a surprise for Josie.

Over a year has passed and Josie is now a single mum with a six-month old son, Theo. She is returning to work following her maternity leave. First day and she is settling back in. On her way to pick up Theo from daycare a call comes over her comms of a serious incident at an address she recognises as the home of her friend and former colleague, Harry Ferman. Josie had thought Harry lived alone but there is evidence that a young woman was living with him. Who is she? It appears that she has fled the scene and is on the run.

It isn’t long before the bodies are stacking up and a massive police operation is underway. While Josie is well and truly caught up in the case, what about her responsibilities towards Theo?

I felt my heart sinking a little with news of Josie now being a mum. Clearly she was keen to get back to work and this turned out to be a huge case with a highly personal twist with Harry’s murder but all those nappy changes, broken nights and childcare issues must have effected her ability to focus. They also slowed down the earlier part of the novel. However, this may be a niggle personal to me as I am not interested in reading about babies.

Still, despite a slow start this proved a solid police procedural with some brilliant twists and great deal of edge-of-the-seat tension especially in the concluding chapters.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

Watch over You is M J Ford’s third book in the series featuring detective Josie Masters. I have to confess to not having read the previous two so I came to her character with completely fresh eyes and absolutely LOVED it.
The storyline is gripping from the word go so that I cast everything else aside and remained in my reading bubble until I’d read the last page, easily finishing in one sitting.

Jo Masters becomes the SIO on this latest investigation that begins with the death of her friend Harry, a former police officer. Although distressing for Jo who is still struggling with motherhood, she cannot let her personal connection and emotional frailty detract from pursuing his killer and bringing them to justice.
After the initial assessment of the crime scene, clues are discovered throwing light onto Harry’s last days, and the solitary life Jo believed him to lead is cast in doubt. A female presence in the house is detected, the nature of which needs to be determined. A lodger seems to be the mostly likely scenario but where is she??? With more dead bodies around Oxford being discovered at an alarming rate could this elusive woman be the important link? The hunt for her whereabouts is on.

Taking Jo from Oxford to further north, I was addicted to the unravelling storyline, wanting justice for those left dead but particularly for Harry. The way the author describes the scene of his murder tugged at my heartstrings, intimating of a kindly yet lonely elderly man probably bordering on alcoholic, an unlikely but valued friend to Jo.

Back from maternity leave, Jo faces that eternal dilemma between throwing herself back into a job she’s previously loved and devoting her time as a mother to a tiny human being that relies solely on her love and care. Obviously Jo’s kind of policing is not your usual 9 to 5 occupation where you can walk out the door after eight hours and not look back. I did wonder how on earth she thought this kind of job was compatible with being a single mum, and had it not been for the support of brother Paul and his wife Amelia I could envisage poor little Theo being passed from pillar to post. I could understand and admire Jo’s determination to carry on in her role as SIO but equally found it naive. As any mother knows, juggling a demanding job with an even more demanding baby is stressful so I think the author has managed to articulate these dilemmas beautifully.

Whilst this strand of thought is running throughout, it didn’t detract from the storyline which I found to be set at a reasonable enough pace, with tension mounting in synchronisation with the revelation of information linking all these individuals together. It’s grim and fairly gruesome in places, although not off putting. Suffice to say Jo’s investigation leads her into the path of some very damaged and unsavoury characters shaped by their troubled pasts. Everyone has at least two sides to their character so whilst predominantly dangerous and hateful there was a tiny part of me that felt sadness for lives that have been potentially ruined and compromised from their beginning.

I don’t think it matters if you’ve read any of the previous books in this series or not since every title should be judged on its merits alone. However I do think knowing more of Jo’s background and her relationship to her colleagues would have added further to my enjoyment of Watch Over You. As with any police procedural being part of a cohesive team is essential and I liked Jo’s relationship with Carrick. They seem to have an ongoing mutual respect for one another which I can imagine must be hard to maintain when decisions are being made that you don’t necessarily agree with.

Mostly narrated in the present but with occasional glimpses of the killer’s past I found this such an enjoyable, easy read. I became so caught up in the details of this investigation, never once being able to join the dots. I thought very early on I knew which direction the storyline was taking but wasn’t quite on track. Thanks to Jo and team I raced towards the ending (which I thought was satisfying) with my heart in my mouth. For me this book combines a gripping storyline with sensitively written backstories providing a lovely human touch to counteract the more grittier overall nature of this particular investigation. In my opinion this is definitely worth a read.
My thanks as always to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read.

DS Jo Masters is back with a bang after maternity leave. A roller coaster ride of a book that throws her well and truly back into the deep end. When her friend Harry is found murdered in his own home, it becomes personal and she will stop at nothing to find his killer. Was it a burglary gone wrong? Or was there something more sinister at play? When further murders in the area threaten to distract her from what is important, her personal and professional lives threaten to overwhelm her. Strong characters and a complex storyline make this another excellent book in this great series. I sincerely hope it’s not the last.

Really great thriller which is packed full of action the whole way through.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

I’m not sure what happened with this one. I found the pace of the narrative rather slow and it wasn’t until the final chapters did I appreciate the intensity. It’s my first read by Ford and I was sadly left feeling underwhelmed and a little bit flat.

The main character, Josie, is returning to work just six months after having her son. I was surprised at her ability to cope throughout the novel, particularly the emotional strain she experiences. This is not just from the crime she is investigating, but also the separation from her little boy. She generally keeps the two worlds exclusive of one another, but the inevitable child-care issues come to light at the murders stack up. On reflection, I found her difficult to believe in as a character: the keeness towards returning to work, as if she had something to prove, made her seem a rather cold, reluctant mother.

Whilst this is the third book of a series, I happily read this as a stand-alone. There were many references to the previous stories but I don’t think this hindered my understanding of the characters. It did make their relationships tricky to fathom and the past they shared. In particular, I would liked to have seen more emphasis on Jo’s circumstances as a mother and her relationship with Lucas; I guess this is covered in the previous stories.

Although the crimes were shocking, the plot itself did not grab me. It did not feel too dissimilar to other books of the same genre that I have read. I did struggle with Ford’s clever time frame as well. Whilst we follow Jo as the crimes are developing, we switch to James’s perspective which starts several weeks in the past before catching up to present day. This was a little confusing to process, especially when trying to put the clues in the right order.

This was an average read for me that didn’t quite ignite my imagination as I had hoped. I may consider reading the previous books in the series to see whether they are comparable in terms of pace and plot development. Personally, I think there are more gripping stories out there that grab you from the beginning.

With thanks to Avon books and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Watch Over You is the third book in the series by M.J. Ford featuring DS Josie Masters, but it was the first book in the series that I had read, so I would say it can certainly be read as a stand alone novel. There are references to some matters which happen in the previous books which help to fill in Josie’s background and explain why she is in her current situation.
We join Josie on her first day back at work from maternity leave. She wants to return to work, but feels bad about leaving her baby in a nursery. The guilt is heightened when she has to call upon her sister in law to collect her son from nursery when her work day is unexpectedly extended when she is called to a further job when her ex-colleague and friend is found dead. Who could want to kill an old man and former police officer? Can Josie solve the case? Will Josie be able to assuage her guilt about leaving her son in the care of professionals and achieve a better work/ life balance?
A great thriller full of drama, brilliant characters and twists and turns.
Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for a Kindle copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A great crime thriller in the DS Josie Masters series.
Back from maternity leave, Josie is called out to an incident at where she finds her old friend, Harry, dead on the floor from a head injury.
It appears that Harry has had a young blonde woman staying at his house but it’s not clear if she’s the killer.
More bodies are soon found in the area and the same woman appears to be involved.
As well as this we read about events several moths earlier and the present and the past all come together in the end.
This is a great crime thriller with a few twists and turns to make things interesting.
Thanks to Avon Books UK and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

DS Josie Masters is shocked to find her friend and mentor Harry beaten to death on the floor of his home. She's newly back to work after maternity leave - and she's struggling a bit as a single mom- and this is the last thing she expected. Wait- she really did expect to hear that there was a young woman involved or that there would be more bodies. This is told primarily from her point of view but you'll also hear from James, a villain. If I have one quibble with this well crafted series (this one is fine as a standalone) , it's the high body count for Oxford, which is, let's face it, a place that's seen a lot of murder in a variety of books and tv series. That said, it's a wonderful place and Jo's a great character. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. For fans of British procedurals.

A gripping thriller full of twists and turns with a cast of great characters and a solid mystery.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.