DS Lynda Hagen has had a long career but is now stuck in a rut, investigating traffic incidents. Hardly riveting cases; until she encounters a case where a man and a woman are found in a car which has been involved in a high speed crash. Neither of them have any ID on them, the car has false number plates and has had all identifying marks removed from the car. Who are they? How did they come to be involved in the crash? Is it more than a straightforward accident?
DS Lynda Hagan is bored at work and at home, could this case be the one to transform her life? Will she be able to solve the mystery?
Such a brilliant, well crafted thriller. The characters are great, I had empathy for those I would not not expect to feel for and rooting for unlikely rogues! The book jumps back and forth in a period of approximately a month to flesh out the story and uncover what has happened and this works really well.  A great read.
I would like to see the return to DS Linda Hagen in another book. 
Thanks to NetGalley for a Kindle copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

You can tell a writer is at the top of their game when they are able to create a character that is quite unlikable and unsympathetic, yet still makes you come round to her by the end of the novel and that's what I felt about DS Lynda Hagen. I feel that Paul Finch is the master of nuance. I'm ashamed to say I haven't read any of his novels before and am glad I kicked off my Finch reading experience with One Eye Open, which is a standalone. 
Written from the point of view of both DS Hagen and Elliott Wade, the villain ex formula one racing driver, One Eye Open is as adrenalin packed and fast paced as a Grand Prix. 
The things I loved about this is the way Finch builds up the character layers bit by bit, letting us get to know them in all facets of their life. Having access to Hagen's domestic and professional life softens her rough corners a little, although, she is also quite frustrating as a character - but I'm not going to say too much more about that - you should read it to find out more. 

I loved the very different positioning of the main investigator. It was a delightful change to have a highway collisions officer rather than the tired old detective calling the shots. 
I loved the way, Finch builds up the characters of the victims bit by bit. interspersing their story with both Elliot's and Hagen's.
If you like fast paced, intelligent and thought provoking thrillers, then One Eye Open is definitely one for you.

An action packed thriller of a book. It has everything, North and South criminal gangs,dodgy coppers,good coppers,terrifying bad guys and a truly evil woman and . I  loved every page!
I  Hope it is the start if a new series. Thanks to the publisher and,net galley for an ARC.

I absolutely love Paul's writing, and once again he doesn't disappoint.  This book grips you by the throat at page one, and you only get to breath again at the last page.  This is highly recommended for anyone who loves a great read and doesn't want to loose out! 
TB

There has bee a car crash. The two people inside the car have no identification on them, the car had false number plates and there was a lot of cash lying around. DS Lynda Hagen is s Serious Crime Collision Officer. She's been called into investigate the high speed crash. The victims are in a critical condition. Lynda is told to wrap this case up but she wants to get to the bottom of it.

This book is a  perfect mix of mystery, thriller, gangland crime and police procedural. I liked DS Lynda Hagen.  I'd like to read more books featuring her. She could be little annoying at times but she's also first and determined.  The story is told by Lynda and Elliot's point of view. Elliot's story is told from before the crash happened. The pace is fast and the tension builds. There's plenty of twists to keep your attention.  The odds were against Lynda from the start but she never have up. 

I would like to thank NetGalley, Orion Publishing Group and the author Paul Finch for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Fast paced thriller which goes back and forth between New Years Eve and early January. Fortunately this was helped by the dates being shown. 
Interesting storyline and surprise ending

This is a great crime thriller. 
The book begins with a horrific car crash that leaves both people in the car fighting for their lives. 
Lynda and Clive are called to the incident as part of the traffic Police but with the discovery of wads of money, Lynda knows there’s more to this than just a car crash. 
The chapters alternate between Elliot who was the driver of the car and Lynda who is determined to get to the bottom of the incident. 
We find out the background from Elliot’s chapters and it all comes together when Elliot and Harriet run from the hospital and a killer is after them. 
Just when you think it’s all wrapped up it all kicks off again and Lynda is involved way over her head, but won’t let go. 
This is a gripping crime thriller that really had me hooked throughout the book. 
Thanks to Orion Publishing Group and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

I was a touch apprehensive about reading this, as I am a massive fan of Finch’s Heck series and didn’t want to be disappointed by this stand-alone.  I shouldn’t have worried, though, because Finch stays true to his genre and style and delivers yet another blistering, action-packed, thriller of a read. I couldn’t bear to put it down. 

I love that the main protagonist here is a female detective and that there are shades of the maverick Mark Heckenburg about her. A DS in the traffic division, Lynda Hagen is keen to get her teeth into something a bit meatier than the usual RTA. And her chance comes when a vehicle with two critically injured passengers is found in a ditch off a busy main road. Who are they? Why does the car have false plates? And what’s with the huge amount of cash?

The story is narrated from two perspectives and in two timelines: by Elliot, the man in the car, in the lead up to the crash, and by Lynda,  post crash, as she tries to piece together the why’s and wherefore’s, while resisting being shunted aside by the organized crime division. 

It’s a rollercoaster ride involving sparring gangland criminals, police corruption and more twists than a corkscrew. And it just wouldn’t be Finch without his trademark, heart-pumping action scenes. It’s nerve-wracking, gripping and exhausting — but then, you don’t read Finch for a sedate walk in the park. 

Lynda Hagen is a brilliant character. I love that she’s principled and a bit of a loose cannon and that, like many women who’ve put family before career, she’s still itching to show what she can do. Boy, do I want to see her again in a new case!  Mr Finch, I hope you’re listening.

It took me almost all the book to decide that I should give this a 5 star rating and not a 4 star
It's hard for an author to provide the reader with a really good crime story with police, good baddies, bad baddies, violence and comeuppance.  What swung the rating for me was the brilliant 'chase' sequences as good as I have read and very good characterisations of the major players.
There are a number of good twists and turns and you are never quite sure what happened and who are the real baddies.
So an excellent read and definitely recommended.
A couple of criticisms from someone who would not know how to start to write a book like this:
1) the ending is good but it really needed a final late late twist with possibly a what will happen next final sentence
2) not sure about the title (I may have missed the reason) but it seemed to relate to one minor character who only participated  for 2 or 3 pages

This book is so fast paced it will leave you gasping for breath! A brilliant thriller that is cleverly written both in present day and in the weeks leading up to the crash. All of the characters are believable and ay their part well.

This is definitely an action packed police procedural. It’s starts really well, with a car crash involving individuals with no identification, a car with false number plates and a lot of cash.

What follows is the story of Lynda, a strong female protagonist and DS in the traffic division and her attempts to solve the mystery.
it’s got twists and turns aplenty and if you’re into action with a good storyline, this is for you.

I enjoyed it. Just felt there was a bit too much ‘movie action’ for my taste.

3* good read with thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to preview.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for this ARC.   

Having loved the authors DI Heckenberg series I was pleased to be approved for his new standalone book.  

I initially felt this book was a bit of a slow burner - it was good, it just wasn’t thrilling me.   It  really started to pick up its pace about 40% in.  I really liked the main character DS Lynda Hagen, and found her to be feisty, annoying, tenacious and very determined.  I enjoyed reading of the small glimpses into her personal life and her working relationships with her colleagues as she investigates a car accident where all is not as it seems.   At around half way the book became more of a riveting read.  It had plenty of action, lots of surprises, twists and turns (most I did not expect) and the last quarter raced to a nail biting and thrilling ending.   If the author writes another book featuring DS Hagen I would definitely want to read it.  4 stars ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Gangland warfare erupts in the English home counties in this dazzling thriller.
The twists in the plot come fast and furious and the pace never slackens.
The action, the characters, the dialogue are all razor-sharp.
One book that truly does deserve to be described as 'unputdownable'.

DS Lynda Hagen of Traffic Division is called in when a car is found after coming off a busy road into woodland. The car is crushed against a tree and the occupants are barely alive.
Lynda initially believes it’s an accident but the occupants are carrying no ID, the car has false plates and they were carrying a lot of cash. A lack of skid marks on the road shows they didn’t attempt to break when the car went out of control.
Lynda is determined to get to the bottom of what happened but unable to question the car’s driver and passenger she has to look in other places for her answers, This will take her into a dark world she barely knew existed and could well cost her everything.  
I am a massive fan of the Paul Finch Heckenburg books so I was excited to read this standalone book. It was brilliant! Great plot, great characters, Just what a good book should be.Can’t recommend it highly enough!

I am a bit of a fan of this author and his series books. This is either a stand alone (which it is billed as) or the start of a new series (fingers crossed), either way, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
We meet the strange animal that is DS Lynda Hagen. She's an accident investigation officer and is called to the scene of a crash. A car containing two barely alive occupants, fake plates, and a bunch of cash. We then slide back in time to a couple of weeks before the crash and witness the events that led up to that fateful day, all the time switching back to the investigation in the present. This happens seamlessly and the dual timelines complement each other perfectly. It seems that there is much much more to what happened than just a crash as Lynda finds out as she investigates further. Her pleas however do fall a bit on deaf ears so she takes a lot upon herself to progress things.
I took to Lynda right from the off, which really helps me connect with the book in general. She's mostly happily married to a former serious crimes cop and has a family. She made the switch to traffic, and the 9-5 it mostly affords her, for the sake of said family but she still hankers for a juicy case. Which I guess is why sometimes her musings fall on deaf ears. But this time... well, let's just say you're in for a wild ride!
The story is great. Lots to get into, twists and turns aplenty and very action packed. It really does get on with itself with little superfluous waffle or padding. Enough to set scenes and flesh out characters but nothing to distract. It weaves around and about itself, and time, ramping up towards the end to deliver a shocking and fitting ending which left me wholly satisfied.
I wonder if this will remain a stand alone. I feel that Lynda has more to give. Hopefully a follow up might be in the offing or maybe she could crossover into one of the other series... Either way...
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

This is a standalone from the ever-dependable Paul Finch and it is a great read.  The lead cop is involved principally in traffic but she becomes involved in organised crime, gangland culture and miscreant family.  The case involves identifying the victims of a car crash and investigating their involvement in theft, violent crime and murder.  A fast-paced and exciting thriller, this novel grips from first to last.  Excellent!

I was really intrigued when I noticed that Paul Finch had a standalone novel coming out. I’m a huge fan of his DS Mark Heckenburg and DC Lucy Clayburn series, so I jumped at the chance to read One Eye Open. The thing which sparked my interest for me very early on in this book is that it is set fairly local to me. I travel down the A12 near enough every day. It came as a surprise to me when this became the setting of the crime scene. The star of Paul Finch’s new series, DS Lynda Hagen, responds to a horrific accident that has taken place on this road. The people involved in the accident are close to death but are rushed to hospital. As the investigation into what happened to them heats up, it becomes clear to Lynda and her team that this is part of something far more complex.

Paul Finch takes a different approach with this book. As the investigation begins, Paul Finch takes us back in time as he explores the lead up to the devastating crash. We begin to understand who the victims are and why they ended up in this state. This is what made this book really intriguing for me. We can begin to see the motives that are at play here.

I really liked DS Lynda Hagen. To me, she seemed like a breath of fresh air. She gave up working in the police force many years ago to raise a family, and when she met her husband, also a police officer, they both transferred to different forces. Lynda is now working with the traffic team. But as it becomes clear that there is something far darker at play here, she begins to reminisce about the old days, and she pushes herself further than is needed. This doesn’t go down too well with her bosses, especially when Scotland Yard is called in to help deal with the case. 

Paul Finch also explored Lynda’s relationship with her husband really well. Like Lynda, he was also a police officer, but his career is now over, and he is trying to make it as a true-crime writer. Although frustrations are boiling over for him when it seems that there is little interest from editors in the book he has written. 
There are some tense action scenes throughout the book, which is something I’ve come to expect from a novel by Paul Finch. It’s what always makes his book really exciting for me and he keeps me utterly gripped. He never gives his characters an easy ride. 

I’d highly recommend One Eye Open. If I could, I would easily give it more than five stars; I’m sure it’ll be in my top ten reads at the end of the year. I hope that Paul Finch returns to Lynda Hagen in the future. If you’re a fan of this author, then you definitely need to check this book out!

This is an unbiased review of One Eye Open by Paul Finch.  I would like to thank Netgalley and Orion Publishing Group for an advance copy of One Eye Open.

Wow I absolutely loved this stand alone masterpiece. It's a slight change of style by Paul; I enjoyed the different perspectives of past and present and found myself really rooting for  the 'criminals'.
No spoilers here, just read it and enjoy, you won't regret reading it, or any other Finch books.

Oh I do love a good Paul Finch novel and this is an excellent Paul FInch novel. Although billed as a standalone, I can't help wishing that it could be turned into a series, or that we could meet the characters again as I loved this book and really got behind the dynamic new lead character of Lynda Hagen. Who knew life as. Traffic Cop could be so damned perilous?

Lynda is a Detective Sergeant with the traffic team. Her husband is a former Detective Inspector trying to make it as a true crime writer, whose own backstory is dominated by one tragic investigation that has led to a case of career ending PTSD. Along the way to this point Lynda's own career took a kind of diversion (every pun intended) and now there is that sense of the need to find that one career defining case, the one investigation that is more than just a routine road traffic collision and that case has just fallen into her lap. Or, more accurately, off the edge of the A12 ... One car, two passengers, no identification and no clear reason as to why they would have crashed. Until Lynda tracks down a large quantity of cash and bullets embedded in a tree at the crash site. Not your average crash then.

The story is full of more twists and turns that the Suffolk streets and farmland on which the action takes place and is full of threat and tension. Running alongside the present day investigation as readers we are treated to scenes before the accident, filling in the gaps in our knowledge of what happened in the weeks leading up to this dark and potentially deadly night. It is an investigation that brings Lynda up close and personal with the Organised Crime team, and it is very clear that the police are not the only people who want to speak to the two victims. With fast paced action, dramatic shoot outs and an overwhelming sense of threat against not only the couple who were in the car but also Lynda as the investigating officer who won't ignore her own instincts no matter what her commanding officers might say, this book had me completely hooked from the very start. 

I love this kind of book and it is something that Paul Finch, with his own experience and understanding as a backdrop to his writing, excels at. You get brilliant characters who are diverse and yet authentic, who vary from the determined and feisty copper to the thuggish and menacing bad guy, but all of whom keep you fixed on the page. The sense of place and the creation of setting is superb and the author has a way of describing things that put you at the heart of the action without lingering on it so long that the tension runs cold. And then there is the pitch perfect pace, be it the scene where one of the characters demonstrates his skill as a getaway driver, where you feel every bump in the road and every hand break turn, or the high stakes showdown in which Lynda finally comes face to face with the true enemy. I could feel my pulse racing and instinctively developed the 'showdown lean' where I find myself sitting forward and closer to the page as I read. And without fail, I am always left wanting more. 

Hey - there are loads of Traffic Cops shows on TV. They're really popular. Who says it couldn't work in books too? HInt hint ...

Definitely recommended to fill that devastating gap for heck fans and a perfect introduction to the author's writing for those not yet acquainted.

DS Lynda Hagen, a Serious Crime Collision Unit officer, is called to the scene of a high-speed crash. 
The victims, who are in critical condition, have no IDs, their car has fake plates, and there was a lot of money lying around.
Lynda is ordered to wrap the case up quickly, but she is determined to get to the truth.

Having previously read two of the author's other novels ( the DS Heckenburg series ), I was really curious about this one.
The story follows Lynda in the present and is interspersed with the victims' perspectives, explaining the events that led to the crash.
It was a good entertaining read. It was gripping and certainly never boring, but I found that it didn't stand out enough to warrant more than 3 stars.
If you're looking for a story full of action, then this book is for you.