I love Lynda LaPlante's Jane Tennison!  
Ever since watching the BBC Prime Suspect tv series, I have always been interested in how Jane started in her career and how she holds her own and brings a new angle to solving a case, often through sheer determination.
She is compassionate, yet level headed.
Jane keeps her cool while delivering some zingers to those who deserve it!
In this book, Jane is reassigned to a different department, after a close call.
The narative starts with a heinous murder of a Hollywood-type agent, who leads a sordid double life and seemed a little convoluted to me towards the middle.  I feel the police work was very long and involved and I was sometimes confused about who did what, but the twist at the end was great!

In my review of the previous book in the (young) Jane Tennison series (The Dirty Dozen) I commented that I thought Jane was finally becoming more accepted by her male colleagues. Of course in that book she'd been appointed to the Flying Squad (the Sweeney) and very excited about it until she learned she was part of an experiment and—of course—things didn't go as planned.

When Blunt Force opens she's still a Detective Sergeant but posted to a small station and bored shitless. She's there with colleague Spencer who's also in the bad books and been sidelined. On a positive note... though she still seems to be the one fetching lunch and making tea and coffee, she and her abilities as a copper seem to be respected by her new colleagues.

Happily for Jane (and Spencer) they pick up a grisly murder case so get to escape the boring pickpockets and petty thefts.

I commented in my last two reviews that I was happy La Plante was settling for the one 'mystery' per book rather than several as was the case when this series kicked off. Even though some overlapped eventually it felt as if there were too many coincidences and both 'whodunnits' sometimes felt a little underdone. Here it's not the case and the murder of Charles Foxley is front and centre. The police are told Foxley was a bit of a prick (professionally) but in reality it seems few could have hated him enough to kill him so viciously. Of course he has his secrets and we delve into the world of prostitution and S & M. And I must admit I was actually surprised with the maturity and lack of shock it was accepted by the police officers involved given this must be set some time in the 1980s or so.

La Plante uses her knowledge of the entertainment industry to give us some insight into the games played behind the scenes. And she adds texture through the victim's complicated personal life, giving us a sense of the man who's dead before our arrival on the scene.

I experienced a sense of 'head hopping' on a couple of occasions. La Plante delivers the narrative from several points of view, but occasionally it felt as if I was privy to a thought or insight I shouldn't have been.

I very much liked Tennison's new boss (DCI Tyler) here and wondered if she'll stay put so we meet him again. In the past she's moved stations in each outing, though we've been given a few consistent support cast members along the way.

La Plante ends this in a way that offers closure but doesn't entirely giving us justice and I love that we continue to see how / why young Jane Tennison becomes the character we ultimately meet again in the Prime Suspect series.

This sixth in the young Jane Tennison series is another great read and La Plante continues to consistently deliver.

"Jane Tennison must navigate the salacious world of theatre to solve a brutal murder in the heart of London's West End, in the brilliant new thriller from the Queen of Crime Drama, Lynda La Plante.

Things can't get much worse for detective Jane Tennison. Unceremoniously kicked off the adrenaline-fuelled Flying Squad, she now plies her trade in Gerald Road, a small and sleepy police station in the heart of London's affluent Knightsbridge.

With only petty crime to sink her teeth into, Tennison can feel her career slowly flatlining. That is until the discovery of the most brutal murder Jane has ever seen: Charlie Foxley has been found viciously beaten to death with a cricket bat - his body dismembered and disembowelled.

As a big-time theatrical agent, Foxley had a lot of powerful friends - but just as many enemies. And alongside her old friend DS Spencer Gibbs, Tennison must journey into the salacious world of show business to find out which one is the killer, before they strike again."

I'd be happy if it was just a Jane Tennison mystery, but one in the world of theatre!?! YAS!

I enjoy both the old Prime Suspect and the more recent Prime Suspect:Tennison series on PBS, so a while I thought I tried one of the Jane Tennison series books and enjoyed it.

Blunt Force is the sixth in this series about the early career of Tennison.  

Jane has been kicked off the Flying Squad, which investigates armed robberies, and is now working in the usually quiet district of Knightsbridge, seeing to such crimes as shoplifting from Harrod’s.  But a grisly murder of a famous theatrical agent changes that.  
A sub plot refers back to the time Jane was on the Squad.

Although I was engaged throughout, this is not a page turner; but this is not a criticism.  It is a true police procedural with emphasis on the procedural.  Well written, with a solid plot, there is good character development and interactions as we begin to see the evolution of Jane into one of the first female Detective Chief Inspectors in London whom we know so wel from Prime Suspect.

Thank you Netgalley and Zaffre for the eARC of this book for free. This review is my honest opinion and strictly voluntary.
This is the latest book in the Jane Tennison series by author Lynda La Plante, but the first I’ve read in the Tennison series.  I also have not seen Prime Suspect.  While I’ve not read the other books in the series, I didn’t feel like I was terribly lost.
Jane and her partner, Spencer Gibbs, are investigating the brutal murder of Charles Foxley, an entertainment representative with many enemies.  His ex-wife quickly becomes a suspect.  There are many other potential suspects and it’s an arduous investigation.
Prior to this investigation, Jane had been a member of the Flying Squad and had gotten kicked off the team as a result of an incident during an arrest.  Now that she’s working in a local precinct, she feels a bit unsure of herself and her abilities so she starts taking shooting lessons at the suggestion of a friend.  Her instructor, Elliott, is a bit harsh and they exchange words a couple of times.
I found the writing a bit clunky at times and the storyline a bit slow, especially at the beginning while she’s developing her characters.  After that, it pulled me in and I enjoyed the different twists this story took.

Although I've seen all of the new Tennison television episodes, this was my first Tennison novel, and I thought it was terrific. Readers under the age of thirty might be surprised at the casual misogyny of many of Tennison's superiors and people she encounters or interviews. But this is the way it truly was. BLUNT FORCE's main plot concerns the murder of a film agent, and so many of the characters are deliciously flamboyant and melodramatic. As glamorous as that world might sound, La Plante reveals its tawdry and exploitative nature not just through the crime, but in its players' immature and purely selfish actions. I particularly enjoyed the secondary characters--the secretaries and models and service and security people whose actions and information are so critical to solving the main crime. La Plante also ties her story to subjects that contemporary readers will find fascinating and familiar--specifically film industry sexual abuse and religiously-motivated punishments. Can't wait to see this story on the screen as well.

I received a complimentary copy of BLUNT FORCE from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first Jane Tennison read and I can't wait to read the others. Jane has just been transferred from the Flying Squad to a small police station with only petty crimes to work on. The discovery of a vicious and bloody murder starts a new case for Jane and her team. As always a brilliantly written storyline with various plots keeping the pages turning.

I don't know about you, but I am thoroughly enjoying the new Tennison pre-series, which is taking us back through the early days of women in the British police force! It's hard sometimes to reckon this more naive Tennison, with the Tennison we all know and love, from the Prime Suspect era at times. But like all of us, she started out with a noble idea, then had some setbacks and is growing and maturing along the way, as she doesn't give up. It's what ultimately MAKES her the Tennison we all love. a Plant had an excellent idea, when she decided to go back and let her readers see what MADE her great character the woman she is. It allows us to literally, see her grow up, and mature, and that is not something readers generally get to do! 

In this book, she seems stuck behind a desk with minor crime and doomed for punishment. Until suddenly a good ol murder gets thrown at her squad, but ultimately there are too many enemies and no arrest, so bigger guns get called int, but even they can't solve the crime. It takes the skill of Tennison and Gibbs to uncover vital info and break the case free. Will this end up with bigger things for their careers? Time will tell. With more going on than they realize way higher up, recompense may be in the cards for both. This book leaves you eagerly waiting for the next book in the series!

I’d read a few Lynda La Plante books many years ago and really enjoyed them so I was really looking forward to this. However, I must admit that I found this rather long and complicated story less than exhilarating. This book is like a prequel to the Jane Tennison story. She has recently been kicked out of the Sweeney under a cloud as a raid went wrong, Jane froze and another officer was shot and injured. So now, working as a Detective Sargeant in an ordinary police station she is spending her days chasing shoplifters and other minor criminals - until a murder occurs on her patch. Charles Foxley, a well known and successful theatrical agent, is brutally killed in his home.

Foxley was a complex and haunted man and there is no shortage of people who may have wanted him dead. But there is a distinct lack of anything concrete to tie anyone to the crime. The police investigation is laborious and it was a bit laborious reading about it as every aspect of the case is chronicled in minute detail. What was lacking for me was a sense of drama, of something exciting about to happen. Instead it was exceedingly matter-of-fact.

In summary I can’t say that I particularly enjoyed this. It was well written and the characters were well developed but I thought it was overly detailed and I just didn’t find it that interesting. I am sure, however, that Jane Tennison fans will enjoy reading this and learning how Jane came to be the formidable police officer that we are all familiar with. Thanks to Netgalley, Bonnier Zaffre USA and Lynda La Plante for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Oh dear, Jane Tennison, has hit bad times in her career again.  Now semi isolated in a small offshoot station Jane works what could be the biggest crime of her career.  Is she up to it? Of course she is/isn’t she.  I have loved Jane since the early bbc shows and while I prefered her as an untouched superhero, I realize I now adore her with all her flaws and sores.

It's the first book I read by this author and won't surely be the last because I liked it.
A solid mystery that kept me guessing, well developed characters and a vivid historical background.
I recommend it.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I’d like to thank Bonnier Zaffre USA and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Blunt Force’ by Lynda La Plante in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Detective Jane Tennison has been demoted from the Flying Squad to a small station in Gerald Road, Knightsbridge, where nothing of magnitude ever happens.  Following complaints of a dog barking in a neighbour’s home, the police attend and find the badly mutilated body of theatrical agent Charles Foxley.  DS Jane Tennison and DS Spencer Gibbs are tasked with questioning the staff at the agency where the victim worked and discovering who hated him enough to want him dead.

I’m a great fan of Jane Tennison in TV’s Prime Suspect and also on paper so I was delighted to be offered the chance to read ‘Blunt Force’.  Although it’s been well-written and has an interesting storyline, I’ve found it rather slow and drawn-out, and I’ve had trouble getting to the end.  It seemed rather old-fashioned and set in the past when there were no mobile phones and the police had to find phone boxes to make calls, and there were too many references to stopping their enquiries to eat in the canteen.  And where was the feisty Jane Tennison I’ve grown to admire for her ability to stand up for herself and lead of team of police officers in the most gruesome of murders?   When I reached the end I thought the conclusion was abrupt and disappointing, and I’m sorry to say there wasn’t enough in this thriller to keep my attention from wandering.

Thank you to #Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review "Blunt Force" a Jane Tennison mystery by Lynda LaPlante.

Detective Jane Tennison, recently 'kicked off' the Flying Squad as a result of an incident during an arrest, is now working out of a precinct; and her most recent case is a doozy: the brutal bludgeoning, stabbing and disemboweling of a talent agent well-know in the community.

This has all the hallmarks of a difficult case, with multiple suspects: the victim habituated a brothel that caters to specific tastes; the ex-wife is about as volatile as you can get - in fact she attempts suicide at almost the same time as her ex-husband is murdered; there is a whiff of scandal and drug use at his agency.... all leading to a twisted resolution.

Jane has to put up with an obviously biased boss, who belittles women detectives at every turn, but has the support of other detectives, one of whom was recently demoted himself and becomes her de facto partner throughout the case.

As they begin to piece the parts of the puzzle together, Tennison has to fight against superiors who discount her theories and restrict her avenues of investigation - but Jane presses on and together they get to the bottom of the case, but with a rather unsatisfying resolution - what exactly was the motive?

An interesting subplot or two show up in this novel - Jane Tennison does not have weapons experience, so she joins an 'exclusive' shooting club at the invitation of a fellow officer; and then it becomes increasingly clear that this invitation had an ulterior motive - part revenge, part settling of accounts and part exposure of a corrupt officer.

All in all, this is just what I expected of a Jane Tennison mystery, and Ms. La Plante delivers in spades.

Jane is a police detective in England.  Something happens and she is “demoted” to menial cases such as petty theft, nothing exciting.  When one day, a well care visit turns into a murder case.  Many twists and turns and the different characters are entertaining.

This story is good, I was just distracted by all the procedural detail.  It took me a long time to read....  this book is also part of a series so that could have been part of my issue as well.  I think I will go back and read the previous books!

This new work in the Tennison Series aims to please with a garden variety thriller that's procedural, traditional, and inviting.
Lynda La Plante has been a hit or miss author for me and by that I mean I enjoy her work when it's focused on the Wow factor but sometimes she misses the mark regardless of whether it's a series or a new novel outside of them.
In Blunt Force we have the basic detective seeking to solve a 'theatre' crime in London's West End that's perplexing to those who know the victim's inner circle.
Jane's been slacking and losing interest with the petty crimes until a hum-dinger of a crime plops on her radar.
This time a man has been viciously beaten, murdered, and Charlie now is in bits and pieces...Sadly he's been dismembered and disembowelled.
OMG!..
This is not a fast paced novel but is a good old fashioned thriller so if you've been swamped with the over the top reads this will be a pleasant change for you.
Thank you to Lynda, the pub, NetGalley, and Amazon Kindle for this ARC in exchange for this honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book.

Jane Tennison is celebrating her 30th birthday as this book starts. She has just been released from the Sweeney (aka the Flying Squad) and is now working in an upper class part of town (Belgravia) and most calls are about shoplifting from department stores. Then there's a call about a howling blood covered dog in an apartment - the police find a man who been beaten in the head, throat slit and his intestines removed - one of the most brutal crimes Tennison has heard of. They learn he owned a firm that represented actors and directors. His ex-wife is a former actress who has mental problems and she is their first suspect, but her story keeps changing so much the squad realize she's telling stories.

This glamorous world involves sex, drugs and rape and Jane is rather sickened by it all. She's been taking training in shooting guns so she can look for a promotion.

I found this book was overlong and dragged a little. I feel several chapters could be tightened up and I didn't need to hear about all the trips to the canteen and what the cops ate!

I requested to read and review Blunt Force by author Lynda La Plante  and publisher Bonnie Books UK. I am normally  not a thriller fan but this was very good. This book was set in England in the late 1970s. Jane is a detective in the police department  that is still much of a man's world. Spencer is a good guy that sometimes lack motivation. But the two team up and make it work. This murder case of Charles Foxley will keep you guessing until the end. I also think the author sets it up for the next book in the series. You can easily read this without reading the other but would definitely recommend going back and reading the first four books. There is lots of suspense, mystery  and betrayal.

I’ve enjoyed LaPlante’s Anna Travis books but my knowledge of Jane Tennison has been limited to the two tv series.  This, the 6th book in the Tennison series, takes place in 1983.  Jane has been transferred from the Flying Squad to Knightsbridge, where she is limited to shoplifting, burglaries and other paperwork nightmares.  Of course, it doesn’t take long before there’s a ghastly murder to investigate.  The victim had more than his share of enemies, including his ex-wife, several clients and the previous owner of his apartment.  But senior management isn’t happy with their progress, and a new DI is brought in to lead the investigation.  Both Jane and Spencer are relegated to second tier and aren’t happy campers.  
Lately, I’ve gotten fed up with psychological thrillers that are all about unreliable narrators and a twisty ending. So, I was happy to retreat to a good old fashioned police procedural. LaPlante goes into lots of detail.   This is not a fast paced book.   And she also doesn’t fall for the need to have a big, banged up ending.  I liked that it felt so realistic.  But trust me, it was a very satisfactory ending. 
La Plante states in her Author’s Note that this series is meant to show how Jane becomes the strong woman we know from Prime Suspect.  So, she wisely doesn’t paint Jane as some young DS savant.  She makes mistakes, including some stupid ones. But we can see the beginnings of those smart instincts that end up serving her so well.  
The segments (not even chapters) bounce between Jane’s and Spencer’s perspectives.  This occasionally comes across as choppier than need be.  
I recommend this for those who like down to earth police procedurals.  
My thanks to netgalley and Bonnier Zaffre for an advance copy of this book.

As usual in my reviews, I will not rehash the plot (I always think "Why bother to read a book if someone's already told you exactly what happens"?) - plenty of other reviews like that out there if that's what you're looking for.

Although I haven't read any of the previous books in this Tennison series, I'm familiar with the character of Jane Tennison from the "Prime Suspect" TV series (and books), and the book works well as a standalone read.  I really like Lynda La Plante's style - she obviously does a lot of research, and her characters are believable.

The book is set in the earlier part of Jane's career - she's a Sergeant at this point in time - and as such  the pace, lifestyle, and Police procedures match the period.  

This isn't a fast-paced thriller, but the plot is interesting and well thought out, and the various characters come to life on the page (well, apart from the victim obviously!).

I'm going to seek out the other books in this series, and look forward to the next one.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC. All opinions my own.

An interesting back story to a well known character. I enjoyed reading this more than I thought I would. I have not read many of the later series, so I probably didn't get some of the references that an ardent fan might, but this had a good plot and was quite gripping.