Member Review
Review by
Elaine T, Reviewer
I would like to thank Netgalley and Oldcastle Books for an advance copy of Deadly Revenge, the fourteenth novel to feature York based DS Geraldine Steel.
When Jessica Colman reports that her sixth month old daughter, Daisy, is missing and she doesn’t know where her husband, Jason, is Geraldine’s colleagues immediately assume that Jason is responsible. Geraldine isn’t so sure and as she starts to unravel Jessica’s life she realises there is much more to the case than a simple parental abduction. Then a body is found and the case changes again.
I thoroughly enjoyed Deadly Revenge which is an absorbing read, full of twists and turns, many of which are genuinely surprising. Geraldine’s voice predominates in the novel but other voices are inserted as required. Sometimes this is good in expanding the reader’s understanding but early on some of these insertions gave me big hints about the general thrust of the novel. I say general thrust as Ms Russell and her imagination still managed to surprise me on several occasions. I felt the novel was slow at points with the team going over old ground but but then another bombshell drops and it’s all go again. The plot is unusual, not in the general idea but in the detail and how it plays out. This is not easy to achieve in a crowded genre so it should be noted and praised.
Geraldine is having relationship problems with her new boyfriend and this plays in the background of the investigation. I’m not really too sure what I think about it as I can see the sense in her reasonable approach but would have preferred to see her totally let rip with a few choice words. Instead, I said them for her.
Deadly Revenge is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.
When Jessica Colman reports that her sixth month old daughter, Daisy, is missing and she doesn’t know where her husband, Jason, is Geraldine’s colleagues immediately assume that Jason is responsible. Geraldine isn’t so sure and as she starts to unravel Jessica’s life she realises there is much more to the case than a simple parental abduction. Then a body is found and the case changes again.
I thoroughly enjoyed Deadly Revenge which is an absorbing read, full of twists and turns, many of which are genuinely surprising. Geraldine’s voice predominates in the novel but other voices are inserted as required. Sometimes this is good in expanding the reader’s understanding but early on some of these insertions gave me big hints about the general thrust of the novel. I say general thrust as Ms Russell and her imagination still managed to surprise me on several occasions. I felt the novel was slow at points with the team going over old ground but but then another bombshell drops and it’s all go again. The plot is unusual, not in the general idea but in the detail and how it plays out. This is not easy to achieve in a crowded genre so it should be noted and praised.
Geraldine is having relationship problems with her new boyfriend and this plays in the background of the investigation. I’m not really too sure what I think about it as I can see the sense in her reasonable approach but would have preferred to see her totally let rip with a few choice words. Instead, I said them for her.
Deadly Revenge is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.
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