please note I will not be leaving a public review for this book as I have not paid for it.
the ratings were low for this book

Thank you for this. A book with a difference. I struggled in places but it was a good story with good characters and I eventually enjoyed. I'd read more please

An easy / readable mystery-detective novel. The characters are well developed enough and you have enough of bits of the backstory to understand The Who and the Why of it. Some areas were a bit ambiguous until closer to the end.
The second half of the novel certainly picked up speed and became more intriguing. At the finish, I felt there were still some loose ends. While we do find out who The Collector is, some characters are left in limbo. I felt it could have been tidied up a bit better.
Three stars of five.
Thank you for the opportunity to read this novel.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was one of these books that had a fabulous cover and an intriguing synopsis, but the contents were disappointing. I found it rather slow and not really my cup of tea.

What a gripping mystery
This author is a amazing surprise

This was a very disturbing but good read.

Thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish and could not get enough of.

This is a must read for anyone who enjoys a good thriller!!
Absolutely loved the characters, the plot, the tension -  impossible to put it down.
Certainly recommended!

This is the first installment in the Lucy O'Hara series. Lucy is a forensic linguist and in this book she is confronted with a suicide of a renowned archeologist, but she is convinced that it is a murder. Lucy is an interesting character and has a different way of solving crimes. Lucy's investigation uncovers a figure called "The Collector" who deals in the antiquities trade. I found the storyline interesting and Lucy is a character who I believe the author will be able to flesh out in an interesting way in future books. My one criticism is that it took me a while to get into the book as I felt it moved a bit slowly initially. I want to thank NEtGalley for giving me the opportunity to review this book and also thank you to the author John Maher and the publisher. I would rate this 3.5 but I am rounding up to 4 stars.

This is the 1st in a new series starring Forensic Linguist, Lucy O'Hara. The beautiful cover and the intriguing blurb drew me to this book. This is a fast-paced thriller with a shocking ending. Thanks to Netgalley and Inkubator Books for providing me with an ARC of this book.

it took me a while to get into this book but it really was worth the wait! i couldn't put it down and feel the collector number 2 is a possibility and i would certainly read it eagerly!

AMAZING! Very well written, a genuine can't put down book! You follow the emotional and twisting lives of the characters, mystery suspense, with a historical twist

Overall I liked it but felt it was slow in parts but good premise and plot . Overall good read .
Thanks for letting me review this book

I enjoyed reading this book! The author draws you in from start to finish. It is slow at some points but thrilling to the end!

I kind of dnfed this book about 56%of the way through, as the pacing was just too slow. I thought the premise and the delivery at the beginning were great, but as I continued, I just found myself not even paying much attention to what was going on. It wasn't griping, or for the lack of better words, interesting past the first few chapters.

Philip Carlton, a world-renowned archaeologist, is suddenly found dead in his boot in an excavation camp, together with a suicide note. Detective Lucy O’Hara, a forensic linguist, is then called to investigate, but she believes everything indicates that Mr. Carlton has, in fact, been murdered.

As she takes the lead in the investigation, she will begin the hunt for The Collector, who is behind Mr. Carlton’s murder as well as ancient artifacts contrabands.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and I must be really honest here: I had higher expectations. The description of the book is very interesting, and I thought the plot itself would be catchier, sort of say.

It took me almost a month to read it, especially because I couldn’t get past the first chapters. Lucy O’Hara is very flat to me, despite her tragic incident with her father. Many side plots make it difficult to focus on the story, and until now I cannot really understand the main reason for the murder of Philip Carlton, as well as the other murders in the story.

I would like to read another Detective O’Hara’s book, as many of my questions may be answered then. The book itself is well-written, and differently from some reviews I’ve read, I didn’t find the writing silly nor funny, it was very well constructed in my opinion. But overall, I wouldn’t recommend this book for a real thriller lover as the plot itself was not catchy enough for me.

DK

The Collector was really thrilling. I requested for the book because of the cover. It drew me in instantly. The MC Lucy is a strong cop, devoted mother who is trying to catch a killer but it's much harder than she expected. There were lots of mysteries and investigations throughout the book. I love how some French words were incorporated, and also Lucy's relationship with her daughter. There were also many new terms I discovered.⁣
The killer was a bit obvious, but I still wasn't expecting THAT ending. ⁣
Can't wait for book two. ⁣
⁣
⁣

The cover of this book really drew me in and I was really looking forward to reading it, however I did find it to be a bit of a slow burner and it did not draw me in. I loved the main character and the originality of her speciality in linguistics was a refreshing change to most police procedurals. So I will definitely give this author and this series another go as I just think it was the storyline that just didn’t have me gripped.

The Collector is about a man who goes around having others killed for secrets he wants to keep hidden. His primary motivator is priceless artifacts, some of which he has gotten through ill means. Lucy O’Hara is a disgraced cop, a mother, and a daughter, who is assigned to catch him after the death of Philip Carlton brings her into the case. Lucy finds herself traveling the world of the rich, where you tread carefully, lest you find yourself out of a job. But the closer she comes to finding out who the killer is, the more people die, and the more in danger her and her daughter are.

I truly liked the plot of this book but I found it to be slow at times. I couldn’t connect well with Lucy which was sad because I liked her backstory from what we were told. I wish the author had expanded on that as well Lucy’s relationship with her daughter.
The ending of the book wasn’t quite what I expected. Although we find out who the killer is, their motives weren’t quite clearly/fully explained. This was an interesting read but it didn’t quite have enough for me to love it. .

Thank you to John Maher, Inkubator Books, and NetGalley for this arc!

This was the type of book that you should want to savor and enjoy slowly. The way the digs are described, makes you feel like you are there yourself and makes the book feel more real. Recommended.
TB

I love a good forensics book, but this one just didn’t grab my attention. The plot was good but it was a slow read with multiple points of view which can be a little confusing at times. I also didn’t feel much of a connection with the detective. Usually for me I need to feel some sort of attachment to the character and I feel engaged to want to solve the mystery with them. Unfortunately, due to this missed "connection" it took me a bit longer to complete the book.

I want to thank NetGalley, the author and publisher for the e-ARC of this novel. Opinions expressed in this review are honest, my own and left voluntarily.

Seeing that cover and the synopsis, I was really looking forward to reading this book. It sounded full of mysteries and murder.

It didn’t quite hit the mark for me though. This book was long and usually I can still finish within a day or two but this one took me almost three weeks. It failed to keep my attention and I did have to force myself to finish it. The mystery and investigation aspect was there but not completely. I felt like the investigation kept stalling and there was a lot of repetition. Interrogating the same individuals over and over again but never really getting anywhere. Nothing remotely happened until the 80% mark for me.

There was also a lot of random mundane things that were unnecessary to the story. It broke up the flow and diverted my attention. For example: at one point the main character Lucy stops at a park or beach and just watches the people there. Then she leaves. What was the point of that? And it was literally a small paragraph. She didn’t think about anything or have any major revelations. It just happened. Also Lucy had a lot of potential to be a badass character but she was a bit dulled down. I feel like she wasn’t portrayed to her fullest in the book.

The ending was okay, I expected who the killer was but his motive wasn’t all that clear to me. It wasn’t explained thoroughly or what role he played exactly.

Overall this was a good book but just needed a little extra something to make it more thrilling.

Thank you to NetGalley and Inkubator Books for this digital arc!

Archeologist Philip Carlton is dead. At first glance it appears to be a suicide, note and all. But when Forensic Linguist Lucy O'Hara investigates, she disagrees. There's something 'off' about the suicide note that begs to be researched.

Unfortunately, her supervisors don't agree, but that doesn't prevent O'Hara from digging for the truth. What she discovers is a shadowy trade in ancient artifacts by a figure known only as The Collector.

This is the first in a new series featuring Detective Lucy O'Hara. She's battling the upper levels and even her own co-workers, but she never gives up, she never backs down... not even when the Collector sets his eyes on her.

There's lots of action from start to finish amid the multiple different international settings. The characters lead the charge to a surprising conclusion.

Many thanks to the author / Inkubator Books / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.