This is the first book in a new series featuring Detective Harry Lennox and DI Jess Wilde.  This book covers kidnapping, people trafficking and murder.  Harry and Jess are called out as the police find a 3 year old girl Lucy Green, wandering barefoot in the park.  She has been missing for a few weeks and a man has confessed to her kidnapping  and killing before he was attacked in,prison.  The book opens with a man, Nick Sutton, a well known criminal, being tortured and having his hand amputated.  His wife Caroline, turns up at the police station to report him missing.  Harry and Jess soon realise that they have a turf war to deal with as Andy Marsh, Nick’s arch rival is also missing.  What has happened to both these men?  We learn that Harry as a past that he wants to keep secret especially from Jess.  I found this an OK read but I didn’t really take to the main characters but will read the next book in the series and hope it improves.
Thanks to Netgalley and Joffe Books for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

The Guilty Man is fast paced crime novel that keeps you guessing throughout. Harry and Jess become involved in a dangerous people trafficking investigation while trying to solve the strange reappearance of a child who was abducted weeks ago. 
This book feels like the start of a series involving the same characters, and I did think it kept a little too much back in this particular novel. A great read for fans of thrillers with twists and turns.

I was hooked from the beginning to the end. Thanks for the advanced copy. Can't wait to read more by Helen H Durant

A brilliant read! My first from this author and looking at her back catalogue I can see how much I have missed and will definitely be on the lookout for them. I foundcthe writing flowed effortlessly and the characters all sparkled with personality. A gritty storyline told fantastically.

The Guilty Man by Helen H. Durrant was another excellent read. I have enjoyed reading all Helen's books. Helen has a great way of starting her books that will have you hooked within the first few pages. 
The Guilty Man is the first instalment in Helen's new series, which is set in a rundown town of Ryebridge, Northern England, featuring DI Harry Lennox and DS Jess Wilde and it did not disappoint, I loved it. 
I enjoyed reading and learning more about DI Harry Lennox and DS Jess Wilde and these are great new characters within this new series. I am looking forward reading the next book.......

I highly recommend all Helen's books. They have all been an excellent read.

Big Thank-you to Netgalley and Joffe books for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review

Another great book by Helen Durrant . This is the first in the D I Lennox series and  what a great start. The story line was gripping and made you want to keep on reading which made it hard to put down . I really liked the characters and the way the story flowed . A great  police drama and I can't wait for the next in the series .

THE GUILTY MAN is the first book in a new crime fiction series, (DI Harry Lennox/DS Jess Wilde #1 by best-selling author Helen H. Durrant. Having enjoyed her other series, I was looking forward to starting this new series.

ALSO BY HELEN H. DURRANT
RACHEL KING
Book 1: Next Victim (2019)
Book 2: Two Victims (2019)
Book 3: Wrong Victim (2019)
Book 4: Forgotten Victim (2020)

THE CALLADINE & BAYLISS MYSTERY SERIES
Book 1: DEAD WRONG (2015)
Book 2: DEAD SILENT (2015)
Book 3: DEAD LIST (2015)
Book 4: DEAD LOST (2016)
Book 5: DEAD & BURIED (2016)
Book 6: DEAD NASTY (2016)
Book 7: DEAD JEALOUS (2017)
Book 8: DEAD BAD (2018)
Book 9: DEAD GUILTY (2019)
Book 10: DEAD WICKED (2020)

THE DCI GRECO BOOKS
Book 1: DARK MURDER (2015)
Book 2: DARK HOUSES (2016)
Book 3: DARK TRADE (2017)
Book 4: DARK ANGEL (2018)

THE DETECTIVES
DI HARRY LENNOX began his career in Glasgow, but due to a traumatic incident, transferred to West Yorkshire and then Ryebridge. Harry is single, thirty-five and has a chaotic lifestyle. Currently living on a mate’s drive in a campervan. This is down to his girlfriend throwing him out. Harry’s life is a mess…he is living in a beat-up camper van, little facilities and drunk most nights, and had split up with his partner a month ago.

DS JESS WILDE is thirty and still lives with her parents. She is unattached and keen to progress in her career. She gets on well with Harry. He doesn’t have much time for protocol, and this suits her. She is critical of how he lives. She is about to buy her first property locally.

Detective Harry Lennox and DS Jess Wilde are currently assigned to a case of a missing three- year- old child. But the little girl, thought to be dead, turns up alive in the park.

Another case involves a tortured victim by a ruthless criminal. The victim’s severed hand is left on his wife’s doorstep.

Could both these cases be connected?

This is a fast-paced murder mystery with an array of well-developed characters and possible suspects. The novel centers around a missing child, human-trafficking and drug cartels. A great beginning to a promising series.

Many thanks to the author, Joffe Books and Netgalley for my digital copy.

The Guilty Man by Helen Durrant is the first book which I have read by this author and by no means shall be the last. I enjoyed the dynamic of male and female detective partners and how you swiftly are taken into the story. I quickly became engaged with the characters and the storyline took many twists and turns pleasantly leaving me uncertain, and hanging at the end of each chapter, determined to read more. I did accurately predict the ending. I appreciate Durrant's no nonsense style of writing, descriptive where needed however entirely focussed on telling the events in an active manner so as to feel you're living them as they play out. Will be sure to purchase the second in this series. Many thanks to Helen Durrant, Joffe Books and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

The Guilty Man is the first instalment in Helen H. Durrant's new series set in the rundown town of Ryebridge, Northern England, featuring DI Harry Lennox and DS Jess Wilde. I always love to read any crime series from the first book and this one has definitely started with a bang.

Toddler Lucy Green has been found in Cheetham Park dishevelled, shoeless but unharmed, having been missing for several weeks. The three-year-old's mum, Kelsey Green, is a drug addict who doesn't seem concerned about her daughter's safety. Albert Sykes, now in hospital, had confessed to both kidnapping and killing Lucy before he was attacked in prison, so questions need to be asked before Lucy can return home. Jess and Harry are also assigned the case of Nick Sutton, a notorious criminal, who is reported missing by his wife, Caroline, and when his arch-enemy, Andy Marsh, also goes awol, the police are baffled by this dual disappearing act.

Kidnapping, people trafficking, murder and drug addiction all have a place in The Guilty Man. It was an absorbing and riveting read with a plot that gripped me. Although the pacing was something of slow amble at the start as characters were introduced, it soon picked up and I was then racing along to find out what would be occurring next. It was a terrifying and chilling police procedural with multiple storylines that were equally engrossing. With many twists I didn't see coming, I was regularly caught off-guard. Helen H. Durrant has taken time to create her deep and complex main characters and I was rooting for them all the way. A good, menacing, tension-filled story with a cracking unexpected ending, I can't wait to see what treats will be in store when book two is released. I'm very much looking forward to seeing Lennox and Wilde evolve and mature. Very highly recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley, Joffe books and the author, Helen H. Durrant for the complimentary advanced copy. This is my honest and totally voluntary review.

A gritty story involving murder,drugs,kidnapping and people trafficking. The main detective is struggling with his own problems but he has a trusty sidekick to rely on. A good read.

The Guilty Man by Helen Durant

I must say that I am familiar with Durrant’s books as I have read others in her series with Rachael King. I really enjoyed the fact that they can be read as a stand alone book or together is the reader so chooses. I found this one to be a little different than the others. This one started off pretty slow and the characters were hard to understand at times with so many things going on at one time. You have a severed hand left at the owners wife’s house, there is a missing child although found alive, the mother was not at all concerned. The main protagonist is Detective Harry Lennox who himself has many issues that seem to take over most of what the reader learns about him such as his alcohol abuse and the fact that he was kicked out of his home and now resides in a camper in the yard of a friend of his. It all does come together but not with a spectacular ending as stated in the blurb. I was somewhat disappointed after reading this one. I wanted to read another of Durrant’s books after finishing the last in the series that I was reading so when I saw this one, I requested it immediately. I will say that there are some really good twists just not what you would expect from a writer who hits it out of the Park in other books.


Thank you to netgalley as well as the author/publisher for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

My Thanks to NetGalley and publisher Joffe Books for the e-copy.
This book has a really good plot and the strands of it only come together in a twisty ending.

DI Harry Lennox, a Scot, transferred from West Yorkshire into a small Northern town of Ryebridge where he's partnered with DS Jess Wilde.  His girlfriend Anthea has thrown him out and he's living in a camper van on his friend Don's driveway - engaging in late nights and drinking too much; Harry has a past he's not prepared to reveal.
They've been investigating the disappearance of Lucy Green, a 3yr-old girl, missing for 5 weeks, when she suddenly reappears in the park from where she had been abducted and was found wearing expensive clothes.  Notwithstanding the fact that they have a man in custody who confessed to her killing.
The mother, Kelsey, a drug addict living on the notorious Baxendale Estate, is only focussed on selling her story to the newspapers for drug money.
Nick Sutton and Andy Marsh have, so far, peacefully divided-up the area's lucrative criminal activities, laundering their money through legitimate businesses - Nick owns car dealerships and houses on the Baxendale whilst Andy has a down-market clothing factory. 
Nick is reported missing and his severed hand is sent to his home.  Kelsey Green, as with other tenants on the Baxendale, is offered free, but deadly, drugs by a foreigner.  Andy is also found to be missing.
What's going on?  There's a "new kid on the block".
We enter the world of organised crime, people trafficking and ruthlessness.  Harry begins to think he knows who is behind it all - a villain from his past, but is he right - will his secret be uncovered?

OK, so this is all good.  However - the portrayed relationship between Harry and Jess was just, well, unbelievable, and I was tempted to DNF this book before half-way through.  Jess has a totally inappropriate attitude and use of language towards her boss - it's not humorous, teasing, nor supportive; she's constantly and repetitively nagging him to reveal his past, telling him how he should approach situations and questioning his actions and style of living, let alone displaying disloyalty as she attempts to wheedle out Harry's past from one of his ex-colleagues.  
This just didn't work for me.  Additionally, the dialogue between Harry and the foreign female villain of the piece is stereotypically over-played to the point of being farcical.

Others have obviously enjoyed this book, unfortunately I was rather annoyed by it.  
Anyway, no harm in trying it if you like the sound of the plot.

I really enjoyed this book. First time reading this author but sure won't be the last. I'm pretty particular about crime thrillers as I read so many. This was wonderfully twisty like I love. Great character, easy read, super great story.

As an avid thriller reader I really enjoyed this book. It had unique situations that I have not seen in previous thrillers that I have read. 

The guilty man follows Detective Lennox and DS Wilde as they work to uncover multiple mysteries currently plaguing their town. Including, a missing young girl and a severed hand. 

This book was full of so many twists and turns, it left me on the edge of my seat, desperate to read more. Despite the darker themes within the novel, I felt it was a light and easy read. I loved the complex interplay of good and bad within the various characters, highlighting that they are not mutually exclusive. 

The storyline and characters were very well thought out. I loved the relationship between Lennox and Wilde and felt myself deeply connected to the mystery of his past. I thought the ending was amazing, it made my heart stop! I will definitely be searching for more books by this author, and hope there will be more books for me to devour in this series.

I would like to send a heartfelt thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me to read a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. It was a great journey to be on! 
I would recommend this novel to any thriller fans who are looking for something a bit different!

Absolutely love Helen H Durrants books, I usually read in one sitting of an evening after work, perfect world to get lost in if you like crime/thriller books. Helen never lets me down! 
I look forward to more.

Helen Durrant is a favourite author and I looked forward to this new series. The story is well-written and plenty of twists and turns dealing with missing children, drug abuse and competing gangs. The two main characters are different - the DI has a patchy past, don't they all, that's catching up with him and the DS is keen but naïve. They have potential. Thanks to NetGalley and Joffe Books for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

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

I have read some of the authors other books and really enjoyed them and was pleased to be able to read this latest book featuring new characters.    I found this quite a hard read at times, and a bit slow burner mostly because I couldn’t really relate to or like the two main characters in it, and one of them I found very irritating and annoying.  It did have a good plot line .... a missing girl, two local gang leaders found murdered, I usually love this type of book and if anything I felt a little underwhelmed by the story and for me it was an average, ok read.   The story started to pick up nearly three quarters of the way in where all the threads started to slowly fall into place and rush towards an ending which didn’t surprise me.   Overall an ok read, one that did get better although it didn’t really wow me.        I would want to read the next book to see if I find the characters to be more likeable.   

3 stars

First in a new series featuring DI Harry Lennox and DS Jess Wilde and from the outset it promises to be very good

A hand has been left on a doorstep to be found by the mans wife, her husband brutally tortured by a notorious criminal , a young girl missing , the duo thinking she may turn up dead is located alive, are these linked and will anyone on the rundown housing estate talk ?

Looking forward to more and a fantastic start by a highly recommended author

Another excellent book by Helen, having read all her previous books!   Would recommend Helen Durrant to anyone who loves a good mystery, thriller that keeps you enthralled from the first page.   It is set in the North of England starring Detective Harry Lennox  (who originally worked in Glasgow) and D.I. Jess Wilde who are investigating a missing child when a severed hand is found.

Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.  First in a series and I'm looking forward to more.  The rapport between Harry and Jess is well done.  Started s bit slow but quickly picked up and finished up nicely.