You take them, you train them, they will bring them in. Lynda La Plante’s Jack Ware #2 continues building our insights into its named detective. This time we move into a fast paced mystery, police procedures, politics, and personalities, that bring together yet another wonderful read. I always look forward to more from her.

I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I liked the first book in the series and so getting a chance to read this one was a nice surprise. I like how Jack Warr has grown and changed since this first book, with the arrival of his daughter Hannah and expertise in how to catch robbers, having learned during the Wimbledon Prowler. In this one, there is a group of thieves that have been on the loose for a few years, unfortunately they have graduated to killing and there is a deadline to get them before it happens again. Jack has to balance between what his birth father (who was a gangster) and what the father who raised him gave him personality wise to catch this band of thieves. He has some grey bits that are not coplike but his moral compass is pretty good. There is lots of excitement and stupid cops like Lee in this book.

I liked this book and I liked the tie in with the title of Judas horse. It was cool to learn about that with horses and how it could apply to people too. You don't need to read the first book to enjoy this but I recommend both of them.

"Judas Horse" is the second in acclaimed novelist Lynda La Plante's DS Jack Warr series, and for me it was a more enjoyable outing than his first. Fresh off his success in catching the Wimbledon Prowler, Jack is seconded by the Chipping Norton police force to solve a spate of simliar burglaries in the Cotswolds that have recently become increasingly violent. Before long, Jack is enmeshed in an international crime ring, and he will need to use a "Judas horse"--an informant who leads the criminals to the police--as well as his own uncanny insight into the criminal mind to solve the crimes.

This was a much cleaner and more straightforward case than in "Buried," the first Jack Warr novel, and the denouement was much more satisfying for me. La Plante continues to develop and deepen the character of Jack, now a new father, and many of the supporting characters, such as his partner, Maggie, London boss DCI Ridley and young Chipping Norton officers William Oaks and Cariad Bevan, are interesting and enjoyable to watch in action. Much more enjoyable, in fact, than the officers who surround Jack at the Metropolitan Police in London, two of whom, besides Ridley, make cameo appearances in "Judas Horse." DC Anik Joshi continues to be a sulking cypher, and DS Laura Wade, Jack's police partner, was particularly disappointing in her limited role here, seeming more like a boy crazy adolescent than a seasoned investigator. If Jack's next case brings him back to his London squad, I hope for some more substantial character development of those around him; I'll definitely check in with Jack one more time to see if La Plante achieves this.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Zaffre for providing me with an ARC of this title in return for my honest review.

This is my first book by Lynda La Plante but it will not be my last. I absolutely loved Judas Horse. A page turning, stay up all night thriller about a rash of break and enters in the British country side. DC Jack Warr is trying to catch a gang of thieves who target wealthy home owners. DC Warr is desperate to catch the thieves as they become more violent and brazen. As tension, fear and tempers rise, Jack decides to use an informant “as a Judas Horse” to catch the violent gang of thieves. There is a huge risk to Jacks career and the informants life if things go wrong. Does DC Jack Warr save the day? Does the informant survive unscathed? You must grab a copy of this well written suspenseful thriller to find out how it all transpires.

Judas Horse is the second in this particular series, however, I read this as a stand alone without any difficulty. It reads like a police procedural and thriller. Detective Jack Warr is invited to help with the local investigators based on his past success and reputation. He's able to build a tentative partnership with the local investigators despite his unorthodox methods and a few feathers he manages to ruffle. You root for Detective Jack Warr and his team to solve the crime spree happening in this charming English town pronto! What started as jewelry heists among the rich often covered by insurance, escalates to murder of some folks caught in the crossfire and the novel's pacing speeds up to match that urgency. Warr's able to infiltrate the crime ring by grooming a 'Judas Horse' so that hopefully she can lead him to figure out who the unsavory characters are before they commit another violent crime.

Detective Jack Warr is sent to aid a team of investigators in a small English country town populated by some very wealthy tenants and celebrity visitors that have suffered some extensive robberies. The robberies are well executed, specific items stolen and seem to be escalating at a rapid pace. Once Warr identifies an informer, he carefully grooms her into a ‘Judas Horse’ to successfully bring down the unsuspecting thieves. These robbers are totally unscrupulous and the violence is ramping up. Will the Detective be able to capture this group, keep his informant safe and and bring these crimes to a successful closure?
3 stars Thanks NetGalley for the advanced copy.

Jack Warr you are my hero !

Jack will go to any length to bring justice to the criminal.

In Judas Horse there are a series of burglaries that the perpetrator shows no respect to the victim's property or even their lives.

Jack can walk a fine line but his heart in the right place: justice !

The author pulls you in slowly but certainly and the cast of characters are so well done. Some you love; some you love to hate.

Although this is book 2 you can certainly read it as a stand alone.

I can't wait to see what Jack and his gang get up to next. I will be at the front of the line!

Thanks to NetGalley, Bonnier Zaffre USA, Zaffre publishers for another great installment in the Jack Warr series.

Two young boys see a group of crows surrounding a box in the middle of a lake. Of course, they go to see what it is not realizing that they would stumble across a body. It takes a little for the plot to finally get around to how this ties in to the rest of the story, but I like that because in the back of your mind you know something that the character don’t at first, because of course it is going to come around to being involved in the case they are working. The story starts off with the ending investigation in one set of burglaries and we get to quickly see that crime solved. But because Jack understands how criminal minds work, he is asked to help in another town with burglaries they can’t seam so solve.

This right away reminded me of those crime shows like NCIS and Bones. It starts off with people living their lives, normally it’s a scene of criminals or people doing something illegal or at least questionable but then they run across a body. That’s exactly what happened in this book and I’m glad that’s how the author started it off. It truly draws the reader in by starting the book off with something that will grab our attention. It also makes it more entertaining as we read about the characters knowing that it’s going to lead to people dying.

And just for those who are wondering, I haven’t read the first book in the series, but I was still able to follow along with everything in the story. Of course, I could tell there were things that had happened that I’m not sure about but everything relating to reading and understanding this stories plot was explained so I had no trouble following along.

This book had something for everyone. Murder, Burglaries, Informants, Blackmail, Undercover Work. I wish it was more of a mystery as you know who is doing the crimes and there really isn’t much shock in any of the book. It is just simply following how they try to catch the guy and his gang. But I do like that is escalated to more than just burglaries, which just put even more stake on the table.

The story also had some personal elements of Jack’s life. We get to see as him and Maggie’s relationship grow as they welcome a baby into their life. There is also some side story line with the pregnancy of a friend. But I liked seeing their relationship which is what truly drives Jack. There wasn’t only well depict romantic relationships, but also some interaction of coworkers and of them biting heads a little about people who have more authority than Jack, who are brought into the case.

The book was okay, but there wasn’t really anything special. It wasn’t slow or fast paced. Nothing really jumped out but there also isn’t anything wrong with the book either. It is in the middle of the road. If you like a simple small crime novel then this is for you, but I prefer something with a little more sustenance.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. Listen to full reviews at: https://bookclubbed.buzzsprout.com/

This is my first Lynda La Plante book and I was unaware, when receiving this ARC, that this was the second book in the DC Jack Warr line. It works just fine as a standalone, but if you enjoyed the first DC Jack Warr, don’t let me ruin the fun now!

Judas Horse has a strange beginning, so much so that I went back and read the description to make sure I wasn’t being pranked. We have a framing scene of two young boys that find a body in a lake, a clearly a teaser that we will circle back to when the context is unveiled by Jack Warr. However, after that, we get thirty pages of the most paint-by-numbers family & fatherhood tropes I’ve ever seen, which almost made me give up the ghost.

Things pick up as we investigate the burglary gang but I never found the story compelling. Much of this comes down to your interpretation of the protagonist himself. He is a perfectly competent bloke, a smart and ethical detective whose particular detective “superpower” is reading body language and manipulating people to wring them of the truth.

However, La Plante writes about him as if he is the new Sherlock Holmes, which is just not the case. Once, he snorts at a young woman’s joke and she instantly trusts him. If winning people over was that easy, I would run the world simply by laughing at people’s bad jokes and complimenting them on their new haircuts. Later, La Plante actually explains the concept of good cop/bad cop to us, a breathtaking waste of words that assumes the reader has never read a book, seen a show, or watched a movie with a single member of law enforcement in it.

Jack Warr mainly comes across well in his job because he is surrounded by incompetent assholes. Their constant failings at even the most basic duties make him look like a god in comparison. I would look like an NBA player if I played against 3rd graders, but no one would celebrate me for it.

Sorry, Jack. Find a better team to run with.

This is the second novel in the DS Jack Warr series. I haven’t read Buried, the first in the series, and so was missing a little background. Despite this, I thoroughly enjoyed Judas Horse, which can easily be read as a stand-alone.

DS Warr has gained himself something of a reputation in the chasing down and apprehension of gangs carrying out a series of well-executed burglaries. As a result, he is sent from his home base at The Met, London, to assist with a similar spat of crimes in Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire.

Reading Judas Horse was a little like being on a train that that starts slowly as it pulls out of the station, increasing speed as it moves toward its destination, slowing and stopping now and then to give the reader time to take a breath and release a little tension. And tension there is. Not just the tension of seeking out the bad guys before they strike, but the tension caused by different working styles and clashes between officers. Warr is the newcomer in this environment and does not take kindly to two senior officers being brought in to take over. It is a situation that must and does lead to confrontation. Warr walks his own line, and if people get in the way, he simply moves them. He is, in fact, a bit of a renegade, but one who has captured my imagination.

All of the characters in this novel are well-drawn, representing a complex variety of personalities and lifestyles. I enjoyed the casually dropped moments of humour and the fact that we moved from Warr’s work environment to his home environment, from the local station and back to The Met.

Ms LaPlante describes the process of putting together a complex, multi-layered police operation in a way that makes the reader feel they are in the room with the team. Her characters are well drawn and interesting.


A fast-moving, well-written, and interesting read. I have no hesitation in recommending Judas Horse to readers who enjoy police-procedurals.

Thanks to Netgalley and Zaffre/Bonnier Books for an ARC in return for an honest review.

I received this ebook via NetGalley and Bonnier Zaffre Publishing. I have not read this first book in this series but I quickly picked up on who each character is in relation to others. I found the format a bit strange as a case seemed to come up and was quickly solved and then there was a long build to the next case. I found the characters likeable but they were also predictable as in nice cop, angry cop, by the book cop. I read the book in one day so it is a fast read. I enjoyed the storyline but I found the telling of it flat. I appreciate the chance of read it.

This is the second book in this series featuring Detective Sergeant Jack Warr. A dedicated unorthodox detective who has a sixth sense about criminals -- their thinking and their behavior. Having successfully solved the Wimbledon Prowler case in London he is loaned out to a rural police station in the Cotswolds to lend his knowledge and expertise to a series of seemingly unrelated home burglaries. While on the case, these burglaries have now resulted in series injuries to occupants of the bugled homes. Jack learns of the meaning of the Judas Horse and slowly but surely maneuvers his informant into becoming his Judas Horse. An exceptionally good read. #JudasHorse #NetGalley

Judas Horse by Lynda La Plants is a well written mystery with familiar characters that I enjoyed catching up with.

The author knows how to spin a good tale whether the protagonist is male or female. In this story, Detective Jack Warr puts his expert skills to work in a satisfying story.

A thrilling page turner that kept me engaged throughout. I am very happy to have been given the opportunity by the publisher and NetGalley to read this arc. This is a new author for me and already picking up more!

Pub date:3/2021- highly recommend

Great thriller, police story, and a quick read (for me). Jack Warr's character is very likable. Overall, a fun time. Liked it, didn't love it. IF you enjoy this author's work, read this book.

This was a great read. I have never read anything by Lynda La Plante before, but I know her as the creator of the excellent BBC series Prime Suspect. So I was excited to read one of her novels, and was not disappointed. I enjoyed the characters and the book was suspenseful and hard to put down. All in all a great read.

Thanks to Bonnier Zaffre for providing me with an advanced reading copy via NetGalley.

Thanks to NetGalley and Zaffre for providing an electronic ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Lynda La Plante is amazing when she's on her game. Prime Suspect is a classic and Jane Tennyson was in the vanguard of early policewomen in popular culture. This time around, La Plante's hero is a man, Det. Jack Warr. Warr is something of an expert in burglary in his little corner of England, and, as such, he gets lent out to a neighboring town to deal with their issue: high-end burglaries of well-appointed homes that seem to be ratcheting up in terms of violence.

Warr works to get the best results out of a team that has been ignored by its superior, occasionally being sidelined by other DIs called in to assist with the case. Warr's methods of dealing with those men is in some cases violent, but this is clearly deemed by La Plante as necessary roughness. He is the classic "loose cannon" seen so much in TV and movie tropes, and, indeed, this makes sense since so much of La Plante's writing has been for those vehicles. Warr is cast as a handsome and dashing hero, but still soft enough to value the love of his doctor wife and infant daughter. If this sounds a bit cliche, it's because it is. La Plante's story is exciting enough to power through the simplicity of Warr's characterization, but in the end, it's hard to avoid imagining how the scenes would play out in a filmed drama, which does take away from the enjoyment somewhat.

So well written so tense a true page turner.Kept me reading late into the night one of my favorite thriller authors#netgalley#judashorse

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Detective Jack Warr. Learns some information about a robbery from a snitch. The individuals involved in this robbery have killed before. This book tended to drag on in some places.