Cover Image: A Life for a Life

A Life for a Life

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Member Reviews

Love all carols detective series and Kate is no different, I don’t think there’s a book of Carols I haven’t read 🙈 this one again was pure class as always and had me racing through pages like there was no tomorrow! Can’t wait for the next one….

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I’m really invested and engrossed in the Detective Kate Young series. I started reading out of order and then stopped and corrected myself. I’m glad I did. While each book has its own crime to solve, there is the continuing story of Kate putting together evidence against a senior officer who may or may not have been involved in the death of her husband Chris, the love of her life. Struggling to pick up the pieces of her personal and emotions, life, Kate has always felt Chris’s presence and speaks with him as Chris guides her investigation into his death. Although she keeps this aspect of her life quiet she begins to question her reliance on Chris and this new case challenges her resolve in a deadly and depressing way. The crime story is fascinating and I’m enjoying Kates journey. On to the next on!.

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Thank you for giving me the opportunity to review this book. A fast paced thriller with lots of sub stories. I loved it from start to finish.

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A Life for a Life by Carol Wyer was an intriguing thriller that kept me turning pages. I enjoyed thus installment t in the series. Looking forward to more by this author.

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I received a free e-copy of A Life for a Life by Carol Wyer from NetGalley for my honest review. I always look forward to anything from Carol Wyer. Another, absolutely amazing police procedural. Such an amazing talent at writing and keeping the reader hooked from the beginning.

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Third in this series featuring Detective Kate Young. Struggling with. her husband's death,trying to root out police corruption and solve the murder of a young man. Lots happening in this story,fast paced with twists.

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superb follow on from the DI Kate Young series, love the style of this writing and the character in this book and the cases Kate works, can't wait for the next installment

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After really enjoying the first two books in the series I had high hopes for another enjoyable read, however unfortunately I was left a little disappointed.
The ongoing plot surrounding Dickson is getting a little tedious and I felt it just interrupted the flow of the other story line, which I would have enjoyed if it didn't keep flitting back.

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DI Kate Young is called to the death of a man on a station platform , more killings take place , they seem linked but the victims appear random . Can Kate get to the root of this before it gets out of hand and finishes her career . After the death of her husband Chris , Kate is hellbent on trying to bring Superintendent Dickson down on corruption charges that she believes her husband was investigating prior to his death.

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Having read the other Carol Wyer series and the first 2 books in this series I was slightly disappointed with this offering. As always with the author's books, it's very readable but I found this a little dull. The continuation of the Dickson plot felt a little repetitive but the main story is ok. I will continue with this series but I found this particular instalment a little average.

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I have been a die hard fan of Carol’s work for a while. It doesn’t matter whether Carol writes a romance novel or a gritty crime novel, as soon as I see Carol’s name on a book that I haven’t read then I grab a copy as I know whatever Carol writes is bound to be amazing. ‘A Life For A Life’ is the third book in the series featuring Detective Inspector Kate Young and it’s another cracker of a read, which I thoroughly enjoyed but more about that in a bit.
What can I say about Detective Inspector Kate Young? I really like this character and warmed to her from the start. She hasn’t had the easiest of times because her husband was killed and she has been mourning his loss. She has sort of channelled her grief in that it drives her on to track down his killer and at the same time expose police corruption and that’s without her day to day police work. I feared for Kate’s mental health as she seems to be on the edge more than ever in ‘A Life For A Life’ and I think that it wouldn’t take too much to tip her over the edge. Kate has a lot to juggle with her latest investigation, her personal life and her work life. I kept everything crossed that Kate wouldn’t tip over the edge and that she would succeed in her mission to find her husband’s killer. What happens? Well for the answer to that question and so much more you are just going to have to read the book for yourselves to find out as I am not going to tell you.
I was drawn to this book by the fact that I saw Carol’s name on the cover of a book that I hadn’t read. The synopsis grabbed me by the throat and as soon as I started reading the story itself that was it. I knew that it was pointless planning to do anything else, other than reading, for the rest of the day apart from reading because I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to put the book down. The book wasn’t exactly glue to my hands but it might as well have been because it travelled everywhere with me. I just couldn’t bear to miss a single second of the story. This was one of those books that really got under my skin in the sense that it was always on my mind- if I wasn’t reading the book then I was thinking about it. Well you get the picture. I became so wrapped up in the story that I lost all track of time and just how quickly I was getting through the story. All too quickly I reached the end of the book and I had to say goodbye to Kate. I found ‘A Life For A Life’ to be a tense, gripping and dramatic read, which kept me guessing and which kept me on the edge of my seat.
‘A Life For A Life’ is superbly written but then I have come to expect nothing less from Carol. Carol has a writing style that is easy to get used to and easy to get along with. For me the story hits the ground running and maintains a fast pace throughout. Carol clearly cares about her characters and this shines through in the very vivid way in which she describes them. She makes them sound so realistic that they seem just as real as you and I. Reading ‘A Life For A Life’ felt like being on a scary and unpredictable rollercoaster ride with several twists and turns along the way. Just when you think that you can take a moment to have a breather, gather your thoughts and reclaim your stomach then off the action goes again. I thought that the first two books in the DI Kate Young series were good but for me, this is the best book in the series. Carol is one of those authors who keep raising the bar with each new book that she releases.
In short, I absolutely loved reading ‘A Life For A Life’ and I would definitely recommend this book to other readers. ‘A Life For A Life’ has to be one of my top reads for 2022 and Carol Wyer is one of my ‘must read’ authors. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.

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This book is simply superb. Featuring D I Kate Young who is an officer living on the edge following the death of her husband. She is struggling to juggle her grief with the need to solve a complex and pressurised case. As if that's not enough, it seems that her husbands death may not be as straightforward as it seems. Gripping from first page to last, make this the next book you read.

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Another excellent book by Carol Wyer starring DI Kate Young investigating a murder of a man discovered shot in the head and the continuing story of the Superintendent John Dickson's corruption. Kept me enthralled to the final pages.

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Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of this title. This is the third novel in the DI Kate Young series by Carol Wyer - I have not read the previous two but will remedy that if they are as good as this. Kate and her team are after a killer who picks victims seemingly at random and uses an unusual weapon - a bolt gun usually used to kill cattle. She is struggling with the death of her husband and, as well as trying to solve the case is investigating, off her own bat, corruption within the police department. IIt ends with confrontation and a cliff-hanger ending - roll on the next book. Recommended.

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*5 Stars*

ARC kindly received via NetGalley for an honest review.

This was a really good read. Kate and her team put many hours into their cases and finding murderers. She also has her own journey trying to find another killer. Good characters and an interesting finish to the book. Looking forward to more from this series. Would recommend.

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This is the third book in the series featuring DI Kate Young. Kate is still coming to terms with the death of her husband, a fellow police officer, who was murdered. He was working on a case involving police corruption when he was murdered and Kate is convinced that her own Superintendent Dixon is involved and responsible for his death. She is determined to bring his killers to justice but doesn’t know who she can trust in her own station. Her mental health is suffering even though she is having counselling. Alongside investigating this, Kate and her team are having problems trying to solve a spate of murders. A young man is found dead on the platform of a country railway station with a bullet hole in his head. There were no witnesses or leads and then the following day a young woman is found dead in a retail park with a bullet in the head too, also no witnesses. This is a puzzling case as more bodies turn up, one each day and always in the late afternoon or early evening with a bullet in the head. Kate and the team are baffled as all the victims have no connections. They wonder if they are being targetted and decide call in a profiler to help solve the deaths. This book had me hooked from the first page. It contains plenty of drama, suspension and tension with so many twists and turns and an explosive ending. I can’t wait for the next book in the series.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

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

I had not read any previous books by this author, so I was at a slight disadvantage. However, an enjoyable read not the best crime novel in the world but recommended nonetheless.

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Brief Synopsis: Chris has died and his wife Detective Kate Young thinks it’s because he was close to uncovering a ring of corrupt law enforcement. Kate is also working to solve a string of murders. With no weapon, no suspect, and no motive to kill… the detectives are struggling to close the case.

Thoughts: Though this is book 3 of the Detective Kate Young series, it can be read as a standalone novel. With the personal vendetta and the murder investigations, there is plenty going on within the storyline. At times the pacing felt slow. I think this was largely due to the dialogue between characters and the internal monologue Kate has with herself. A lot of text is spent chatting, but the information doesn’t help move the narrative along. That said, at around the 80% mark the pacing picks up as the team starts to make headway. It ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, BUT I will say I found closure with both storylines.

Thank you to Carol Wyer, Amazon Publishing UK, and NetGalley for access to this! If you enjoy police procedurals, this ones for you. In fact, it has the feel of a Criminal Minds show.

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Detective Kate Young is a complex character driven by a dedication to her career and her need for revenge. The juxtaposition of personal and professional is well written, making this story resonate. I like the investigation team's dynamic and the menacing ethos, which is chilling and suspenseful in a well-paced and twisty plot.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

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Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

This is the first Carol Wyer book which I have read, which is the third in the Kate Young series of books and it was amazing. I will definitely be purchasing the first 2 books.

The start of the book was about a family who were on their way to go on holiday, however an awful crash happened. Then the book went on a completely different tangent about Kate Young, at first I thought what is the connection??!! However as the book goes on, you sort of forget about the beginning and get lost in Kates world.

Kate and her team are investigating what appear to be random murders and they struggle to find a connection, so they bring in profiler Samuel - he is strange, is very much in his own little world, does things out of the norm - I flipping loved his character!!!

Towards the end, everything all ties in and it was such a gripping fantastic read - Thank you Carol Wyer - I have discovered a new author!!!! x

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