First book in the DI Rutherford Barnes series. A little slow to start but then it becomes so fast paced almost to the point it’s hard to keep up with the storyline which is a little far fetched.

This is such a good story! There is great character development, and so many unexpected twists! Will be picking up other books by this author

A new series and author for me and one I enjoyed and look forward to reading more of in the future.

With a gritty plot and excellent and well developed characters, this is a great addition to the police procedural genre. The pace is a little steady to begin with and it took me a while to get into it, but it certainly ramps up to what is a tense and very satisfying finish.

Thanks go to Joffe Books and NetGalley for enabling me to read and share my thoughts of Devil's Chimney.

Police procedural with a good plot and some strong characters. A bit long winded in some of the descriptions but plenty of twists to keep you guessing.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. I have chosen to write this honest review voluntarily and it reflects my personal opinion.
It is evident this book is written by someone with experience of police work, with lots of abbreviations and use of slang (I didn't know what a jarhead was). There are words and phrases in the narrative that seem to be the author's opinions as they are not used in a character's speech or thoughts, such as 'reptilian lawyer'. I thought Eve's character was weak (why go to her mother's after the test results?) and thought the scenes between husband and wife were uninteresting. The narrative style was very wordy, making the book longer than it could have been and I thought this ruined any effort at building suspense. The scenes including the corpses included descriptions that were overly gory and unpleasant. I didn't like the very full descriptions of journeys driven, using many road names, I felt as though I was being given a route to follow. I struggled to read 70% but finally gave up, the author and book are not for me.

Would really highly recommend this book as a must read. It was such a fantastic psychological thriller with lots of twists and turns and such good mystery read with such a great story and so well written that I could not leave it down. It had very interesting characters and so well written.

An exciting crime fiction debut that will keep you on the edge of your seat, Adam Lyndon’s Devil’s Chimney is a must-read for Peter James fans.

Rutherford James and Harriet Holden are two ambitious police officers doing the rounds on a wild and stormy night on England’s south coast. Both keen to impress and determined to climb up the ranks, when they see a burglar fleeing the scene of the crime they give chase. Only this was no ordinary burglary for the location is Harriet’s house, the whole ground floor has been ransacked and a message has been left across one wall of the house scrawled in blood red: Dead Cops Sleep Long.

It’s clear that somebody is targeting the local constabulary and Rutherford and Harriet plan to find out who is behind it and put a stop to it. Only, Harriet never gets the chance because a few days later, her body is found in a dingy and derelict seaside hotel. Newly promoted to detective, Rutherford will not rest until he finds out who has murdered his partner and why.

Will Rutherford manage to crack this case? Or will his partner’s killer end up walking free?

A brilliant police procedural full of realistic detail, believable dialogue and staggering twists and turns you simply won’t see coming, Devil’s Chimney packs a punch and grips from page one. Adam Lyndon’s writing is sharp and assured and although Devil’s’ Chimney is his debut, readers known from the very beginning that they are in very safe hands.

Rutherford James is a cocky, confident and determined detective who will do whatever it takes to make sure that his partner’s killer is punished.

An enjoyable crime novel from a writer to watch out for, fans of the genre will not want to miss out on Adam Lyndon’s debut Devil Chimney.

I really enjoyed this book although it's not for the faint hearted with pretty graphic scenes of violence and language.

The book is set in Eastbourne and I liked the way that the setting was woven into the story and became part of the book, almost a character in its own right.

The plot is complex but followable. It is from the point of view of a police officer Barnes who visits a burgled house with his partner and sees a threat stating all police must die. Shortly afterwards this threat comes true.

The book deals with police procedures and corruption and has a sense of reality to things, nothing is sugar coated and it can get quite dark.

However I enjoyed the story and although I guessed part of the twist much of it took me by surprise and the story was so gripping I couldn't put it down. I look forward to reading more books from this author.

Reviewed on 'Dark Mysteries' book review radio show/podcast on Art District Radio.

if you like police procedurals, gritty crime, tormented cops, corruption, moral dilemmas and cliffs, I recommend The Devils Chimney by Adam Lyndon.

Good book! This book had suspense, intrigue, action, murder, mob, bad cops, good cops, and so many twists and turns! The storyline was very interesting and kept me glued to my Kindle! I will definitely recommend reading this book as it was well worth reading! Thank you netgalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!

A gripping thriller that starts on simmer and builds to a boil. Dazzlingly clever, twisting and constantly surprising. An unputdownable rollercoaster of a read. The opening is atmospheric and completely absorbing. Immersive, pacy and unputdownable.

When I found out this was written by a serving police officer, it made so much sense. This has an interesting concept; an up-and-coming police officer, Barnes, finds himself in the centre of a twisted organised crime ring that has already killed one of his colleagues.

However, this is so bogged down in the details it feels as though I'm reading the written report of the case - there is no suspense left when the reader is told in painstaking detail each stage of getting a warrant. The twist was predictable because the reader had already been made aware of the internal corruption (quite blatantly and without any drama in my opinion). Barnes is every police officer's dream - morally excellent, good at his job and squeaky clean (somewhat). But this just makes him unrealistic? He manages to nab a burglar and all of a sudden is running lead on a huge murder investigation of his partner, is yelling out orders to higher ups with no backlash.

This could have been a book version of Line of Duty but unfortunately for me, it lost all its suspense in the overloaded procedural detail.

cw// murder, suicide, organised crime, drug addiction, infertility

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with the digital edition of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

A good new police procedural and a new to me author. I will surely read other books in this series and I appreciated the well developed characters and the solid mystery.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This is an author I will be looking out for in future and will definitely be reading again! The storyline was intricate and impossible to guess where it was going to end up. It is the most believable police, procedural who-done-it I have read for a long time and is as good as if not better than Line of Duty, I half expected H to be lurking in the back story somewhere. Adam Lyndon is a master craftsman, his storyline, characters and writing style are for me the best I have ever experienced. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC and can I read the next one asap?

law-enforcement, procedural, fertility, false-information, family, family-drama, friendship, suspense, thriller, England, due-diligence, theft, multiple-murder, murder-investigation*****

Words like 'riveting' and 'gripping' are very appropriate for this hard procedural.
Barnes is a nice guy, married, in debt, childless, and a good cop. But he has a home life and a wife who really wants them to have a baby as they have been married 5 years and he has a steady (if somewhat dangerous) job. Then his partner on The Job for a year is found after being brutally murdered. He is on his way to earning a position with CID and is not the least bit bent. Until he is pushed into it by a really bent higher up (Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely). This is a really good read and I do hope that there are more to come!
I requested and received a free copy from Joffe Books via NetGalley. Thank you

As a storm in Eastbourne destroys the chalk outcrop known as Devil’s Chimney at Beachy Head, a burglar is off about his business. PCs Rutherford Barnes and his hard-to handle partner Harriet Holden are on foot patrol, detailed with catching the man, Howard Van Leer, who has left a trail of thefts since leaving prison 6 weeks ago. Unfortunately his latest target is the home of Harriet, a threatening message daubed on the wall in red as Barnes spots him outside and gives chase. Apprehended and on remand, he intimates that Harriet’s life is at risk. Then she disappears and Barnes, newly promoted to trainee detective constable whilst still a probationer, and DC Nightingale search for her. When they find her body slashed and bludgeoned to death in the chief suspect’s home, they know they must be looking for at least one other conspirator. Someone who wanted them to know where her body had been left. After two weeks the detectives know very little, not even where Harriet was murdered. Then another officer disappears and more bodies appear. Barnes is on fire, catching criminals and making arrests but is he really so good or merely a useful pawn to a higher power? Little does Barnes realise how big and far reaching this investigation will be.
I liked Barnes, not perfect by any means but a good man trying to do his best and please everyone, and certainly troubled by his conscience at times. The story features a convoluted and very twisty plot where lots of strands are brought together in a thrilling conclusion. Some bits however, such as a very new trainee featuring prominently in the very high-profile case of the murder of an off-duty police constable, seemed a little fantastical. There was also rather too much of his not terribly exciting home life for my liking, including his nagging wife (I really didn’t like her character) pressuring him into having a baby whilst he was still trying to forge a career and get them out of debt. Occasionally the story felt a bit wordy and dragged a little which slowed down the pace and tension in an otherwise great police procedural. There’s lots of potential for a new series and I’d love to read more stories featuring Barnes but preferably as part of a team next time. 4*

Complex police procedural that grabs you and keeps you there. Multiple threads intertwine through personal and investigative storylines. Tense and intelligent witj characters you will get involved in.

Fast paced and complex. You couldnt tell the bad guy until the end. well written. I will read more from Adam Lyndon. Thanks to NetGallery for the ARC

This was a new author for me, but I will be looking for more books by him. The plot was well paced and easy to keep up with. I found the characters described well and, after getting halfway through the book, felt the need to finish it to find out what happened (don't want to spoil anything).

I watch a lot of British Mystery shows and this book reminded me of the best of them: dark, twisty, and complex.There were a few twists, especially in the opening scenes that grabbed me and sucked me into this book.

I wasn’t completely tricked though, I had two theories of what was going on and one of them was correct. Maybe it is too much time spent watching ‘Life on Mars’ or ‘Endeavor’ that helped me figure out one of the mystery plotlines.

The main character, Barnes, is complex and interesting; he is flawed but tries his best.

It is written as a police procedural and is very detailed. The author will not tell you that someone called for backup, you will get the full transmission including call signs. At times it was like reading a police report. I think the story could have used an edit to get rid of some of the wordiness. However, this in no way affected my enjoyment of the story.

The characters and complex plot of The Devil’s Chimney has set up an interesting mystery series. I look forward to reading more books in the series!