I had not realised that this book was the latest in a long series and not having read the previous books it took a little while to become acquainted with the various characters.
The title is very apt as there is plenty of blood and gore at times and it was quite a dark read, not for the faint hearted.
This book is well written with a complex plot and plenty of action and suspense. A good example of this genre.

DS Mc Avoy is on holiday in the Lake District with his family when he receives a call that his boss, Trish, is missing. This is a complex, twisted plot in the series and it hooked me in from the start with it's complexity. The characterisation is clever and interesting, it's action packed and has a fantastic ending. What's not to like in this strong story by David Mark? I highly recommend this series to lovers of thrillers and police procedurals, it's one of the best around in the genre. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

There is certainly plenty Flesh and Blood in this. McAvoy the Scottish highlander is back in a very complicated storyline which defies belief that it could ever happen. A serial killer in prison for murdering abusers is still orchestrating crimes outside. The finger points to the senior detective Trish Pharoah as being behind some deaths. It all starts when her current lover, a married Icelandic detective, is attacked outside her house. You would certainly hope that there are no detectives in real life like her! The book gets better towards the end but that is a long time to wait. The story never attracted me and I wouldn’t recommend it.

Present day murder mystery with the atmosphere of a gothic horror; a tangled story encompassing domestic abuse by both adults and children; the mental scarring and the far reaching consequences meeting with actual, pure evil. Two detectives, partners but also close friends become unwittingly embroiled in the plan of a narcissistic murderer. Factor in career driven mysogeny within the force and there is a recipe for murder and mayhem.

This book was just not for me. Far too gory. Unlikeable characters . I guessed some of the twist quite early on. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it

Really enjoyed this book, especially because it was set in my city of Hull.
The characters were down to Earth and true to life, Trish and Aector were great, not perfect with many a fault and flaw and I’d love to read more about them and their adventures.
Good solid story that had you guessing whodunnit and a reasonable pace throughout.

This is the first book I have read by David Mark and I really enjoyed it. I am happy I have found a new series to enjoy.
At first I found the book confusing but that's intentional by the author. It made me concentrate and follow the action. I was gripped following the paths of the characters and unraveling the connections.

David Mark is a new author to me and I'm sure I'll be reading more of his.
Aector and Trish are in trouble. Two very interesting characters, with intriguing pasts and alternative private lives. Trish is in trouble, both professionally and personally. And Aector leaves his family holiday to help her, putting himself in danger too.
It was a complicated plot, where the character of the perpetrator is never really revealed in full, just a shadowy background figure.
My only disappointment is that it stretches imagination when the characters are stabbed, hung, beaten by a gang and yet can seem to carry on, investigating and performing their duties.

This is a very gory book. I was determined to finish it but gave up just before the finish. I have read other titles by this author but this one seems particularly extreme. Maybe a suitable warning in its description would be a good idea. Sorry.

It took me quite a while to get into this book, in the beginning it appeared to jump about , perhaps it would have helped if I had read the previous books in the series to get to know the characters and their stories but this was my first book by David Mark.
It was a little dark and not for the faint hearted but having said that, once I got into the story and the complex characters, I couldn't put it down.
D S Trish Pharaoh was having a night of passion with her Icelandic love interest, was it a coincidence that he was a doppelganger for her happily married partner, D I Aector McAvoy ?
Aector McAvoy was taking a much needed break with his savvy, traveller wife and two young children, they were in a vardos way off the beaten track. The family's peace was shattered when Aector received a frantic phone call from one of his colleagues, checking that he was still alive, someone had been brutally attacked outside his partner Trish's home, someone who looked just like him.
As this complex story unfolds, it covers unrequited love, , a psychotic serial killer serving four life sentences, brutal murders that all had his MO but how ? corruption and greed for power in the police force.
This is a well written story, action packed, suspense filled and with a very convoluted plot.
I received a free copy of this book and my review is voluntary

Somewhat disappointed with this book sadly. In the beginning the babe/totes/motherflumper/panties nearly did for me. Hard to keep track of what was going on. Noticed some reviews with an awful lot of plot detail included.
The writing style and overall plot was not my thing. Shame as I was hoping for a long new series to read.

This was a bit too violent and gruesome for me, but I finished it and thought it was well written with numerous twists and turns and well developed characters.

This is book number eleven in the series, so a quick heads-up for new readers.
Time: the present
Place: Humberside
Main characters: Detective Inspector (recently promoted from DS) Aector McAvoy. He is a Scot, huge and bear-like, a gentle soul but a formidable copper. His wife Roisin; she is of Irish Gypsy stock, romantic but fiercely protective of Aector and their children - Fin and Lilah. Detective Superintendent Patricia 'Trish' Pharoah, thirty years in the force, and as tough as nails. Trish and Aector worship each other, but it is a purely platonic relationship. McAvoy is on holiday with his family in the Lake District, living in a traditional Romany Vardo.
In this book: Reuben Hollow, a serial killer, serving several life sentences for murdering people he judged as having escaped justice. He was captured by McAvoy. Detective Chief Superintendent George Earl. Promoted because Trish Pharoah turned down the job. Earl is the very model of a modern media friendly senior police officer:

Trish is not immune to the pleasures of the flesh, and she is in bed with an Icelandic copper she met on a course. Their post coital bliss is disturbed by Trish's car alarm going off, and Thor Ingolfsson runs downstairs to investigate. He is attacked with an adze and left for dead. Thor happens to be a dead ringer for Aector, and when the local police arrive to find the man face down in the road, they put two and two together, and make seventeen. Aector is very much alive and well, however and, despite being told to stay well away by Earl, he is determined to find out what is going on. David Mark's description of Earl will ring horribly true to anyone who has experienced senior management in corporate services in recent years:

"George Earl is a tall, slim, straight-backed careerist who exudes the gentle earnestness and Anglican-priest sincerity of a Tony Blair. He has a habit of clasping his hands together when he talks, and makes a great show of telling his staff that his door is always open, and there's no such thing as a stupid question."

David Mark spent years as a crime reporter for a regional newspaper, and so he is well aware of the depths of villainy which are regularly plumbed by apparently ordinary and innocuous men and women. He also knows that - despite graduate entry - some of the people who are accepted as police officers are not "the brightest and best of the sons of the morning." (Activists - please feel free to substitute the gender of your choice)

"The three uniformed constables milling around at the rear....he's noticed that none of them seem to be able to breathe through their nose. All in their twenties and look as though they would be more comfortable working in a phone shop or flogging gloriously chavtastic trainers in a sports shop."

What follows is pure mayhem. A former police colleague of Trish Pharoah meets an elaborate death by wood-carving chisels, McAvoy narrowly escapes death by hanging, in an execution house probably last used by Albert Pierrepoint, the chaos of Trish Pharoah's previous life is laid bare to the world, and our man emerges - not unscathed - but able to fight another day.

Flesh and Blood veers violently between the darkest noir imaginable and a simple - but affecting - poetry. It is published by Severn House and will be available on 6th June. The final sentence sums up this brilliant series:


"And inside McAvoy's head, another voice joins the chorus of the dead."

Another book in the series featuring DS Aector McAvoy and his boss Trish Pharoah.
The book, a fast moving crime thriller that has the pair facing the past which comes towards them bearing death in its wake.
Aector is on holiday with his family on a remote camp site in the Lake District when he receives a phone message from one of his colleagues in distress thinking that they have a body ,that of Aector McAvoy.
Trish Pharoah has disappeared and everyone is trying to piece together this nightmare.
Trish has secrets that are now coming back to haunt them both with a deadly vengeance.
Great book that runs at a breathless pace .

I have read every one of the books featuring Aector, Trish and their third, Roisin. I was captivated from the first.
Of all of them I found this book the most scary and horrible. I feared for their lives. Knowing the guy thought responsible was jailed did not help. His acolytes knew Trish's life inside out.
Everyone she had ever been involved with was at risk and her attempts to protect them fell at every turn.
The denouement surprised me. It was extremely well crafted. As always I had been so involved, invested, in the book that I wondered if the loss of lives was worth it.
Then I reminded myself it was 'just' a story. The pull of David Mark's writing and the pictures in my mind of his characters makes it all so real.
I wonder what happens next?

Well written with a host of believable characters.

Gruesome in parts, but you cannot stop reading this. Characters with red herrings galore.

Not one to read with the light out, unless you like to be scared.

Well done David Mark. A new author to follow.

Intriguing mystery from the start. When DS Aector McAvoy is reportedly attacked although is actually taking a much needed break, a double or impersonator is revealed and it emerges that his boss has been keeping secrets. A fascinating tale, cunningly woven and told, gripping and totally captivating as the story emerges. Twists and red herring and this tale takes you on a gruesome and troublesome journey for answers. Fascinating and compelling read!

I absolutely loved this novel. Mr Marknever fails to deliver a great plot which kept me gripped from start to finish. Brilliant as always.

Any police detective reading Flesh and Blood by David Mark would blanche at the quantity of paperwork this unravelling tale would generate. Apart from running a red light or getting a speeding fine, I don't think there are many other aspects of law breaking this book doesn't cover. Yes, it's gruesome and gripping in equal measure. However, I did find David Mark's writing style took a bit of getting used to. It was worth it and paid off with a roller coaster thriller. I know fiction can step beyond the realm of the credible, indeed it's what makes it sell to some people but Flesh and Blood isn't really a detective thriller. The detectives are the victims and very little detection goes on, so I will deduct a star for that. However, it's still a blistering read.

A thoroughly enjoyable thriller in the style of a police procedural whodunit.
Easy to read from the get go and an excellent, engaging pace, this was a very satisfying use of my time.