Imperfection

DI Stewart Gardner and DS Sean Reilly have investigated murders before, but this one is uniquely terrifying. The victim’s blood has been used to write a message to police, another, telling of more murders to follow, is carved into the victim’s chest. Clues are scarce on the ground, and it takes some old-fashioned police work to realize they are dealing with a killer who has been perfecting his “art” for years and is now enjoying the game he’s playing with Stewart and Reilly. A tense and tightly woven British police procedural

I would like to thank Netgalley and Urbane Publications for an advance copy of Imperfection, the first novel in a Leeds based crime series.

Leonard White, an ageing horror actor, is to perform a one man show at The Grand Theatre, Leeds but when the curtain opens his body drops in a noose from above. DI Stewart Gardener and DS Sean Reilly are called in to investigate but what they find, not least puzzling messages and jars of blood, leaves them baffled.

I thoroughly enjoyed the opening chapters which really convey the urgency, stress, tension and panic at the start of an investigation. Their sense of being at a loss over what they are dealing with and how to cope are extremely believably. Unfortunately these are the last believable moments in the novel and I wasn't surprised to find at the end that Mr Clark has a fantasy fiction background.

Imperfection is well written and plotted although the much vaunted twist is easily guessable to any seasoned crime fiction reader (and probably to others as well). The characters are pleasant but not particularly well defined as the strength of the novel lies in its convoluted plotting.

I think Imperfection will strongly divide opinion. I thought I would be reading a police procedural with the normal dose of reality but it's more of an improbable puzzle, not in identifying the killer who is introduced early on, but in the how and why. I didn't take to it and struggled to get through it but my taste is not everyone's and I think many readers will enjoy the readable style, the information and journey to the solution.

4 and 1 / 2 stars

DI Stewart Gardener and DS Sean Reilly feature in this case.

They are notified of a murder in a live theater with a message left on the restroom wall. It is written in the victim’s blood. The autopsy reveals a message carved into the deceased’s chest. The message says that there will be more killings.

Interviewing witnesses and the wife of the murdered man, the police come to the conclusion that their killer is a master of disguise. He was able to fool everyone.

As the investigation continues, more horrific murders are committed. The killer taunts the police relentlessly. Although the name of the killer is told to the read about half way through the book, the second half of the book offers a thrilling chase. The police might know who is doing the killing, but have no evidence. How are they going to catch them?

This is a very well written and plotted novel. Mr. Clark does an amazing job of both making his story suspenseful and making his police officers human. We learn a great deal about both DI Gardener and DS Reilly’s backgrounds without it being intrusive. The book flows nicely and moves steadily along.

This is my first Ray Clark novel, but it won’t be my last. I am very much looking forward to reading the next book in the Gardener/Reilly series.

I want to thank Netgalley and Urbane Publications for forwarding to me a copy of this wonderful book to read.

Imperfection Ray Clark

This book seems to have had a luke-warm reception looking at the reviews on Amazon.

I have to disagree. I found it intriguing and charming.

I liked the characters, I liked the settings. I think Ray Clark has managed to balance the need to give enough information, and not give too much gore in the description. I went back and read a couple of the murder scene depictions and yes, they are horrific murders, but they are described in an almost sympathetic way. There are too many novels these days that rely on the shock factor.

There was one thing I did find irritating. At each murder scene, there is a clue in the form of what appears to be a quote from a stage play, a film or a book. Everybody is perplexed as to where it has come from, or has it just been made up. I just wanted to shout “google” at my Kindle.

That said this is a good story. It’s almost Sherlock Holmes like in its setting. The first murder happens on the stage of a local theatre in Leeds.

What follows is a series of murders based around theatrical themes and personalities. Some of the characters are strange, but in an addictive way. They fit into the story by being just like the type of people we all imagine working in that field.

The plot ticks along nicely as DI Stewart Gardiner and his team, especially DS Sean Reilly begin to put the case together, but every time they think they have it cracked, or can try to anticipate the killers next move, they are thrown by the next murder.

Clark writes from the suspects point of view as well, or has he. So yes, it is quite easy to form an opinion of who you think the murder is but you should read right to the end of the last page to make sure you’re right.

If you do read it to the last page. You won’t be disappointed.

I read it. I liked it, and I will read the next one.

Published by: Urbane Publications (30 March 2017)


ISBN: 978-1911331247


Source: Netgalley


Rating: 4*


Synopsis:

Imperfection is a new crime series featuring D.I. Stewart Gardener and D. S. Sean Reilly, and set in the West Yorkshire city of Leeds.

A haunting message scrawled on the dressing room wall of a theatre: the scene of a murder. It had been written using the blood from the victim, previously drained in a separate location. At the autopsy, D.I. Gardener and D.S. Reilly are shown a riddle carved into the chest of the corpse, informing them there would be more. Their efforts to find out why are continually blocked by a wall of contradiction, with little in the way of evidence to support their cause. Steered back to the scene of the crime and a disused prop room, Gardener and his trusted sergeant find another puzzle. The murderer, it seems, is playing games.

It soon becomes clear to Gardener and Reilly that to find the killer they need to solve the clues, and to do that, they must tunnel their way into the past, where the streets were paved with gold, and to a man who had terrified people before either of them had even been born...


Review:

Imperfection is a different kind of crime novel, as we are introduced to the killer early on; we just don't know his identity at first. From the outset, he leads Gardener and Reilly in a game of cat and mouse, leaving seemingly unsolvable clues for them at the scenes of his crimes. Although it doesn't give a specific time period in the book, it seems as though it is set in the past, as there is no reference made to googling the clues! That would have been the first thing I would have done, so I found it rather frustrating that Gardener and Reilly weren't doing so! I felt there was a Sherlock Holmes-type vibe to the story on the whole, which would also fit with being set in the past, but it's just my theory.

I really enjoyed the parts with the killer and all his different guises, but I found some parts rather slow and quite hard going. Usually it takes me a few days to read a book, but I kept losing interest, so it took me much longer to read this one. It didn't surprise me to learn that Ray Clark writes fantasy novels; I'll have to read some.

If you like lots of detail, prefer a train journey over a rollercoaster ride, and have a thing for Sherlock, I recommend Imperfection.