Blood Tracks

PI Tess Grey has received an offer she can’t refuse. The local DA will pay her to track down state’s witness Crawford Wynne, one of the few people still alive who can testify against drug boss Alberto Suarez. Suarez’s brother, who’s a few bricks shy of a load is also looking for Wynne and he’s gunning down anyone who gets in his way. Tess needs help, so she turns to the only man she think can provide it, Nicholas “Po” Villere, a guy rumored to get the job done, no matter what the cost. Problem is, he usually works alone, so how is Tess going to convince him to help her out? It may take more than money to sweeten this deal…. Hard boiled hijinks

Portland private eye Tess Grey is hired to go to Louisiana and track down a missing police witness. She enlists Po, an ex-con who is familiar with the locale, to help her.

Blood Tracks is the first of a new action-thriller series from Matt Hilton, creator of Joe Hunter, and it kicks off this great new series with aplomb.

Blood Tracks is a tense, tightly-paced, action-packed thriller with some great characters, and very likable protagonists.

Highly recommended.

Super start to a new series

Tess Grey, private investigator/genealogist and ex-Sheriff's Sergeant, is hired indirectly through the Portland, Maine DA's office to track down a witness in Louisiana. Since she's not familiar with the area, she hires ex-con Nicolas "Po" Villere and finds herself more in a partnership with him rather than a boss-employee relationship.

This is the first book in a new series and it's a good one. Tess and Po work together well and I liked the side characters too.

It was different having a writer from the UK write a book taking place in the U.S. There were a few times I noticed British English being used but these instances weren't too distracting.

The story is well written. The characters are well developed. The plotline kind of rambled a bit but not too bad. There's a nasty antagonist (boo, hiss) and some gore and guts.

This will be a series I want to follow and I recommend it to fans of detective fiction, thrillers, and books with strong female protagonists.

NOTE: I received this book from Severn House Publishing through Net Galley in exchange for my honest review.

I must admit to having never got started on Matt Hilton’s successful series of books featuring Joe Hunter. I also realised I was so far behind that it would take me ages to catch up, so when I saw he had a new series out I thought it was a great opportunity to sample his writing. The two main characters in this new series are Tess Grey, an ex-copper turned Private Investigator and Nicolas ‘Po’ Villere who is an ex-con. I have to admit now I have finished the book that I struggled to get into it. Tess seemed a little dull and by the book for my liking. However, when Po turned up (GREAT lead character nickname by the way) things got a bit more interesting.

On reflection I think with it being a new series the slow start is because you are getting a feel for the character Tess. There are reasons relating to her past as to why she is the type of woman she is now. When she is given the opportunity to work for Emma Clancy as a PI she jumps at it and is introduced to Po as a man that can help her track her target down. Tess and Po need to find Crawford Wynne and bring him back as a State Witness. The story started off a little slowly and I felt like Tess needed a bit of a kick to liven herself up. Thankfully the charming ex-con Po more than made up for her as a character in the beginning.

The other character I cannot help but mention is an old friend of Po’s named Pinky. This guy HAS to make a comeback in future books as was absolutely brilliant! As the story progressed it became clear that Tess was becoming much more herself the longer she spent around Po. By the last quarter of the book we see the real Tess and it was a complete turnaround. There is the requisite bad guy and his helpers with a big dose of violence and some good old fashioned gun fighting going on. For a book that was a bit of a slow burner I ended up being totally captivated by both Tess and Po. The storyline picked up it's pace and the last quarter was full on and I was practically speed reading. Plenty of action, thrills and two cracking new characters...what more could you ask for?

I must say this is a brilliant start to a new series and I really can’t wait to see what book 2 holds in store for them. I will certainly be getting the next in the series as soon as it’s available, and who knows maybe now I will be more inclined to get started on the Joe Hunter series. Overall I would definitely recommend this book and look forward to the next one.

Tess is a private investigator now. She used to be a cop so she has skills. When the local district attorney asks her to find a witness for a court case, she needs the money. Saying yes will bring her close to a sadistic murderer. It also introduces her to a man she doesn't want to love...

Severn House and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you). It will be published March 1st.

They've lost an undercover cop to a monster that enjoys inflicting pain on people. Tess needs to find the witness before the murderer. Her brother, a cop himself, tells her to talk to Po. He's from Louisiana and can help her in her search. He looks like a young Clint Eastwood and he has skills she'd never seen. He's an ex-con. If you learn how to survive in prison, you're tough.

What should have been a fairly easy job quickly became deadly. She meets Pinky, an odd black man who has influence in places he probably shouldn't. He gets them on the scent of the witness and they start looking harder. The bad thing is that someone has given the bad guys her name. She's being followed and they beat her to the witness.

When she gets a location and goes to see what's waiting for her, it's his body. Po instinctively knows someone is watching them but he can't see them. They decide to get out while getting out is available.

The case just keeps getting nastier and the killer is having a good time with his victims. It wasn't until the very end that I knew who was going to be left standing. This is a tension filled drama with evil all the way through it. Tess began the case a bit unsure of herself but she's back now. I hope the next book doesn't have such a sadistic monster. The story is good but the torture bothered me. That said, I would read another in this series. I like how Tess and Po work together.

Matt Hilton is one of my favourite thriller writers with his brilliant Joe Hunter series. I had no idea he had been working on a new series until I stumbled across Blood Tracks on Amazon a couple of months ago. Sadly, it doesn't seem to be making much of an impact here in the UK and it should be, because it's another excellent thriller.

Blood Tracks introduces us to the character of Tess Grey. Tess is a private investigator and an ex-cop and whilst I know they exist, I'm fairly sure this is the first thriller that I've read where the main character is female and so I was interested to see what dynamics that would add to the story. Tess is tasked with hunting down state witness Crawford Wynne. Wynne is one of the few men that can help the State nail vicious drug lord Alberto Suarez. Locating Wynne however isn't going to be an easy task, but Tess will be rewarded handsomely should she bring him home. She isn't the only one hunting Wynne however. Suarez's psychotic brother has been hunting and butchering anyone he believes to be a danger to his brother. Will he soon have Tess in his sights?

One of the real standout things about Matt's thrillers is his characterisation. I was apprehensive as to whether I would take to Tess, especially after settling into a routine of Joe Hunter thrillers where I know I'm picking up a book about a character I could read about forever. This review is turning into a Joe Hunter comparison but in that series especially I love the relationship between Hunter and his best friend and business partner, Rink. In Blood Tracks Tess too has a partner, but it's not somebody she particularly knows, likes or trusts and he goes by the name of Po. His real identity being that of Southern renegade ex-con Nicolas Villere. Po always gets his man, and he has never been teamed with a woman before. There's a lot of distrust and tension between the pair in the beginning, both characters having their own agendas for hunting down Wynne, it's a tense and exciting read in places and if Tess returns in the future, Po absolutely has to as well.

Anyone who isn't new to a Matt Hilton thriller will immediately recognise all of the things that make readers love his work. Those Hollywood blockbuster scenes and those dramatic cliffhanger moments but as I've said in the past, there's a real story to be had here, with characters and scenes that become real in your mind and so by the end of the book you feel as though you've been on this journey right alongside these characters. And what a journey it is. I can definitely see Tess Grey becoming a long-running character like Joe Hunter and I hope to be reading more about her very soon. She really is an intriguing character and with her being an ex-cop her morals are often different to that of other thriller characters where they essentially have very few. It's interesting witnessing her thought processes as she attempts to balance how she should act and behave in this new-found career, especially working alongside somebody who isn't afraid to flout the law.

Blood Tracks is a thriller in every sense of the word. It's a book I have no hesitation in recommending to existing fans of Matt Hilton, and also to those who are new to his work. And, when you are done with Blood Tracks, be sure to go and check out his Joe Hunter series.

PI Tess Grey teams with ex-con

Who is Tess Grey? Formerly she was a law enforcement officer with the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office in Maine. Now she’s a genealogist but more basically a PI. She came well recommended to the local DA’s office who hired her to find and bring back Crawford Wynne who is wanted as a material witness for the prosecution of Albert Suarez (alias Albert Sower). It was highly suspected that Wynne returned to his home of New Orleans, Louisiana. Before she heads out, she hires Nicholas Villere (Po) who is an ex-con, but he knows N.O. like the back of his hand. Once they get settled and begin their search in earnest, the danger level quickly escalates. Tess and Po are not the only ones looking for Wynn, and the competition they offer is far from welcome.
It starts with a little “flutter in her stomach”, a very unexpected and not altogether wanted, attraction to Po. What attracted her to him? She admitted it was his “rugged exterior, his languidness, and his old-fashioned mannerisms [that] had their own appeal.” They couldn’t be any more different if they tried. And, so this is not only a fascinating suspense, it also adds a little bit of romance … when they’re not busy watching each other’s backs.

In Blood Tracks, Tess Grey is introduced as very capable and daring in this brand new PI series. I just have to note that this is not for the faint of heart as it is quite gritty especially in the beginning. The characterization is wonderful. I liked both Tess and Po and ultimately, they worked well together. The dialogue between them is realistic and even humorous at times. The side characters are also fresh and unique. Matt Hilton is not a newbie in the world of writing. In fact, he has many adoring fans already hooked on his Joe Hunter series. He has a knack for taking his imagination and displaying those same scenes on the pages of a novel for readers to delve into and enjoy.

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