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DS Stella Mooney #1
Ölüm Halkası
Londra'daki bir apartman dairesinde bulunan dört ceset ilk bakışta tarikatlara özgü toplu bir intihar vakasını akla getirse de içlerinden birinin cinayete kurban gittiğinin anlaşılması davanın seyrini bir anda değiştirir ve olayı inceleyen Dedektif Stella Mooney kendini günden güne genişleyen bu dört kişilik ölüm halkasının tam ortasında bulur. Murderabilia sapkınları, holiganlar, uyuşturucu tacirleri bu halkaya ilk anda eklenenlerdir; bunları fuhuş batağına düşürülmüş Doğu Avrupalı genç kadınlar, savaş suçlusu eski Sırp askerleri ve bölge savaşlarına tutuşmuş mafya grupları takip edecektir.
"Çok başarılı bir ilk roman... Stella Mooney'nin bir sonraki davasını sabırsızlıkla bekliyoruz."
Sunday Telegraph
"Çok başarılı bir ilk roman... Stella Mooney'nin bir sonraki davasını sabırsızlıkla bekliyoruz."
Sunday Telegraph
384 pages, Paperback
First published February 27, 2003
10 people are currently reading
119 people want to read
About the author
David Lawrence
7 books14 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Pseudonym for author David Harsent.
Pseudonym for author David Harsent.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
September 3, 2020
Stella Mooney. Sen bir baş belasısın. Bilmeden yeni seriye başlamışım. Bilirsiniz, kendimi şaşırtmayı severim. Canım kendim ☺️ Bu kitabın neden ikinci kitap olduğunu düşündüğümü söyleyeyim, Goodreads’te öyle yazıyordu çünkü. Ama yayınevi beni uyardı, birinci kitapmış.
Şimdi gelelim kitaba. Başrolde bir polis olunca bu kitap otomatik olarak polisiye mi oluyor? Yoksa bir polis artı bir seri katil mi gerek? Bu düşünceden yola çıkarak şöyle diyorum. Atıyorum mafyanın öldürdüğü birkaç kişinin romanı polisiye olur mu? Aklınızı karıştırdım biliyorum. Ama bence bu polisiye değildi. Aksiyon var mıydı, evet. Gerilim var mıydı, evet. Ama polisiye? No no no.
Kitabın ortalarına doğru Stella bir şey yapıyor, ona acayip kıl oldum. Ne olduğunu söyleyemem, spoi olur. O yaptığı şey yüzünden kitabın ekseni tamamen kaydı ve ben kitabın gittiği yönü sevmedim. Ay bulmaca gibi konuştum değil mi? Özetle sevmedim. Karşılıklı bir sürü diyalogla geçen, olay örgüsü zayıf, karakterleri yarım olan bir kitaptı. Tavsiye etmem.
Şimdi gelelim kitaba. Başrolde bir polis olunca bu kitap otomatik olarak polisiye mi oluyor? Yoksa bir polis artı bir seri katil mi gerek? Bu düşünceden yola çıkarak şöyle diyorum. Atıyorum mafyanın öldürdüğü birkaç kişinin romanı polisiye olur mu? Aklınızı karıştırdım biliyorum. Ama bence bu polisiye değildi. Aksiyon var mıydı, evet. Gerilim var mıydı, evet. Ama polisiye? No no no.
Kitabın ortalarına doğru Stella bir şey yapıyor, ona acayip kıl oldum. Ne olduğunu söyleyemem, spoi olur. O yaptığı şey yüzünden kitabın ekseni tamamen kaydı ve ben kitabın gittiği yönü sevmedim. Ay bulmaca gibi konuştum değil mi? Özetle sevmedim. Karşılıklı bir sürü diyalogla geçen, olay örgüsü zayıf, karakterleri yarım olan bir kitaptı. Tavsiye etmem.
January 30, 2022
Quite a different take on a crime novel because you already know who committed the crime way before the characters in the story do, so it’s just a waiting game for you until these characters put the pieces together. I enjoyed the way it was written but sometimes found it hard to follow all the different POVs. I was engrossed in the story the whole way through and actually cared for the characters which is always a sign of good writing!
April 1, 2012
Disappointing. The plot was fairly interesting, but the lead character (a female Detective Sergeant with the Met) was as bad as the title. She's supposed to be the usual skilled investigator, but spends the whole book getting knocked about by various villains while failing to catch them - too incompetent to ring true.
January 3, 2018
Good but not great. Like some other reviewers I didn't ever feel anything for any of the characters including Stella Mooney who is just too weird and screwed up to like. It must be really hard for any writer to imbue any character with any qualities that others may empathise with which is why there are so few really great writers. I am quite a fan of In Rankin who is pretty good at it but sadly David Lawrence doesn't crack it. I like to look forward to bedtime when I can get back into the story but I did't really get that feeling at any time which is a shame.
I understand also that Lawrence is based in the US and if true this also adversely affects his writing. Including so many American words such as 'billfold' and my least favourite 'licence plate' (in Britain this is officially a registration number or more colloquially 'number plate') just appears confused, its supposed to be a gritty British crime novel. Also, overuse of the verb 'papered' to mean noun 'paperwork' throughout the book just sounds forced as if a device by the writer that he is determined to see through. 3/5 seems about fair. Having said all that I will read others in the series and report back if I modify my view at all.
I understand also that Lawrence is based in the US and if true this also adversely affects his writing. Including so many American words such as 'billfold' and my least favourite 'licence plate' (in Britain this is officially a registration number or more colloquially 'number plate') just appears confused, its supposed to be a gritty British crime novel. Also, overuse of the verb 'papered' to mean noun 'paperwork' throughout the book just sounds forced as if a device by the writer that he is determined to see through. 3/5 seems about fair. Having said all that I will read others in the series and report back if I modify my view at all.
May 1, 2020
Een veelbelovend debuut. Sorry, spijtig niet.
Veel actie en soms sensatie. Sommige zaken hebben niets met het verhaal te maken.
Geeft wel een mooi beeld van de onderwereld in Loden en hoe de politie werkt. Soms afdelingen tegen elkaar.
De hebzucht van de onderwereld helpt de politie ook zaken oplossen omdat zij hun acties in de kaart spelen van de politie.
Na het lezen van dit boek kan men gerust aannemen dat de politie steeds achter net zal vissen en de onderwereld over heel de wereld sterker en sterker zal worden. Het verdwijnen en één gangster geeft plaats voor vele andere.
Het zal de samenleving veel geld kosten om hun te bestrijden zonder enige vorm van toegevoegde waarde.
Besluit: Het verhaal is redelijk en zeker geschikt om te verfilmen.
Veel actie en soms sensatie. Sommige zaken hebben niets met het verhaal te maken.
Geeft wel een mooi beeld van de onderwereld in Loden en hoe de politie werkt. Soms afdelingen tegen elkaar.
De hebzucht van de onderwereld helpt de politie ook zaken oplossen omdat zij hun acties in de kaart spelen van de politie.
Na het lezen van dit boek kan men gerust aannemen dat de politie steeds achter net zal vissen en de onderwereld over heel de wereld sterker en sterker zal worden. Het verdwijnen en één gangster geeft plaats voor vele andere.
Het zal de samenleving veel geld kosten om hun te bestrijden zonder enige vorm van toegevoegde waarde.
Besluit: Het verhaal is redelijk en zeker geschikt om te verfilmen.
August 23, 2023
It was different to other books of this genre, but I quite liked it. It was interesting even though we knew the killer from almost the beginning, but from one death, so many more things came to light, it was truly a great journey once you're over it and think back to where it started from.
If I would have had an easier time telling people apart from each other (the side characters that Stella worked with) besides their names, this would have been a perfect book for me.
If I would have had an easier time telling people apart from each other (the side characters that Stella worked with) besides their names, this would have been a perfect book for me.
September 17, 2018
Good book, good story. Talk about leaving you hanging!
August 11, 2020
The first of the DS stella mooney crime series set in london. Bit more gruesome and hard-hitting than most uk crime novels but a pretty decent read. I will definitely buy book 2. 7/10 .
July 28, 2025
David Lawrence's first novel is grim but fascinating. It is set in and around the Harefield Estate, a lawless hinterland, within easy walking distance of the millionaires' playground of Holland Park, where every other flat seems to be a shebeen, brothel or crack factory. The Harefield really is a concrete jungle, and the police officers who have to cope with its fallout have to demonstrate a particular toughness themselves.
One of the toughest of these officers is Detective Sergeant Stella Mooney. She actually grew up on the Harefield, with a mother who spent most of her time seeking refuge in whatever drugs she could find while her father had decamped in her infancy. Somehow Stella escaped, as one of just three people from her school to get to university, but, having joined the police as a reaction to her upbringing, she now finds herself back on the fringe of the Harefield Estate.
Of course, as seems obligatory with fictional detectives nowadays, Stella has to contend with her own emotional baggage. Rather a cliché, of course, but in this instance, David Lawrence handles it marvellously. Stella's personal trauma is intense and awful, yet also utterly plausible, as are the measures she takes to counter it. I think she is a brilliantly-crafted and readily believable character.
The novel opens with the discovery of four dead bodies in a flat near the Harefield. Three of the corpses would appear to have been poisoned while the fourth has been stabbed with unusual precision and lack of fuss. Further investigation shows that the three people who were poisoned were siblings and members of an unorthodox religious group, while the man who was stabbed turns out to be Jimmy Stone, a minor criminal with a record for general hooliganism, with a particular taste for football- and race-related violence. He also seemed to be doing brisk business selling 'murderabilia' (items related to renowned murders).
As Stella delves into the victims' backgrounds she finds more and more evidence that Jimmy Stone had been involved with the Tanner family, local gangland bigwigs who run most of the guns, drugs and prostitution that abound on the Harefield. AMIP's biggest concern is that the murder of Jimmy Stone might merely be the opening shot that leads to an all out gang war as newcomers strive to oust the Tanners and take over their patch.
Lawrence writes with a spare, almost journalistic style, pared back and never over-indulgent. Violent events happen in the book, but they are never laboured over, gratuitously. The plot is multi-faceted but develops very steadily and plausibly. While the conclusion comes as a surprise, all of the threads have been carefully arranged, and there are no loose ends.
Gruesome but compelling.
One of the toughest of these officers is Detective Sergeant Stella Mooney. She actually grew up on the Harefield, with a mother who spent most of her time seeking refuge in whatever drugs she could find while her father had decamped in her infancy. Somehow Stella escaped, as one of just three people from her school to get to university, but, having joined the police as a reaction to her upbringing, she now finds herself back on the fringe of the Harefield Estate.
Of course, as seems obligatory with fictional detectives nowadays, Stella has to contend with her own emotional baggage. Rather a cliché, of course, but in this instance, David Lawrence handles it marvellously. Stella's personal trauma is intense and awful, yet also utterly plausible, as are the measures she takes to counter it. I think she is a brilliantly-crafted and readily believable character.
The novel opens with the discovery of four dead bodies in a flat near the Harefield. Three of the corpses would appear to have been poisoned while the fourth has been stabbed with unusual precision and lack of fuss. Further investigation shows that the three people who were poisoned were siblings and members of an unorthodox religious group, while the man who was stabbed turns out to be Jimmy Stone, a minor criminal with a record for general hooliganism, with a particular taste for football- and race-related violence. He also seemed to be doing brisk business selling 'murderabilia' (items related to renowned murders).
As Stella delves into the victims' backgrounds she finds more and more evidence that Jimmy Stone had been involved with the Tanner family, local gangland bigwigs who run most of the guns, drugs and prostitution that abound on the Harefield. AMIP's biggest concern is that the murder of Jimmy Stone might merely be the opening shot that leads to an all out gang war as newcomers strive to oust the Tanners and take over their patch.
Lawrence writes with a spare, almost journalistic style, pared back and never over-indulgent. Violent events happen in the book, but they are never laboured over, gratuitously. The plot is multi-faceted but develops very steadily and plausibly. While the conclusion comes as a surprise, all of the threads have been carefully arranged, and there are no loose ends.
Gruesome but compelling.
July 26, 2014
A better than average, highly readable, extremely cruel and bleak piece of London noir -- a description that makes the book sound as if it should be absolutely up my street. Which it is, sort of. And yet . . .
It starts with an intriguing incident, the discovery of four dead people sitting together in an apartment. Three are elderly and are soon discovered to have had a suicide compact. The fourth, much younger, was murdered by a stab to the heart, the thinness of the blade used making it possible for him to live for some minutes, even to enter the apartment and join the circle. It's up to DS Stella Mooney to solve this murder, and doing so leads her on to far larger crimes: a gang war, sex slavery, a sadistic Bosnian killer with perhaps hundreds of torturous deaths to his name, drug dealing, and various items of mass carnage.
Meantime, Mooney's life is under stress because a while back a particularly revolting murder case resulted in her having a miscarriage, while now she can't decide if she wants to carry on living with George, the most tolerant man on the planet and one whom she loves, or ditch him for exciting, sexy journalist Delaney.
The trouble was this: although the book captured me and I kept on reading, by about halfway through I stopped believing a word of it. Yes, I know the crime rate in London is intolerably high -- I lived there long enough, and have plenty of friends/family there -- but it's not really the case that the capital is largely a war zone. I actually lost count of the number of murders involved in Mooney's case, but it was a lot -- three here, seven there, another three there, and so on -- and most of them seemed to be done with the maximum of mess and public impact. But the city supposedly just keeps happily dawdling along as if there's nothin' unusual goin' on . . . Meanwhile, the characters are all either profoundly obnoxious or -- with the exception of George and Zuhra, a gutsy Serbian hooker -- exceptionally hard for me to empathize with.
All in all, then, I came away from this book feeling fairly unsatisfied -- as if I'd eaten a big meal that looked good and had all the right ingredients yet tasted only adequate. I'm sure plenty of other readers will feel quite differently -- as, obviously, did the reviewers quoted on the cover.
It starts with an intriguing incident, the discovery of four dead people sitting together in an apartment. Three are elderly and are soon discovered to have had a suicide compact. The fourth, much younger, was murdered by a stab to the heart, the thinness of the blade used making it possible for him to live for some minutes, even to enter the apartment and join the circle. It's up to DS Stella Mooney to solve this murder, and doing so leads her on to far larger crimes: a gang war, sex slavery, a sadistic Bosnian killer with perhaps hundreds of torturous deaths to his name, drug dealing, and various items of mass carnage.
Meantime, Mooney's life is under stress because a while back a particularly revolting murder case resulted in her having a miscarriage, while now she can't decide if she wants to carry on living with George, the most tolerant man on the planet and one whom she loves, or ditch him for exciting, sexy journalist Delaney.
The trouble was this: although the book captured me and I kept on reading, by about halfway through I stopped believing a word of it. Yes, I know the crime rate in London is intolerably high -- I lived there long enough, and have plenty of friends/family there -- but it's not really the case that the capital is largely a war zone. I actually lost count of the number of murders involved in Mooney's case, but it was a lot -- three here, seven there, another three there, and so on -- and most of them seemed to be done with the maximum of mess and public impact. But the city supposedly just keeps happily dawdling along as if there's nothin' unusual goin' on . . . Meanwhile, the characters are all either profoundly obnoxious or -- with the exception of George and Zuhra, a gutsy Serbian hooker -- exceptionally hard for me to empathize with.
All in all, then, I came away from this book feeling fairly unsatisfied -- as if I'd eaten a big meal that looked good and had all the right ingredients yet tasted only adequate. I'm sure plenty of other readers will feel quite differently -- as, obviously, did the reviewers quoted on the cover.
October 8, 2009
#1 DS Stella Mooney mystery set in London. Stella is a haunted character, a street smart rogue cop who grew up in the tough projects and has maintained her toughness. Smart enough to escalate up the promotion ladder if she wanted to, Stella elects to stay a Detective Sergeant so she can keep her fingers on the pulse of the street, keep close to the people instead of becoming a paper pusher. I have to say that in this book, the role of DS seemed to be a lot more expansive than it is in many other British police procedurals I've read. Of course Stella tended to act impulsively at times with a lot of authority that she in reality didn't have, too.
As she tries to solve the case of Jimmy Stone, killed by a professional hit man with a knife to the heart, her mental health becomes increasingly fragile as she is attacked several times, continues to drink too much and sleep too little due to nightmares about a
previous case and her own miscarriage, and conflicting feelings about her live-in boyfriend George.
There wasn't really any mystery here--we knew up front who the bad guys were, the only mystery was what would happen to Stella and her sanity. For much of the book it felt like Stella was nothing but a pinball battered back and forth, bouncing off various pylons out of control. I liked Stella, but at times her whole persona was just a real drag, and her continued unwise--okay, sometimes totally stupid--decisions tended to border on being unbelievable. Dark, gritty, violent, compelling story and interesting perspectives, but not something I would want to read a bunch of back to back.
As she tries to solve the case of Jimmy Stone, killed by a professional hit man with a knife to the heart, her mental health becomes increasingly fragile as she is attacked several times, continues to drink too much and sleep too little due to nightmares about a
previous case and her own miscarriage, and conflicting feelings about her live-in boyfriend George.
There wasn't really any mystery here--we knew up front who the bad guys were, the only mystery was what would happen to Stella and her sanity. For much of the book it felt like Stella was nothing but a pinball battered back and forth, bouncing off various pylons out of control. I liked Stella, but at times her whole persona was just a real drag, and her continued unwise--okay, sometimes totally stupid--decisions tended to border on being unbelievable. Dark, gritty, violent, compelling story and interesting perspectives, but not something I would want to read a bunch of back to back.
Read
May 2, 2014I picked up this British thriller at the library as the opening premise seemed intriguing: why would there be four corpses sitting calmly in a room? However, while the book is well done in its own way, I wasn't all that wild about it. Only one of the dead gets followed up, the odd man out, because the other three are soon explained. Well, I was more interested in the three pious dead and their lives than I was in the remaining jerk and his ties to organized crime. It's not odd that the author wanted to focus on a gritty police procedural in which a haunted female detective deals with the London underworld, Serbian sex traffickers, and numerous assassins, but surely the other three dead could have made an interesting subplot rather than being resolved and dropped almost instantly.
The prose is tight and spare, terse even to the point of leaving the reader unsure what just happened. I thought I was pretty good with British slang, but this had loads of acronyms and terms new to me. I could see that "journo" was short for "journalist" and that "shebeen" referred to a party, but the thicket of slang was surprisingly hard to penetrate. In truth, I had more fun with the Serbian phrases because while I don't actually know what's now called BCS (Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian), all of the Slavic languages are fairly closely related (and the author did translate everything).
In short, the book will appeal strongly to some readers, but it wasn't really my kind of thing. And if the underworld really killed off its denizens as frequently as occurs in this book, there wouldn't be much of an underworld left by this time.
The prose is tight and spare, terse even to the point of leaving the reader unsure what just happened. I thought I was pretty good with British slang, but this had loads of acronyms and terms new to me. I could see that "journo" was short for "journalist" and that "shebeen" referred to a party, but the thicket of slang was surprisingly hard to penetrate. In truth, I had more fun with the Serbian phrases because while I don't actually know what's now called BCS (Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian), all of the Slavic languages are fairly closely related (and the author did translate everything).
In short, the book will appeal strongly to some readers, but it wasn't really my kind of thing. And if the underworld really killed off its denizens as frequently as occurs in this book, there wouldn't be much of an underworld left by this time.
August 27, 2007
THE DEAD SIT ROUND IN A RING (Police Proc-London-Cont) - Poor
Lawrence, David – 1st book
Thomas Dunn Books, 2004-Hardcover
Detective Stella Mooney takes on the case where four people, two men and two women, have been found sitting in a ring, all dead. Three are quickly identified and classified as suicides, but the fourth person was murdered and is unknown. But Stella also needs to worry about a problem with vodka, terrible nightmares, her attraction to a newsman and a relationship she no longer thinks she wants.
*** I generally like the tough, gritty, can-handle-anything character, particularly a female. But Stella is so unrelentingly dark as to be oppressive. Thankfully, she is in therapy, which offers the only hope of my continuing the series because I read first for character. The book is well written but, without a single spark of light, I did not enjoy this book as much as I might have done.
Lawrence, David – 1st book
Thomas Dunn Books, 2004-Hardcover
Detective Stella Mooney takes on the case where four people, two men and two women, have been found sitting in a ring, all dead. Three are quickly identified and classified as suicides, but the fourth person was murdered and is unknown. But Stella also needs to worry about a problem with vodka, terrible nightmares, her attraction to a newsman and a relationship she no longer thinks she wants.
*** I generally like the tough, gritty, can-handle-anything character, particularly a female. But Stella is so unrelentingly dark as to be oppressive. Thankfully, she is in therapy, which offers the only hope of my continuing the series because I read first for character. The book is well written but, without a single spark of light, I did not enjoy this book as much as I might have done.
June 17, 2013
I'm relatively new to books/mysteries that are set in countries other than the US. This one is right up my alley. Stella Mooney is one British Detective you don't want to miss! She is so full of contradictions, but the author makes it work. She lives with the love of her life, yet feels herself falling in love with a journalist. She believes in the law, but regularly breaks the rules. She has secrets that she keeps from everyone and at times has turned to alcohol to cope. All the secondary characters are full-blown making them very relatable. As the title observes, the mystery starts when several people are all found dead while sitting in a circle, only one of the bodies doesn't quite fit in the scene. The reader gets taken on a rocky ride from the very posh to the very dark and dreary in an effort to solve the case.
I thought it was a fantastic book. The characters certainly had a life of their own and I'm thrilled to know there are 3 more Stella Mooney books to be read.
I thought it was a fantastic book. The characters certainly had a life of their own and I'm thrilled to know there are 3 more Stella Mooney books to be read.
March 18, 2011
First in the DS Stella Mooney mystery series, the story is set in current-day London with Detective Stella Mooney at a crisis point in her life.
In this initial tale, Stella is investigating the deaths of four people sitting together in the living room one of whom seems to have wandered in already dead. The original three are fairly easy to suss out it’s the fourth who presents a problem and leads Stella into a deeper and more intense investigation based on her own gut instincts. One of those whom she meets in this investigation triggers a reaction to a deeply traumatic case Stella worked four cases before.
It’s a rare thing finding a modern-day English mystery series based on a woman copper and Lawrence has created some strong, very realistic characters with true-to-life backgrounds AND reactions. It’s gonna be an interesting ride reading through this series!
In this initial tale, Stella is investigating the deaths of four people sitting together in the living room one of whom seems to have wandered in already dead. The original three are fairly easy to suss out it’s the fourth who presents a problem and leads Stella into a deeper and more intense investigation based on her own gut instincts. One of those whom she meets in this investigation triggers a reaction to a deeply traumatic case Stella worked four cases before.
It’s a rare thing finding a modern-day English mystery series based on a woman copper and Lawrence has created some strong, very realistic characters with true-to-life backgrounds AND reactions. It’s gonna be an interesting ride reading through this series!
April 11, 2008
Here's the first of a gorgeous new British crime series featuring Detective Sergeant Stella Mooney that is bleak, brutal, and beautifully written. The elements of this hard-hitting procedural will be familiar to fans of contemporary London noir: the troubled detective making her daily descent into a grim urban nightmare; gangsters who range from merely brutal to wantonly sadistic; the sinister traffic in Eastern European flesh. What sets this title apart is the writing — apparently Lawrence has worked as both a poet and a screenwriter, and crime readers reap the benefits in haunting elegiac descriptions and living dialogue, all wound up in a swift and complex plot with its feet firmly in the gutter and its mind on better days, if only, if only . . . .
January 6, 2011
Rechercheur Stella Mooney wordt naar een appartement in het Londense Notting Hill geroepen waar vier doden zijn aangetroffen. De doden zitten in stoelen in een kring. Van geweld van buitenaf is geen spoor. Vermoedelijk is er sprake van een collectieve zelfmoord. Bij nader inzien blijkt echter een van de doden wel degelijk vermoord te zijn. Op een subtiele en dus professionele manier. Een executie. [return][return]Maar wat doet deze verdwaalde vermoorde man te midden van de drie door zelfmoord om het leven gekomen andere personen? Stella Mooney moet veel wegen door de Londense onderwereld bewandelen voor ze een concreet spoor vindt. Ze wordt daarbij geholpen door de journalist John Delaney en de Bosnische prostituee Zuhra, een slachtoffer van internationale vrouwenhandel
October 14, 2013
Oh dear! I hate the star system when it's my personal state of mind and there is nothing wrong with the novel. I am sure many people will enjoy this well written and researched police procedural novel.
I just found it so hard to read and didn't finish it because it is one of those gritty, bleak and grim ones where the police officer's personal life is falling apart and her work load is killing her.
It is not a book to read, as I found, when your own personal life is a bit grim. I found it too depressing on top of my own life's problems.
For those who like realistic and gritty police procedurals I am sure this will be a good read.
May 29, 2016
This was 'fine' I quite liked the main character & essential storyline - though at one stage he has the bleached, noticed, siliconed gangster wives in 'Versace, Donna Karan & Issey Miyake" - really? Versace yes but the other two.........made me laugh to imagine it though. This book probably suffered from my severe withdrawal after finishing a David Mitchell full of vivid & complex highs & lows - this felt pretty bleh by comparison.
April 10, 2008
A promising new series. Though a bit heavy on the police procedures (I believe the word 'paperwork' appears on every other page), the story is stimulating, the mystery intriguing, and Stella Mooney, the new detective, plausible and sympathetic. A touch of the hard-boiled made this a winner for me.
August 4, 2008
I seem to be on a female hard case detective streak. I'm think I'd have enjoyed this more if I hadn't read the Ana Grey mysteries just before.
Good read-alike for those wanting something like Val McDermid.
Good read-alike for those wanting something like Val McDermid.
July 24, 2007
Decent, hardbitten British police procedural, particularly for a first novel.
June 23, 2008
A new author for me - just as complex but 'grittier' than Elizabeth George.
May 3, 2013
One of very few books I couldn't finish. Boring like hell. The characters are flat and every bright point immediately being followed by a zillion of dull, empty episodes.
February 2, 2013
Very dark thriller. Female detective. Set in England. if you like dark thrillers this one is for you. You won't get any warm and fuzzies. I am starting to like the British thrillers more and more.
February 21, 2013
Well written and very good, but creepy.
March 31, 2013
maybe 3.5....but benefit of the doubt. going to read the next one, so that says something.
September 2, 2013
A very good crime novel . It is well written, good plot and great characters.
September 20, 2013
Grim, terrifying and way too real. Detective Stella Mooney had recurrent nightmares and after reading this book so did I.
March 5, 2014
This was a real cliffhanger, a very exciting read, but I think the genre was written more for men than women, even though the main character was a feisty woman cop.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews