A killer is targeting women in London every Tuesday. It seems that the murderer is obsessed with Alfred Hitchcock, and his crimes are gruesomely themed around the great director's films. Josa Jilani, a young and brilliant Muslim DCI is put on the case by her seniors, some of whom feel she has been unfairly fast-tracked and want to see her out of her depth. With the help of a couple of maverick detectives, Josa sets out to prove her worth and stop the Hitchcock Murderer in his tracks before more lives are lost ...
Disappointingly sexist. The plot is interesting and I’m a huge Hitch fan which made it intriguing and captivating but I COULD NOT see past the blind sexism!!!!
The blurb on the back suggests it’s about Josa Jilani, a DCI but Collinson barely gives her any police smarts or actions! Everything is learned and told to Daniel Blake! She’s the DCI!! Once you notice it about the interaction you can’t stop seeing it and you get more irritated everytime they contact Blake not her about info on the case that really you never know if she knows about it cause it’s never confirmed she even hears it!
The Blake character gets all the big breakthroughs and scenes and she is a secondary character. In one of the end scenes she even comes across as stupid not recognising that the killer is lying when it would be quite obvious for character progression to not believe him over Blake! Especially when she’s supposed to be an investigator!
Even her promotion is said to be because of her religion not because she has any skills at the job. To redeem a character when you present this premise- who is supposedly one of your main characters; you need to give her a brain and show she deserved to be there based on her merit. Instead this story has her as just another woman in a boys network forced to take a backseat to their heroics that constantly overshadow. Letting her physically save the day at the end just comes across as a pathetic attempt to make her ‘strong’ like one of the boys. Big deal.
It needs to have the blurb on the back changed as Daniel Blake is the main character not her and going in to it thinking otherwise you can not stop being annoyed by it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
If you are a fan of Alfred Hitchcock, this book has it all - bluffs, double bluffs, McGuffins shocks and thrills galore. There were some bits that I skimmed over quickly, a wee bit gruesome for me, but they did fit with the story and the Hitchcock theme so I kept reading. I didn't want to put this down once I got into it and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I will eagerly look forward to the next in this series and now I just want to re-acquaint myself with the Hitch films I have seen and discover others for the first time.