Lead Review (Split Second)

• Book: Split Second
• Location: Halifax
• Author: R C Bridgestock

Review Author: tripfiction

R C Bridgestock is husband and wife writing team – Carol and Bob. Both have worked in various capacities for the police, and thus the characterisations, interactions and the police investigations feel sharply observed and very real. There is a profound sense that the author duo knows how to construct a good and realistic storyline. The events are apparently loosely based on real-life events.

DS Jack Dylan and DI Charley Mann are at the heart of this Yorkshire-based police procedural series. Regular readers of the authors’ work will already be familiar with these two characters.

The novel opens as a couple of children witness, by chance, a shooting and film what they see. That shooting was carried out by female police officer – initially only referred to as Officer X – who killed the female driver of a BMW, and left the passenger in a severely bloodied condition. The officer is adamant that the sunlight reflected off the windscreen and blinded her sight. A judge, then, goes on to determine that the officer’s identify should be revealed and that sends the whole premise of the situation onto a new and dramatic trajectory. The officer’s motives start to come into question, as she succumbs to the rigorous investigation, which, of course, takes its toll on all concerned.

This is a novel that really epitomises the genre ‘police procedural’, there is a really confident feel to the storytelling as the reader is taken behind the scenes of due process, establishing the facts, and, of course, that is very interesting for the layperson. The story is well constructed by the authors who clearly know their stuff, as they build the layers from various perspectives. This offers a good insight into the whole process.

Setting isn’t particularly strong.

#ADPR

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