“The ‘murder’ of crows should have alerted him.”
- Book: Turn To Dust (Detective Kay Hunter Book #9)
- Location: Kent, Maidstone
- Author: Rachel Amphlett
OK! So first off, I need to get the apologies to author Rachel Amphlett, consigned to paper and off my conscience. I have been an avid follower of Rachel’s work since the beginning of the Kay Hunter series and although I have promoted and featured all of the previous eight books, I have never actually made time to review a single one of them, and for that I am truly sorry!
I only say this now, because it was with a little trepidation that I accepted a spot on the Blog Tour for Turn To Dust, as a review feature only, fearing that the book may not work well as a stand alone story in such an advanced series and I may therefore not give a review due justice.
HOWEVER, I need not have worried, as this one was a brilliant stand alone story, which I devoured in pretty record time for me. Yes, there were obviously the faintest rumblings of a personal backstory for Kay, but it was totally non obtrusive and I didn’t need to know anything about it, to appreciate this as an excellent crime thriller / police procedural.
Rachel hit the spot with an amazing, on-trend, multi aspect storyline, which had a suspenseful plot, good character development, with a strong emphasis on realistic police procedurals and an ending which tied up all the loose ends nicely!
By about half way through the story, I began to have my suspicions about the crime scene and the identity of the culprit, which had me turning the pages ever faster, so that I could see if I was right! I was willing Kay’s team to catch up with my thinking and the longer it took them, the more convinced I became that I had fallen for a red herring!
Ah! eventually we were all reading off the same page, although it turns out I was only partially correct in my deductions, as the whole story, when it was finally uncovered, was much more depraved, disgusting and terrible, than I could ever possibly have imagined.
It is not often that written details of a police investigation can capture my imagination in quite the same way as if I had watched it on the small screen. However such was the visual and descriptive quality of the narrative and dialogue, I could easily imagine myself in the thick of things in the incident room, listening in on one of Kay’s team briefings and being given my next assignment in the investigation, or being included in the office banter. Every step of the investigation was documented in the text of the story, in exactly the same way as a real investigation would be, including the very gory forensic and scenes of crime details, which were rich in detail, with great emphasis on authenticity.
References to the plight of the homeless communities, which focussed more specifically on ex- services personnel, were documented sympathetically, clearly highlighting the vulnerability of such disadvantaged communities, at the hands of unscrupulous organisations and gangs.
There were the obvious rivalries between the investigating team, although they never threatened to disrupt the smooth execution of the investigation and the common goal of finding justice for the victims. Kay is an excellent leader and a great believer in collaborative thinking. She values her team, always trying to keep them motivated when there are the inevitable setbacks and dead ends, and they appear to work well together. She has taken the time and trouble to get to know all their individual strengths and weaknesses, but is not afraid to learn from any mistakes in judgement she might make, in allowing them to use their own initiative and to back their own hunches. Likewise, her relationship with her own line manager is frank and open, with her not being afraid to seek help and accept advice when she needs to, although she is also prepared to stand her ground and fight her corner, if she feels she is not being heard, or given the backing for her decisions she thinks she deserves.
I was getting the vibes that Kay and her partner Adam, (who is a vet) may have had some past history in their relationship, as seems to be the case with so many fictional detectives, however they seem to be very supportive of one another now, each knowing when the other has had a tough day and knowing when to listen and not to talk and judge.
Rachel introduced us to some brilliantly choreographed human traffickers, who you just couldn’t do anything else but despise, either for the sheer callousness of their behaviour, or perversely in others, their innate weakness in not stopping or preventing the atrocities and allowing them to continue unabated. A disturbing, yet compelling insight and social commentary, into the true depths of man’s inhumanity to man.
I was totally invested in all the characters, particularly Kay’s team, so it’s a real shame that they will be facing slight upheaval now, as one of their number is moving on to pastures new, with a well deserved promotion. However, there is new blood waiting in the wings and she seems to fit in just fine, so all should be good for book #10
Please tell me there is going to be a book #10 ??