This is the 7th book in a series that I've followed from the beginning. It features DI Kelly Porter and her division -- Serious Crime in Cumbria's Lake District. The cases are usually quite complicated and the setting is spotlighted in most of the books although not so much in this one. It's always nice to revisit characters that you've come to know from previous installments.
In this police procedural/crime thriller, Kelly and her team are focused on solving two fatal knife attacks. The first victim, Ella Watson (married to Thomas with 2 teenaged children) was an upper middle class homemaker out on a run in the park when she was attacked. The second murder was Keira Bradley, from a lawless area known as Beacon Estate. The two murders committed in the same 24-hour time period couldn't possibly be related, could they? The first issue for Kelly is that one of the deaths is considered a higher priority than the other. NO SPOILERS.
The main themes here are class differences and the rising problem of knife violence. These topics were extensively explored in the narrative and at times I felt that the underlying message overpowered the story line. I really have liked DI Kelly Porter and most of her team members in previous books, but in this one she comes off as almost too perfect -- as a cop, as a woman, as a human being -- and I guess I like my characters with a few flaws and not someone who everyone just adores. I don't need head cases here, but just a little bit less than Wonder Woman would be more believable?! I wasn't all that engaged with this plot as much as the others probably because it didn't seem as much about police work as it was about the social message and corruption in the police department there. I'm sure I'll still want to follow this crime thriller series and definitely will read the next one.
Thank you to NetGalley and Canelo for this e-book ARC to read and review.
This is the 7th book in a series and I think they should be read in order.
Genre - crime thriller, police procedural
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