The Deadly Houses (DS Maddie Ives #6) by Charlie Gallagher

Abusive men do not like it when they are kept from the families they think they own and control. Some of them are so angry about it, they decide to take matters into their own hands.

Detective Sergeant Maddie Ives and her former partner, Harry Blaker, of Canterbury Major Crimes, have their hands full with a suspect who claims to have murdered a social worker found suffocated in an isolated warehouse. They don't believe his confession and soon find an even larger problem -- it seems that a protection program devised by the police and CPS has been breached. Families that have been hidden away from brutal partners may have been exposed by people who've been kidnapped and blackmailed into revealing their locations. Can they unravel this heinous plan and save those they've vowed to protect? NO SPOILERS.

Although this is the 6th in a series, I've only read one previous book -- the first -- but I didn't feel that I'd missed much coming in at this point. The plot of this reminded me a bit of THE CHAIN by Adrian McKinty. It was fast-paced and full of action with the characters being similar to all of those in the detective/police procedural genre. The author is a police detective so has first hand experience with the methods and tactics in how Maddie and Harry approach this investigation. I enjoyed it and may be looking for the next installment.

Thank you to NetGalley and Joffe Books for this e-book ARC to read and review.

This is the 6th book in a series that I've not read all of previously. Works as a standalone.

Genre - police procedural, crime thriller, UK