Well, I just had to do it! It’s the last day of the blog tour for Dead Wrong, the second book from the wonderful Noelle Holten, and I’m delighted to be sharing my review. Already available as an e-book (and currently just 99p for kindle on a limited time offer), the paperback was published on 14th May by One More Chapter – and it’s also available as an audiobook. My thanks to Sarah at Book on the Bright Side for the invitation and support, and to the publishers for my reading e-copy (provided via netgalley).
You’ll know how very rarely I read thrillers – even gentle crime can be rather outside my comfort zone these days. In fact, when I read and reviewed Dead Inside (you’ll find that review here), I declared that I might not return for the rest of the series, because my nerves just wouldn’t take it. But then I remembered how very much I’d enjoyed it – Noelle really is an exceptionally talented writer – and can vividly remember feverishly turning the pages while sitting in the car waiting for the next session at the Deepings Literary Festival. And I’ve seen some of the stunning reviews of this one – and I knew I just couldn’t resist trying her writing just one more time…
‘Nobody understands the criminal mind better than Noelle Holten’ M. W. Craven, CWA Gold Dagger Award-winning author of The Puppet Show
The serial killer is behind bars. But the murders are just beginning…
DC Maggie Jamieson’s past comes back to haunt her in this dark and gripping serial killer thriller.
Three missing women running out of time…
They were abducted years ago. Notorious serial killer Bill Raven admitted to killing them and was sentenced to life.
The case was closed – at least DC Maggie Jamieson thought it was…
But now one of them has been found, dismembered and dumped in a bin bag in town.
Forensics reveal that she died just two days ago, when Raven was behind bars, so Maggie has a second killer to find.
Because even if the other missing women are still alive, one thing’s for certain: they don’t have long left to live…
There might just have been rather more dismembered corpses and crack addicts than I’m used to in the books I usually read, but Noelle Holten really is the most wonderful story-teller. I raced, breathless, through this book in much the same way I did her first – and I must say I really liked the short chapters that enabled me to say “just one more”, only to find I’d done so that many times that I was so near the end that I just had to finish it…
This book really was all about the characters for me. Maggie Jamieson herself didn’t feature that much in the first book, but this time we get to know her very well indeed – and I really liked her. She’s totally driven by her belief in justice for victims, in dotting every “i” and crossing every “t”, taking immense pride in a job well done: the possibility that Bill Raven was an innocent man when she put him behind bars, and the accusations against her, both hurt her deeply and increase her hunger to see justice done.
She might not be the easiest officer to manage – I particularly loved her tussles with DI Rutherford (another really well drawn strong female character) – but her instincts are always strong and when she fails to toe the line it’s for the very best of reasons. I liked her more off-duty moments too – her home life with her brother, her sparring with (and affection for) new DS Nathan, and her friendship (which she’d like to be rather more) with Dr Kate Moloney, the criminal profiler. And she also has a cuddly cat – who disappears, and I thought might just have been forgotten, but oh no, he’s very much part of the story…
Bill Raven himself is a superb villain – he oozes danger and evil in the style of Hannibal Lecter, sinister and chilling, and his meetings with Nathan and Maggie really do make your flesh creep and all your little hairs stand up on end. It seems there’s no way he can be linked with the more recent murders and those body parts that keep on being found – but Maggie’s on his case, and if there is a link your money will be on her to find it. That’s the main story-line, but there’s an excellent sub-plot too involving Dr Kate – and a particularly disturbing one too.
The way the plot works through is so very clever – distinguished by that insider knowledge of how such things work and the complex relationships between the various agencies that was such a feature of the previous book. Red herrings and false trails abound – and the author holds your hand and leads you through it all with absolute confidence and considerable aplomb. And just when you think it must be time for everyone to adjourn to the pub to celebrate a job well done, she throws into the works the biggest spanner of all… my goodness, what an ending!
This book really was quite excellent – and there’s no way on earth I won’t be reading the next one. I will just add that although I do keep mentioning “the previous book”, you could read this one perfectly well as a stand-alone – but I do think you might just want to return for the next book too.
Just wonderful… and highly recommended, whether randomly discovered body parts might be your thing or not…
The next book in the series, Dead Perfect, will be published as an ebook on 16th October, with the paperback to follow on 24th December, available for preorder.
About the author
Noelle Holten is an award-winning blogger at www.crimebookjunkie.co.uk. She is the PR & Social Media Manager for Bookouture, a leading digital publisher in the UK, and was a regular reviewer on the Two Crime Writers and a Microphone podcast. Noelle worked as a Senior Probation Officer for eighteen years, covering a variety of cases including those involving serious domestic abuse. She has three Hons BA’s – Philosophy, Sociology (Crime & Deviance) and Community Justice – and a Masters in Criminology. Noelle’s hobbies include reading, attending as many book festivals as she can afford and sharing the booklove via her blog.
Noelle’s debut novel was Dead Inside, published by One More Chapter/Harper Collins UK, and the start of a new series featuring DC Maggie Jamieson.
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Blown away by your incredible review, Anne! Means the world to me. thank you x
Blown away by your book, Noelle! It was my absolute pleasure xx
Thanks so much for closing off the blog tour today Anne x
Always a pleasure, Sarah – just put me down now for Book 3! Thanks for the invitation and support x