Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this ebook free of charge,from Joffee Books, via Netgalley for blog review purposes on this blog. No compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it, all opinions are my own.
A stunning new standalone crime thriller
from #1 best-selling author Joy Ellis.
Synopsis:
Detective Matt Ballard is haunted by one traumatic case he never solved. In the 1990s three boys were murdered in the same area, the remote and bleak Gibbet Fen. When the main suspect was killed in a hit-and-run, the killings stopped. But Matt was never satisfied that the real murderer had been caught.
25 years later, Matt gets a photo in an unmarked envelope. It’s of the Gibbet Fen crime scene. Taken before the murder.
More photos arrive, relating to the historic murders, and intimate pictures of Matt’s secret relationship.
Another killing takes place, with some of the hallmarks of the old case. Has the killer returned or is this just a sick copycat determined to ruin Matt’s life and reputation?
In an absolutely breathtaking conclusion, Matt and his colleagues, race against time to stop a vicious killer who knows no limits.
The setting
Rural fenland is a strange place, with its never-ending fields, winding tracks, and long straight droves that lead to nowhere. The lonely lanes are flanked either side by deep drainage ditches and are, for a good part of the year, filled with tall, whispering reeds. Closer to the Wash, high seabanks form a barrier between river and marsh, and the richly fertile soil of the drained land. But when the mists come down, as they so often do, perspective is destroyed and all sense of direction lost, and then the fens become a rather frightening place of mystery and danger. Somewhere that you do not want to be at night.
Review:
Having read other books in Ellis' other series, I was interested to see how Joy would handle detective ready to retire, and the case that haunted him coming back into play. To say this is a page turner is an understatement! I HAD to read it in one sitting, I literally could NOT put it down.Even though Matt is at the end of his career, you do not need to know about his previous cases, as enough background is given on Matt and his team, and most of the needed info comes up in the story organically, as it relates to the old case, so the reader never feels lost. Is the original killer back, or is it a cunning copycat? The ending will leave you 'gobstruck' as they say in the book, and you may find yourself going back a few chapters and re=reading them, looking for clues, you may have missed. If you want a book for a long reading spell, this is the one!
About the Author:
Joy Ellis grew up in Kent but moved to London when she won an apprenticeship with the prestigious Mayfair flower shop, Constance Spry Ltd. Many years later, having run her own florist shop in Weybridge, Ellis took part in a writers workshop in Greece and was encouraged by her tutor, Sue Townsend to begin writing seriously. She now lives in the Lincolnshire Fens with her partner Jacqueline and their Springer spaniels, Woody and Alfie.
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