I'm delighted to be on the tour for this read- and you'll be pleased to know that I can't stop talking about it...
Detangling the plot:
A teenage girl was murdered on her way home from school, stabbed through the heart. Her North London community is shocked, but no one has the courage to help the police, not even her mother.
It’s DI Callum Waverley’s first major case as a senior investigating officer – can he break the code of silence that shrouds the case?
This is a world where the notorious Skull Crew rules through fear. Everyone knows you keep your mouth shut or you’ll be silenced – permanently.
This is Luke’s world. Reeling from the loss of his mother to cancer, his step-father distant at best, violent at worst, he slides into the Skull Crew’s grip.
This is Jez’s world too. Her alcoholic mother neither knows nor cares that her 16-year-old daughter is being exploited by V, the all-powerful leader of the gang.
Luke and Jez form a bond. Is it friendship, love or fear that brings them together? Can Callum win their trust, or will his own demons sabotage his investigation? And can anyone stop the Skull Crew from ensuring all witnesses are silenced?
Bobs and Books honest review:
If you are anything like me, any book over 500 pages has to be brilliant to read it. So, I'm telling you to strap yourself in and read it!
The stabbing at the start of the book is hard hitting and brings the pace from the off- this is maintained throughout. Every page counts,
I loved Callum as a character, with the stereotypical broken family life and fractured relationship with his son. His work relationships really add to this too.
The different points of view keep this moving and whilst I was invested in that narrator, I hadn't forgotten the other components and points of view from the other characters bubbling away in the background.
The sense of the gang culture really ripples through the community and brings that world out of the shadows and there on the page for the reader.
Clever, captivating, and courageous.
About the author:
Author website: https://jennieensor.com
Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/JennieEnsorAuthor
A Londoner with Irish heritage, Jennie Ensor began her writing career as a journalist, obtaining a Masters in Journalism (winning two awards) and covering topics from forced marriage to accidents in the mining industry.
In her spare time (?) she reads, walks and tries to do twice-weekly yoga. She regularly cycles the punishing hills of north London and enjoys collapsing with a bar of chocolate/glass of strong alcohol in front of a TV crime drama.
Out NOW.