by Nadine Matheson
SYNOPSIS
In this room, no one can hear you scream…
The Serial Crimes Unit are called in to investigate when a local pastor is found stabbed to death. As DI Henley assesses the crime scene, she discovers a hidden door that conceals a room set up for torture – and bound to the bed in the middle of the room is the body of a man. When another body is found, also tied down, Henley realises there's someone out there torturing innocent people and leaving them for dead. But why?
There's nothing that connects the victims. They didn't know each other. Their paths never crossed. But someone has targeted them, and it's up to Henley and the SCU to stop them before they find another binding room…
AUDIO EXTRACT
For a taster of the story, HQ Stories have also provided an audio extract from The Binding Room - click on the link to listen! https://soundcloud.com/harpercollinspublishers/the-binding-room-by-nadine-matheson-read-by-diveen-henry
REVIEW
When the cleaner of a local church finds the pastor Caleb Annan dead, Detective Anjelica Henley and her team are brought in to investigate. It is a brutal and bloody attack, leaving no doubt that this should be treated as murder but on top of an already intriguing case, Anjelica then discovers the body of a man in a hidden room behind a storage area in the church. He had been bound to a bed, tortured and left there to die. Immediately they begin to look into Caleb's past in an attempt to find out if he could have been involved, but before they can make much progress with their enquiries, another body is found...
If you are wondering if The Binding Room should be your next book choice, you only have to read the first paragraph to set the tone for the remainder of the story - it's dark, it's detailed, it's extremely gruesome and I loved it! For anyone like me who enjoys the darker side of crime fiction, Nadine Matheson is definitely an author who is on the same wavelength. Only a few pages into the story, I already knew I was onto a winner, and then the Cluedo references started to appear and I was 100% sold!
Full of twists and chilling revelations, The Binding Room is a disturbing novel which only gets more and more shocking as you read on. At the same time, the wonderful relationships which were established in the previous book, The Jigsaw Man, break up the gore and provide an occasional (and welcome) breather from a very intense story. Despite the fact that Anjelica along with DSU Stephen Pellacia and DC Ramouter are facing political pressures from the local MP as well as widespread racism, their bonds are strong and believable, adding a realness and authenticity to quite an extreme investigation.
With some very graphic murders, this is not a story for the faint-hearted, but wow, for me this is exactly what I want from a crime thriller. Sometimes I feel like a book was written with me as a reader in mind, and this is definitely one of those. If you're a crime fiction fan looking for a dark, rollercoaster ride of a novel, I can't recommend this more!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nadine Matheson was born and lives in London. She began her working life at the BBC and now practices as a criminal defence lawyer. In 2016, she won the City University Crime Writing Competition and completed the Creative Writing (Crime/Thriller Novels) MA at City University of London with Distinction in 2018.
Her crime fiction novel, The Jigsaw Man, was published by HQ in 2021. The Jigsaw Man has been sold in 15 territories to date and will be translated into 14 languages. The Jigsaw Man has been optioned for TV by Monumental Television. She can always be found on Twitter @nadinematheson
Thanks to HQ @HQStories and Nadine Matheson @nadinematheson for the opportunity to read and review.
Fiction: Thriller / Horror Thriller / Police Procedural
Publisher: HQ
ISBN: 978-0008359447
Pages: 512pp
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