by Claire Askew
SYNOPSIS
A city that's no longer safe...
An anonymous vigilante stalks the streets of Edinburgh. As his behaviour escalates, the police are at a loss - they can find no clues to his identity, and no trace of his whereabouts.
A detective in the path of danger...
DI Helen Birch has been told to stay away from the case - but she's never been one to play by the rules. When her colleague Amy comes to her asking for help, DI Birch finds it impossible to resist the challenge - and soon, her life is on the line.
Will she crack the case before it breaks her? Or has she finally met her match?
REVIEW
The Dead Don't Speak is a gritty police procedural following DI Helen Birch who has been forced onto medical leave after being shot while investigating a previous case, and Amy Kato who has just been promoted to Detective Sergeant. Desperate to prove herself in her new role, she agrees to let Helen help her ‘off the books’ (while she is supposed to be recuperating) on a case where it seems like a vigilante is targeting small-time criminals in the area. Nicknamed 'The Vampire', this man has been mentioned by witnesses in several recent cases but has somehow managed to go unnoticed until now. Helen's determination and talent are put to the test as she fights to convince her superiors that her hunch about The Vampire is correct, despite everyone's concerns that her accident, medication and recovery are clouding her judgement.
The tone of The Dead Don't Speak is set within the first few pages. Despite the writing being incredibly polished, the story itself is very raw and realistic. The sections of dialogue written in Scottish dialect are particularly strong and really create the perfect sense of place.
I didn't feel like I was reading this book, I felt like I was witnessing a police investigation naturally develop across the pages. Everything about it felt believable and the story itself was so compelling - I raced through it in one sitting. This is actually Book 5 in the DI Birch series but the first time for me reading this author and I was sold after the opening chapter. It worked really well as a standalone but I will no doubt be going back to work my way through the previous four books.
Thanks to Hodder Books @hodderbooks and Claire Askew @OneNightStanzas for the opportunity to read and review.
Genre: Thriller / Police Procedural
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
ISBN: 978-1529348309
Pages: 400pp
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