Many thanks to publisher Bookouture for my spot on this Blog Tour.

Wow!! Convoluted, dark, and quite a freaky read.

An elderly man was found dead, bashed on his head multiple times, with a diamond ring in his pocket. Detective Inspector Fennigan Beck was called in with his team to investigate.

My first book by author Michael Scanlon, though the second in the series, I was left quite breathless at the inroads this book made with its dark subplots into the depths of human psyche. The killer was a shocker and quite cringe worthy. I had a weird feeling in my stomach at the ruthlessness shown.

The main character Beck was quite foolhardy at times, taking unnecessary risks, but quite intelligent in finding subtle clues. I loved his keen eye of observation. A complex past and a need to solve the case at any cost made him one of the outstanding main characters.

Overall, the book kept me gripped with its plots, and surprisingly enough, it was an easy and fast read.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley and publisher, and this is my journey into its pages, straight from the heart!! STRICTLY HONEST AND UNBIASED.

All my reviews can be read here

Eddie stands at his door anxiously waiting for the woman to arrive, touching the engagement ring box in his pocket for luck. He doesn’t hear the footsteps behind him until it’s too late…

Detective Finnegan Beck is called to a crime scene – a remote house near the rural Irish town of Cross Beg – where a dog lies whimpering beside his beloved owner’s body.

At first it looks like a burglary gone wrong. But Beck spots something his colleagues didn’t. The victim – Eddie Kavanagh – was wearing his smartest clothes. He’d brushed his hair. And, on closer inspection, a small velvet box containing an engagement ring is discovered in his pocket, along with a letter to a nameless woman, which seems to suggest she’s in danger.

Those who knew Eddie have no idea about a female friend though – there’s been no one in his life since a girl who he’d loved and who’d broken his heart decades before. Now Eddie leads a quiet, solitary existence, rarely going further than the fields behind his house to walk his sheepdog Max.

So who was the woman Eddie was waiting for? And did his connection with her ultimately lead to his murder? When a beautiful young woman is then found beaten to death – murdered exactly as Eddie had been, Beck has to ask – is the danger over? Or is just beginning?

Publication Date: January 2020