This week on Streets Ahead it’s the turn of Jaye Marie’s new thriller ‘Silent Payback‘:
A serial killer roams the streets of Brighton, hunting for his next victim.
When the case lands on detective David Mallory’s desk, will his personal demon prevent him from bringing this vicious monster to justice?
As the body count rises, Mallory finds himself sinking under the weight of his heavy secret – one that could jeopardise his job and his reputation.
With the pressure building, can the troubled detective reconcile his issues and solve the case before more women die?
5 star review by Jacqui Murray:
In Jaye Marie’s exciting new detective thriller, Silent PayBack (October 2019), women are being murdered for no apparent reason, no helpful clues, and no idea by the hard-working detectives how to stop them. It falls to David Mallory and Anna Lukas–both fairly new to the detective position–to unravel the murders and connect the clues.
Marie draws us into the story by involving us in the backstory of each detective’s life, showing them not as automatons who solve crimes but real people trying to juggle personal lives and crime fighting. As with our own friends and neighbors, these are complicated by emotions, goals, and the every-day problems that pop up with no warning. We are entrusted with a behind-the-scenes view of how the two detectives–especially Mallory–think through their own problems while doing their best to fulfill the needs of their jobs. It reminds me of Elizabeth George’s Lynley novels but more tightly plotted and faster moving–without the meandering (albeit done exquisitely) that often happens in George’s series.
Overall, I enjoyed this immensely and would recommend it to anyone who loves British crime drama.
…by involving us in the backstory of each detective’s life, – Just an observation here. That is a distinctly Brit posture. George was mentioned. The same is true of Dexter, Hill, James et al. However Hill did write a few American-esque shorts. PD James can decorate a kitchen for two pages. ALL of those folks turn a detective procedural into a soap opera. And it spills over into TV, ITV makes a living off of soap operas with cops and an occasional crime. So even with some tightening up all that soap, I can’t do it. Somehow MacDonald and Elmore Leonard let you know who you were reading without buckets of ex husbands and social angst. Except for MacDonald who, in several of his latest works did get a little soapy.
The same maybe said of the American franchise authors who, instead of soap, pack their works with PD James Quality research assistants. Here’s a caper novella surrounded by the history of Cuba, or the cold war, or 412 government agencies to remember and how to build a rocket.
All of which put me in mind of Moby Dick. Here’s a man against nature and himself story wrapped in a how -to whaling book. Give me enough to suspend disbelief, buy into the characters with dialogue and tell me a story. All the Peyton Place stuff can take a hike. My .02. Now I gotta read the book, just to see about that tightening up.
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Rant/Observation on jacked word count over.
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Reblogged this on Where Genres Collide Traci Kenworth YA Author & Book Blogger.
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Thanks for the re-blog!
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A fabulous review on Jaye’s book.
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Much luck to Jaye with her new book. My compliments on the review, which gives enough of the plot without giving too much away.
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Thanks Pete.
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A lovely post, Stevie. Congratulations to Jaye on the marvelous review.
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Thanks Robbie.
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Thank you for sharing my new release, and that lovely review from Jacqui with your readers, Stevie… Much appreciated…
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You’re welcome.
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