A Struggle

I enjoyed book one, and I enjoyed the story of book two but I found it to be more of a challenge as there was no action whatsoever, my mind kept wandering and I found it difficult to stay awake. I had to read some chapters 2 or 3 times. The cliffhanger in the very last paragraph makes me wonder if I could possibly read book 3 to find out what happens.....

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

pure excellence

love this Author and the production must be the vest on audible hands down brilliance, humor and fantastic storylines

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

What a great yarn!

Gripping story and believable characters. Twists and turns of a murder investigation..
The narrator is amazing, best narration I’ve heard.
Highly recommended.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

You Always Protect Family

Clearly from the same stable as book one in the series. Set in central London, we follow a murder investigation from the perspective of DC Cat Kinsella of Murder Investigation Team 4. The story is linear and told using the first person present tense. There's no jumping about between time periods and there's lots of dialogue so it's rather like listening to a radio play in real time.

You don't have to have listened to book one before this one, but it would help. This book only briefly explains what previously went on between Cat, her father, Marianne and Cat's "Uncle Frank" from Ireland, but it probably explains enough.

As with book one "Sweet Little Lies" there's quite a bit of lying going on in this book too, by the suspects and witnesses as they try to protect themselves and their families. We also hear quite a bit about the personal and working lives of Cat Kinsella and her police colleagues so they feel to us like real people.

The story gets quite exciting towards the end as the truth starts to be revealed. The very end is intriguing, and hints at the possibility of a third book to come in the series.

This is a great book if you like police investigations or books with lots of dialogue. Personally, I prefer suspense thrillers and car chases. This is not one of those, but I'm still giving it 4 stars. It is really well written and narrated.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

another great one

I loved the first in this series and this one didn't disappoint either.

I didn't like the ending 😕 hence the 4 ⭐️ and not 5 but I'm excited to see what happens next.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Entertaining with Twists & a Dysfunctional Family

Enjoyed this one, been looking forward to reading it after Sweet Little Lies, Caz Frear can paint a good mental picture.
Another well written story with twists you don't see coming and building on the complexity of the main character and her relationship with her father, which is hopefully eventually going to build into a whole book of it's own. But also showing her skills as a DCI improving.
Jane Collingwood is a fantastic narrator and her and Caz make a good team which I hope continues in future books

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Yet another cracker from this fantastic author!

A fantastic book 2 from this very talented lady!
I loved the way the characters have been carried over from book 1 yet with another twisting and turning suspenseful story that gripped me until the very last page.
It’s left me hungering for Book 3!
Thank you!

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Good But Too Long

Enjoyable and great narration but felt too long and the storyline drags. I like the main character though

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Beauty Among the Beasts!

You know, there is a quite special quality about what Caz Frear is doing with her books. In amongst some pretty nasty crimes she has set a beautiful character, DC Cat Kinsella. She is beautiful because she has a massively down-to-earth vibe about her, she's not perfect, she has concerns that range from the mundane to the extraordinary. There is a definite hint of the Bridget Jones about her though this is never overdone or allowed to detract from the seriousness of the storyline or descend into farce. This is no rom-com, Kinsella also has an inner toughness and she works in a tough world.

There are some things here that are more typical of the modern detective genre, a troubled past and a difficult, actually very difficult, family background for example but apart from the softer character approach Freer also quite refreshingly provides Cat with competent and caring superiors rather than the usual angry incompetents. It means that there is a very refreshing normality at the centre of all the harsh criminality which for me added a feel of honest realism.

The story itself is an intriguing mystery, there's very little action to speak of, it's all about the investigation. While it's not what I would call fast-moving Frear spends a lot of time on the investigating officers and their theories. The scenes I most enjoyed came in the police interviews that were conducted where Cat shows some real steel. I really liked the fact that the book spent some time with the interviews giving them proper attention.

The performance by Jane Collingwood is absolutely top-notch, she gets Cat to a 'T' and she is able to purvey both male and female characters with considerable aplomb which isn't something you can say about most narrators whichever sex they are!

So, in summary, not an action-packed thriller but an extremely satisfying read with genuine depth of character and sense of place. The interrogation scenes, in particular, stood out to me as did Cat, her bosses and several of the other lead characters. This book completes its own story and at the end sets the scene for more to come, I suspect much more! Cat's life doesn't look like getting any easier . . .

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

14 people found this helpful

Layered page turner

It’s hard to put this book down. There is so much going on - there’s the story and then there’s the STORY. One is the crime and investigation the other is the complex live of Cat Kinsella. While it all sounds confusing it isn’t - the writing is superb creating memorable characters and while the two stories are very much intertwined they are also very delineated.

This is book two and this is not the kind of crime saga that you can pick up and read in any order. You have to read book one or you will miss most of the STORY.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!