Genre: Thriller/Noir/Police Procedural
Description:
“When teenager Nick Buckingham tumbles from the fifth floor of an
apartment block, Detective Sergeant Solomon Gray answers the call with a sick
feeling in his stomach. The victim was just a kid, sixteen years old. And the
exact age the detective's son, Tom, would've been, had he not gone missing at a
funfair ten years ago. Each case involving children haunts Gray with the
reminder that his son may still be out there - or worse, dead. The seemingly
open and shut case of suicide twists into a darker discovery. Buckingham and
Gray have never met, so why is Gray's number on the dead teenager's mobile
phone?
With his boss, Detective Inspector Yvonne Hamson, Gray begins to
unravel a murky world of abuse, lies, and corruption. An investigator from the
Met is called in to assist, setting the local police on edge. And when the body
of Reverend David Hill is found shot to death in the vestry of Gray's old
church, Gray wonders how far the depravity stretches and who might be next.
Nothing seems connected, and yet there is one common thread: Detective Sergeant
Solomon Gray, himself. As the bodies pile up, Gray must face his own demons.
Crippled by loss but determined to find the truth, Gray takes the first step on
the long road of redemption.
Set in the once grand town of Margate in the south of England, the now
broken and depressed seaside resort becomes its own character in this dark
detective thriller.”
Author:
During the day Keith Nixon is employed in a “senior sales role” by a
high-tech company in the UK. But when he gets home you’ll find him working on
this next book in one of two unrelated genres, either hard-boiled crime fiction
or historical fiction.
Appraisal:
This is the first of the Solomon Gray series and I’m already a fan.
Gray is a detective and the main story thread appears, at least at first, to be
a straightforward (although certainly unique) murder case. I anticipated a
straightforward police procedural. It might have been except for Solomon Gray’s
past, which haunts him in many ways and I think tends to change the way he
views and approaches crime solving. As the story alternates between the two
threads, us learning about Gray’s past and observing his efforts to solve the
current case (eventually cases) the two threads start getting tangled with each
other. I never saw that coming.
The result can be viewed as a police procedural or noir crime fiction
or a bit of both. But what struck me is that the underlying story has more
depth than is typical of either.
Buy now
from: Amazon US Amazon UK
FYI:
Some adult language.
Format/Typo
Issues:
No significant issues.
Rating: *****
Five Stars
Reviewed
by: BigAl
Approximate word count: 55-60,000 words
