Today is the beginning of the blog tour for The Fifth Grave and I’m pleased to be one of the bloggers to start it all. My review is written with thanks to Sarah Hardy at Book On The Bright Side for inviting me on the tour and for my copy of the book.

Blurb:

Poised to return to work after a long bereavement leave, Detective Chief Inspector Jacob is called away from the sanctuary of his home to attend the grim discovery of human remains over a quarter of a century old. Found deep in woodland with its own grim history, they give little up, but he is soon confronted with local gossip of hauntings and witches.

The mystery deepens when a second person is murdered in the same woods, and Jacob soon realises he is hunting a killer who will stop at nothing to keep the darkest of secrets buried in the past. Working alongside Dr Sophie Anderson, a criminal psychologist with her own damaged past, they close the net until tragedy strikes again in this gripping romantic suspense thriller.

Set in the wild and beautiful Wiltshire Downs, The Fifth Grave is a fast-paced whodunit with a dash of humour and romance and a killer twist.

Review:

I do enjoy a good crime series and it looks as though The Fifth Grave is the beginning of one. It starts as DCI Tom Jacob is returning to work following a bereavement, and at times it felt like I was entering in the middle of something as the characters have so much history, both personally and as a team. That’s not a bad thing though: it means the relationships already feel natural. I can’t wait to find out more about them as the series continues.

In The Fifth Grave, there are several cases that overlap. Occasionally, this can be a little confusing, but as I got to grips with everything, it became clear that the plot is very clever and intricate and I loved trying to figure out how everyone was involved. We also hear from the people involved at the end of some chapters but as they use pseudonyms their real identity is hidden from the reader, meaning that the element of mystery remains throughout the novel.

When the team set up a mobile investigation unit in the woods, this enables them to investigate in some eerie surroundings. Jones’ descriptions of the wood are incredibly detailed and this builds a foreboding atmosphere that gave me no choice but to read on.

The Fifth Grave is full of tension and the officers frequently place themselves in dangerous positions. I was glued to the edge of my seat!

The Fifth Grave is available from Amazon.

You can follow the rest of the blog tour here: