Today I’m taking part in the blog tour for The Silent Dead. My review is written with thanks to the team at Bookouture for inviting me on the blog tour and for my copy of the book.

Blurb:

She was lying as if asleep on the wooden kitchen floor, beneath the fridge covered with a child’s colourful crayon drawings. But her frozen expression showed she would never wake again…

When Detective Jackie Cooke is called out to the scene, she’s expecting a routine check. The bottle of pills on the kitchen table, next to the note with the single word SORRY written in a shaky hand, make it seem obvious what’s happened. But Jackie is shocked when she recognises her old schoolfriend Claire – and she is convinced Claire would never take her own life.

Determined to dig deeper, Jackie soon discovers evidence that proves her right: a roll of notes has been thrust down the victim’s throat. And when she finds another woman killed in the same way, she realises someone may be targeting lonely single mothers. As Jackie talks to Claire’s distraught children, one of them too young to understand his mummy is never coming home, she vows to find answers.

Both victims were in touch with someone calling himself Nice Guy – could he be the killer? Pursuing every clue, Jackie is sure she’s found a match in dead-eyed Tyler, part of a dark world of men intent on silencing women for daring to reject them. But just as she makes the arrest, another single mother is found dead – a woman who never dated at all.

Forced to re-evaluate every lead she has, with her boss pressuring her to make a case against the obvious suspect, Jackie knows she is running out of time before another innocent woman is murdered. And, as a single mother herself, she cannot help but wonder if she is in the killer’s sights. Can she uncover his true motivation and put an end to his deadly game… or will he find her first?

A completely unputdownable crime thriller that will have you reading long into the night. Perfect for fans of Kendra Elliott, Rachel McLean and Val McDermid.

Review:

I really enjoyed All The Pretty Ones, so I was excited to be back with Jackie Cooke and her team. Jackie is feisty and determined and not afraid to speak her mind, and I love the relationships she has with her colleagues, especially Dave. I have no idea how Jackie fits everything into her day, but I love that Riches has really developed her family life and background situation to make her a really relatable character. 

The Silent Dead is set in Manchester and the surrounding area, and it is clear from Riches’ writing that she knows the areas about which she writes really well. I’m not familiar with Manchester, but I could still picture all the scenes in the novel clearly and this really helped me to become sucked into the storyline. 

Riches’ plotting in The Silent Dead is absolutely flawless. The novel is incredibly fast paced and I could not rest until I knew who the killer was. There are several layers to the plot and I was transfixed trying to work out what was going on, trying to crack all the clues and red herrings that the author puts out for us. 

This series is definitely one to look out for and I can’t wait to see what happens next! 

The Silent Dead is available from Amazon.

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