I’m delighted to be part of Team Tennison, where, over the next few months, I’ll be reading and reviewing the books in the Tennison series, in the build up to the release of the tenth book later in the year. My review of the fifth book in the series, The Dirty Dozen , is written with thanks to Tracy Fenton for inviting me to be part of Team Tennison, and to the publisher for my copy of the book.

Blurb:
The gritty new thriller from the Queen of Crime Drama and the fifth book in the Sunday Times bestselling Jane Tennison series.

Jane Tennison has worked hard to become the first female detective ever post to the infamous Flying Squad, or ‘the Sweeney’. But the Dirty Dozen is a notorious boys’ club, and Jane’s new colleagues make it clear that they don’t think a woman is up to the dangers of the job.

Dealing with some of London’s most ruthless armed criminals, who think the only good cop is a dead cop, is no joke. Determined to prove she’s as good as the men, Jane discovers from a reliable witness that a gang is going to carry out a massive robbery.

But she doesn’t know who they are, or where and when they will strike . . .

Review:

I’m really enjoying this project and as we are now we are at the fifth book in the series, it seems to be much more intense. We begin The Dirty Dozen with a high speed police car chase that forms the basis of the central investigation in this novel and from there it does not let go and it was very hard to put down.

WDS Jane Tennison remains the tenacious and intelligent detective we have got to know over the course of the series. In The Dirty Dozen, she’s beginning a position with the Flying Squad – the first female detective to do so. She’s not welcomed by everyone and she has to work hard to prove herself, but I enjoyed seeing her develop as a character and develop her relationships with her team as a result.

Unlike some of the other books in this series, The Dirty Dozen focuses on a single investigation and I enjoyed trying to figure out who to trust and who was responsible for what. Lynda La Plante is a talented writer and her plotting is brilliant – it kept me on my toes all the way through.

I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next in this series!

The Dirty Dozen is available from Amazon.