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 sixth book in the series, Blunt Force , 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:

Things can’t get much worse for detective Jane Tennison.

Unceremoniously kicked off the adrenaline-fuelled Flying Squad, she’s been relegated to Gerald Road, a small and sleepy police station in the heart of London’s affluent Knightsbridge.

With only petty crime to sink her teeth into, Tennison can feel her career slowly flatlining. That is until the discovery of the most brutal murder Jane has ever seen: Charlie Foxley has been found viciously beaten to death, his body dismembered and disembowelled.

As a big-time showbiz agent, Foxley had a lot of powerful friends – but even more enemies. And alongside her old friend DS Spencer Gibbs, Tennison must journey into the salacious world of show business to find the killer, before they strike again . . .

In Lynda La Plante’s most gripping thriller yet, Tennison discovers that the brightest lights hide the darkest secrets – and the killer doesn’t always hide in the shadows . . .

Review:

Following the events of The Dirty Dozen, Jane Tennison has been transferred once again and is now working out of a local police station where it’s very quiet and most of the investigations are for petty crimes. Just as I was wondering how this would provide inspiration for the more intriguing, violent crimes I’ve come to associate with this series, there’s a murder, and it’s without doubt the bloodiest, most disturbing murder in the series so far. This is definitely more like it! I loved the way Lynda La Plante set the scene for this novel, with a victim who works in showbiz and doesn’t seem particularly popular. There are definitely a lot of people to speak to and I was engaged in this investigation the whole way through.

At the beginning of Blunt Force, Jane Tennison is celebrating her thirtieth birthday and she remains as tenacious and astute as ever. However, there are still some people who question her instincts and abilities, and the place of a woman on the team, although Lynda La Plante once again does a brilliant job of challenging the attitudes of the early 1980s. I enjoyed that the author reintroduces some characters from previous instalments and I was interested to see how her relationships with them would develop. 

Alongside the main investigation, there is a subplot linked to the previous book in the series. Although this begins slightly slowly and at first, I did wonder where this plot was going, it does gather pace and becomes fascinating, especially towards the end of the novel.

Blunt Force addresses a few themes that perhaps were not spoken about as openly at the time the novel is set than they are now. I found it interesting that the author chose to shine a light on them and the way they were handled at that time. Her research for this, and several other aspects of the plot, is incredibly detailed and really adds authenticity to the novel.

I can’t wait to see what Jane Tennison does next!

Blunt Force is available from Amazon.