Today I’m delighted to be back with the Lynda La Plante blogathon for publication day of the fifth book in the Jack Warr series, Crucified. My review is written with thanks to Tracy Fenton for inviting me on the blogathon and to the publisher for my copy of the book.

Blurb:

Detective Jack Warr should be resting on his laurels. He’s just put sadistic serial killer Rodney Middleton behind bars and he’s ready to enjoy some time at home with his young family.

Instead, Jack is having violent nightmares that leave his wife Maggie terrified.

What Jack needs is a break, but instead he finds himself sucked into another grisly case as a man is found horrifically murdered in an art-framer’s shop. Jack becomes fascinated by the elaborately staged killing – especially coming straight after the surprise reappearance of charismatic forger Adam Border.

Could Adam be the victim?
Or the murderer?

Finding the truth will unveil a shocking portrait of a corrupt art world – but will it also expose the secrets Jack is so desperately trying to keep hidden?

Review:

I’ve really enjoyed the DS Jack Warr series and I loved getting stuck into the new novel. Lynda La Plante is brilliant at giving her established characters new situations to deal with, and Jack and his family have plenty going on for them in Crucified, which kept me engaged throughout the whole story. I’ve also enjoyed seeing his relationships with his colleagues develop over the series, especially Laura, and I enjoyed seeing them bounce off each other in this novel.

Lynda La Plante is also wonderful at bringing characters and storylines back from previous instalments. In this novel, we welcome back Adam Border from Vanished, and he contributes to a really intriguing and well researched plot.

As the novel begins when Jack is off sick, it starts a little more slowly than some of the other instalments in the series, but once it sparks into life, the story moves quite quickly. It’s full of tension and there were definitely some moments where I held my breath! I was keen to find out in which direction the story was going, and the plot really intrigued me.

The ending does set up a clear direction for Jack and I look forward to seeing what happens next!

Crucified is available from Amazon.

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