Meet DI Hanlon…my new favourite detective…

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Publication date: Available now from Head of Zeus.

Thank you to the author and publisher for the review copy.

Detective Inspector Hanlon. She’ll break but she won’t bend. A woman with a habit of breaking the rules and a fierce loyalty to the few people she respects.
Her boss, Corrigan. Looks like a street copper promoted above his ability. Underestimate him at your peril.
Enver Demirel. Known in the boxing ring as Iron Hand. Now soft and gone to seed. But he would do anything for Hanlon.
Now the kidnap of a 12-year-old diabetic boy has blown the case of some missing children wide apart and the finger is pointing at the heart of the Met.
Corrigan sends in the only cop in his team who would care more about the life of a boy than about her own career. Hanlon.
And then he sends Demirel to spy on her..

So. Crime novels featuring new detectives – so many of them out there. Some brilliant, some not bad, some mediocre and some, lets face it, truly terrible. Not often you come across one that has a bit of an edge, a cut above, something a little different. The last time for me was when I read Sarah Hilary’s brilliant debut “Someone Elses Skin” and there was Marnie Rome. Now Alex Howard brings us DI Hanlon – so meet my new favourite detective…

She’s not that likeable. But I loved her. She not always that trustworthy. But you would want her on your side. She has an inate sense of justice and doesnt really care that much for the rules. If you get on her radar beware – yet if you gain her trust and her loyalty she will fight for you until her last breath. It is wonderful to see a strong independant female character that actually is exactly that – warts and all, no need to worry about whether or not she is “feminine” enough in her actions. DI Hanlon is what she is. And what that would be is a marvellous character to follow into a dark and sinister tale of missing children…

This is an emotive story, featuring as it does children in peril, but it is brilliantly done, authentic and doesnt pull any punches. There is an intriguing depth here, over and above a standard “police procedural”, that gives you a real feeling for the people involved, victims and villains alike, somewhere in the middle being the Police force with all its politics and shenanigans. And hovering over it all, kind of like on that magnificent cover art, is Hanlon who’s razor sharp focus cares only about the job in hand. Some absolutely fascinating insights here and all beautifully written in a way that immerses you right into the world and lets you live there for the duration.

Now Hanlon may be front and centre, the glue that holds it all together, but there are no cardboard characters here. Her boss, the superbly enigmatic Corrigan is terrifically compelling. Enver Demirel is “the good guy” in an eccentric and marvellous sense, and all the people you meet along the way have something to add to the whole. The story twists and turns its way to an edge of the seat conclusion and overall this was a scintillating and heartfelt reading experience.

Definitely comes highly recommended from me. Oh and you know what? Crime novels with heart. Of COURSE they exist!

Purchase Information: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Time-Die-Hanlon-Alex-Howard/dp/1781857245/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1400140925&sr=1-1&keywords=time+to+die+alex+howard

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Happy Reading Folks!

 

 

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