This is my first Joy Ellis book. I have a few more in my TBR pile.

I'm enjoying the storyline - it's fresh and I can't see where it's going and it's avoiding being exploitative.

I quite like the two detectives, each with their "secret" pasts that they share with each other before the book is halfway through.

I can see that this would make good television. 

But where was Joy Ellis' editor? How could s/he let so much boiler-plate, cliché-ridden text through just to keep the story moving? Do we need to know that one of the policemen has steely-grey hair? Or that another "slips like a shadow across a wall" or have a description of a major character's interior dialogue that reads like stage directions?

I can see how all of these things might be there in a first draft as the writer fully imagines the action. That they made it to the final draft is disappointing. I'm hoping the next books are better.

It also doesn't help that the narrator of the audiobook can clearly see the pieces of flat prose and tries either to speed through them or give them an inflection-free delivery.

If you've read Joy Ellis, let me know, does it get better?

I might actually get all nine of these read in time...

I've had it preordered since July! The next in the series will be out in December!

This book begins with someone telling us how to dig a grave. Right off the bat, you know someone is going to die and it's not accidental.

Then the story starts at the beginning of this couple's relationship. I found myself rooting for this couple all along the way until after the honeymoon. Then I definitely changed my mind. Of course, it went back and forth for a while. I couldn't figure out who was the actual bad guy.

There were many suspects and this was definitely a gripping read. Towards the end my pulse was racing, I couldn't read the book fast enough. And then the spiel about the Glock? Come on, get with the book. HA!!!

Excellent read. I will definitely be looking for more from this author.

Thanks to Random House Ballantine and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

I couldn't put this one down, I'm sorry it took me so long to start it! I've long been a fan of Helen H. Durrant's Calladine and Bayless books, but this is my first DI Greco. I can safely say this can be read as a standalone or an entry into the series, I wasn't lost at all, any prior references are explained enough that they're not a distraction.

First off, I have to say that Durrant is skilled in drawing in a reader completely into the world she creates, making the book so much more than a gripping mystery (as if that wasn't enough!), but also the frequently messy lives of the very compelling and realistic (if not flawed) characters. You end up with not only a thrilling case that keeps you turning pages, but also the can't-turn-away-train-wreck that is Greco's personal life. I like Greco, he's unemotional and methodical, traits that frequently cause problems with interpersonal relationships. Reading this, I was reminded Olympia Dukakis's line from Moonstruck ("Can I give you some advice? Don't s**t where you eat.") and boy, is that relevant to this book. Still, I felt for Greco, it was clear he was being pushed into something he didn't want and that never ends well.

But it's the case that takes front and center in the book, it got off to a running start with a body found at a music festival by a young woman before turning to the murders of two young men who got more than they bargained for when they burgled a house. The quick pace and many twists and turns kept me greedily turning page after page and that surprise ending left me gasping. An excellent read from start to finish, something I always expect from this author and definitely recommended for fans of gritty crime fiction.