3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Damned Good Read, 6 Aug 2011
This review is from: Nexus (Kindle Edition)
Okay, yet another misunderstood loner detective catching the bad guy with Sherlock Holmes precision, or at least that's what I assumed this book would be when I started it. But No. Oh, No. This book has more twists and turns than the Monte Carlo Grand Prix. At first the reader is not sure that a crime has been committed at all. And then comes a real crime. Or is this too an accident. And at last a real 'real crime'. No, I guess this is a suicide. And then? well on the face of it we are dealing with an English upper middle class community that would not appear amiss in a Miss Marple mystery or a Hercule Poirot story. But lift up the lid and look inside and you find such immoral goings on...murder, lust, jealousy, incest, adultery, envy, drug dealing and greed...that would make the Law & Order Special Victims Unit blush.
This is not the perfect mystery. It is not a good mystery. It is somewhere in between...a bloody good mystery.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Flawed., 29 Jan 2012
This review is from: Nexus (Kindle Edition)
A tale of greed, drug dealing, and murder that spreads it roots into the story further than you would expect. The plot unfolds at a respectable pace and the characterization is good.
I read to the end as I wanted to find out "whodunit" and it was on the whole quite good.
However, personally I found the whole story was flawed due to some terrible blunders that would not even be made by a probationary constable let alone an experienced Detective Inspector. I am guessing Mr Dempster did not get "professional" input or knowledge whilst writing this.
Some examples are:
1. The surveillance, evidence gathering, arrest & prosecution of the large scale drug smuggling ring would be run by S.O.C.A. not a local drug squad. Two very different entities.
2. The Murder investigation(s) would be run by a Superintendent rank Detective. It is a major investigation ( total of a dozen officers at least) after all, not 2 low rank officers only.
3. A warrant is not necessary to arrest someone for murder, it is an arrestable offence and carries its own arrest power by statute.
4. Ince turns up at a venue to search for a firearm with a probability the rifle is still in the hands of a suspect. His team of himself , a D.S. and two uniform officers is not briefed about risks, method, roles or responsibilities. No exhibits officer, armed support or even an Authorised Firearms Officer to "prove' the weapon safe or clear before it is handed over to Forensics. They enter, spread out without securing the persons on premises in one room and search independently of each other. No stills or video to record evidence in situ..............etc. very poor management from a Criminal Investigator.
5. Toward the end of the book one of the unarmed & presumeably , firearms untrained , senior Investigators actually rushes in to a known firearms incident with the Armed Response Unit and, not surprisingly gets shot. A mistake a wet behind the ears probationer would not attempt, let alone a DCI. The correct method for that scenario is the Armed team would enter, clear and secure all persons in situ. (Cuffed and lying face down) and then the support team would attend and take charge leaving the Armed unit to withdraw after identifying & taking charge of all suspects.
6. Some of D.S. Youngs antics with the stills camera would earn him some Internal discipline investigation & certainly removal from the investigation. He has conveniently ignored the R.I.P.Act 2000. Something a young and newly trained officer would not & could not afford to do. There are no surveillance authorizations, logs etc mentioned.
7. The totally implausible way in which he was dealt with by his senior management with regard to his archaic investigation methods would have him earning a fortune at an employment tribunal. The Police discipline code was not used in any way.
There were more. I will not go on. I appreciate to make it more realistic may have made it a slower read, but Police investigation work is slow & methodical. Suffice to say I enjoyed it, but it did not excel. It looked like it had been written by watching lots of UK Police TV & Films.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Great story, shame about the editing, 9 Jan 2012
This review is from: Nexus (Kindle Edition)
I really enjoyed the story, plenty of twists and turns to keep me guessing. Just a shame that the author's / proofreader's notes were left in the final editing. I found myself highlighting them just to find out what they meant.
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