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.
