The book is well written but there are aspects of paranormal that I don't enjoy in general. Also this was part of an on going series and I feel that you should read the other books first

when requesting this book I did not know this one was in the middle of a series, at this moment I do not feel like starting a series. thank you for the oppourtunity.

Thanks to netgalley for the ARC of this great read.
This is already the 3rd book in the PC Donal Lynch series, and they just keeps on getting better every time!
Games with the dead by James Nally was an engrossing, thrilling and entertaining crime novel that will kept me gripped from the beginning to the roller coaster ending! Highly recommended.

Hi Karen,

My next review is as follows:-

"Games With The Dead:A PC Donal Lynch Thriller"written by James Nally and published in Paperback by Avon on 26th October 2017. 384 pages. ISBN-13: 978-0008149574

What an absolutely mind-blowing story. This is the third novel in a police procedural about an Irish policeman working in London Metropolitan police in the 1990’s.

When a young woman is kidnapped, Donal is brought in to deliver the ransom money. But the tightly-planned drop off goes wrong, Julie Draper is discovered dead, and Donal finds his job on the line – a scapegoat for the officers in charge.
But when Donal is delivered a cryptic message in the night, he learns that Julie was killed long before the botched rescue mission. As he digs further into the murder in a bid to clear his own name, dark revelations make one thing certain: the police are chasing the wrong man, and the killer has far more blood on his hands than they could even imagine.

The story was so exciting that I read it very quickly even though it is quite lengthy. The quality of this author’s book is as good as the original debut novel. I found the police procedural story immensely gripping and fast moving and the pages just whizzed by. All the characters are richly described and full of life. The plot with it's dramatic twists and turns often kept me reading far longer than I intended. I was completely transfixed and kept guessing until the final page. Extremely highly recommended.

Best wishes,


Terry
(To be published on eurocrime.co.uk in due course)

For one I wish I would of paid more attention and realized that this is the THIRD book in a series as well as that this novel had some paranormal theme to it and that threw me off. I just could not get into it.

A good story, with good characters and was very well written. An author to watch! Look forward to more.

Great book took a bit of getting into it, but once into there was no looking back

A little too 'supernatural' for me...I prefer realism...I did try but it was not for me. Sorry.

This is the first James Nally book that I have read and I will definitely be reading more. I really liked the writing style and sense of humour in this book. Donal is a brilliant character. His abilities and connections make him really interesting. This book is set in the early 1990s and talked about events that I remember. This made it all the more real to me. The descriptions and writing style made it easy to visualise and feel part of it. I was interested in everything that Donal's work entails. Every detail kept me turning pages. I found this book so riveting that I read it in one go.

Initial slow start which soon picked up pace to keep the reader hooked. Different storyline with sub plots to hold interest

Firstly, many thanks to netgalley, James 'Jim' Nally and HarperCollins publishing for the opportunity to preview this book. It's really different, with the main character obtaining clues to a murder via the dead!

Overall, I enjoyed it. I love this detective! He's funny with a dark, Irish sense of humour and the book is full of characters you will either love, like, or, whom you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley.

The first third of the book had me hooked and so interested in the main character, his brother and his lover.However, I'd have enjoyed it so much more (and given a much higher rating) had the book continued on the theme of this detective and his solving crimes via his link to the recently deceased.
Now, there are previous books to this series that I've not read and it may be that they are full of this interesting theme (I'll be checking them out). However, this one doesn't and instead, veers into a complicated tale of drug smuggling, cop corruption and chaos. At one point a character states that his 'head may explode from the confusion' and I knew exactly what he meant.
So, overall, I found it meandering and chaotic, but, did overall find it worth sticking with.

I loved this book mainly for the style of writing which lurched from serious to really funny. The dialogue between the main character Irishman P C Donal Lynch, his reporter brother Fintan and Donal's girlfriend is excellent. The book contains kidnapping that goes wrong, police corruption and seedy gangsters. But I was not too fussed about the whole complicated storyline as the writing easily made up for 'who did it' at the end. In the event the ending was a bit rushed, but I liked the author's style.

Really enjoyed this just wish I'd realised this author already had books out before I read this . A believable police procedural with a twist ,suspense galore.

DC Donal Lynch has issues. His career and relationship are going nowhere. He is an insomniac with a drinking problem who has vivid dreams derived from being around dead bodies. He works cold cases but is brought into a kidnapping to drop off the ransom money. When this goes wrong he is made the scapegoat. Donal along with the aid of his brother Fintan a news paper crime reporter take the matter into their own hands to investigate. I found the book humorous, engaging and well written. I loved the characters and want to read more about them. A cracking read.

I love this series. The setting makes it far more intriguing than a lot of crime thrillers due to the slightly lesser technology available, the relationship between brothers Donal and Fintan is extraordinarily entertaining and the added “supernatural that might not necessarily be supernatural” element is really well done and gives an added edge to proceedings. Often very funny, Games with the Dead is a brilliant addition to this series and I hope we see more of Donal very soon.

VERY soon.

Poor Donal he doesn’t half get put through the wringer here – on the hook for losing a kidnap victim, trouble and strife in his relationship, plus ghostly visits in the middle of the night and it is really unsurprising that he drinks. James Nally manages all the layers of this story with aplomb, it is incredibly addictive, occasionally laugh out loud hilarious, but also dark as you like – with a twisty storyline full of the unexpected.

Considering I accidentally read the first one (don’t ask!) I think fate was at play because this is easily one of my favourite crime series out there today, one of those I wish they’d make for television. There were various strands in this novel (especially relating to Donal’s more,erm, unusual skills) that I can’t wait to read more about.

Quirky, Offbeat and beautifully done Games with the Dead (and the rest) come highly recommended from me.

This is the 3rd book in the PC Donal Lynch series by author James Nally. I had not read the previous two books in this series and did not find that to hinder my enjoyment of this novel.
The story starts when a young woman is kidnapped and Donal is selected to deliver the ransom money. All goes tragically wrong and the young woman, Julie Draper is discovered dead leaving Donal's career in jeopardy. All this changes when Donal receives a cryptic message in the middle of the night and he learns that Julie was killed long before the ransom money was delivered. Donal seeks the answers that will not only solve this case but will in turn clear his name.It is obvious to him that the police are chasing the wrong man and the actual killer has more undiscovered guilty secrets.
I would like to thank both Net Galley and Avon books for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

There is not much to say about this book because it was really slow and I just could not be bothered to read it.

Sorry there is not more information but the book was dull.

It was a interesting novel that had moments of humor and suspense..the only downside is that you must pay close attention to the story to figure out the ending.

Having read the first book in the series a couple of years ago I was keen to carry on with the story of PC Donal Lynch. However I did not find this one nearly as compelling. Maybe it needed some more editing to enable the story to move at a quicker pace.
The premise is interesting- a policeman who has visions of murder victims which supposedly help him to solve cases. It is set in the 1990s so not as much technology is available to the police- more detecting is required. There is little use of computers and more looking through old case notes. Micro cassettes are used as bugging devices!
However although it is a thriller it is very slow moving. Not a lot happens in other words. There is a lot of information about Donal’s personal life and his failing relationship with his girlfriend and stepson which carries over to the cases he is looking into- the disappearance of a female estate agent and the murder of a debt collector which his visions tell him are connected.
There are several references to real cases of the time although names are changed. An example is the disappearance of Suzy Lampugh where her name is slightly altered. I’m not sure if this is to make the book more realistic in its early 1990s setting.
I quite liked the character of Policeman Donal and his relationship with his wilder brother journalist Fintan but even this did not compel me to finish the book and I gave up about half way through.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my arc in exchange for an honest review.

First off, I rather feel I’ve been sold a pig in a poke …. the PR blurb for this novel seems to set out a straight forward police procedural – but oh no, what we really have is some bizarre paranormal slant to the book, with the protagonist enduring graphic ‘visions’ featuring the recently dead person his current investigation is centred upon.

Okay, I could probably cope all right with this, but there’s just far too much emotional wailing and gnashing of teeth, about his female partner rekindling her sexual relationship with the father of her child.

Add in the fact that his bosses don’t seem to be at all aware that he doesn’t turn up for work very often, along with a dizzying amount of characters who never quite do anything very interesting, and I just couldn’t face ploughing on till the end.

Sadly, really just a waste of time getting invested in this book at all