DS Maeve Kerrigan, what a woman. She goes about her job, minding her own business and is unaware of Derwent liking her and others trying to put her down. Gruesome murders have occurred and after being taken off the case officially she manages through sheer hard work find others that have been murdered and hidden eventually leading to extreme danger for her. A well written book, descriptive and engrossing. Well worth a read.

Cruel Acts by Jane Casey
I did not realise for some time that this was a book in a series about Maeve Kerrigan so I found some of the relationships difficult to understand, particularly the one she has with DI Derwent. I thought I had missed something in the book that would have explained their attitude to one another but I think Jane Casey assumes her readers have been following the series.
The story is about a convicted serial killer who has been released because of a technicality caused by the use of technology. One of the jurors had looked on the internet and it was revealed Leo Stone had had previous convictions before finding him guilty. This meant he had an unfair trial and had to be released from prison. Kerrigan is determined that he is guilty and her job is to prove this is the case before he kills more women. The plot has many twists and turns and kept me wanting to know what really happened. There is a lot of graphic descriptions which are not always very pleasant but overall the book is well written and once you get into the plot the it is quite a page turner. The real strength of this book is that it was almost impossible to predict the ending and the final reveal is very unexpected.
Would I go back and read any of the prequels to this book? Yes. I think I would like to know how the relationships had developed and there is reference to a past boyfriend of Maeve’s and it is totally unclear from just reading this book what had happened to them. Maeve as a character can be quite difficult and stubborn but very committed to her work and it is her doggedness that actually solves the crimes.
Thanks to Netgalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

What I love most about this series is the relationship between Maeve and Derwent; just when I think they are going to get together, something one of them says makes me think they will always be frenemies, or friends, or, ooooh I don't know, which is why I love reading about them.
The crime itself (a re-opened case due to a mis-trial) is a good one, with plenty of twists and turns. I particularly liked the epigraph at the start of the book, as this added another little element of intrigue. Should the detectives carry on pursuing Leo Stone, or widen their nets and pursue other avenues? As Maeve and Derwent dig into the evidence, another woman disappears the race is on to track down who the killer is and stop anyone else being murdered. As if this wasn't enough to keep you on your toes there's a wonderful little bit of office politics played out and Maeve is told that her position in the department might not be as secure as she would like.
I can't wait for the next book in the series and would like to thank Net Galley and the publishers for the advance copy in return for an honest review.

My thanks to NetGalley and publisher Harper Collins UK for the ARC.
This is a very well-written, excellent police procedural/crime thriller and I thought it was just Great. Having not had the pleasure of reading any previous books in the series I came to this as a standalone. There's a cracking suspenseful opening chapter but you don't get to understand its significance until all is revealed, following a pacey and, at times, harrowing, reinvestigation of a double murder case.
Leo Stone was imprisoned for life 13 months ago for killing 2 women, Sarah Gray and Willa Howard. Their skeletonised remains were discovered on open ground in a nature reserve. He has been granted leave to appeal because one of the jurors wrote about how previous conviction information on Stone had been obtained and discussed amongst the jury before giving their guilty verdict. A mistrial is declared and Stone is out on bail.
DS Maeve Kerrigan and DI Josh Derwent are tasked with re-examining all the evidence to ensure a watertight case, especially as the original pathologist has since died and cannot defend his findings. It's feared that if any mistakes in the pathology were found this would lead to a spate of appeals from different cases.
One other young woman disappeared during the same period - Rachel Healey. Her body has never been found and Maeve feels the investigation into her disappearance was cursory at best, and she is determined to link Rachel to the Stone investigation - against the better judgement of her colleague Josh.
Is Leo Stone solely responsible for the murders? Maeve seems to think not because another young woman goes missing since his release but he has a watertight alibi. We follow a cleverly woven story, interspersed with clashes of opinion between her and Josh, and fielding DC Georgia Shaw's overt positioning to take over Maeve's job.
Maeve is a clever detective and seems to pick up on clues where others don't have her tenacity and gut instinct to follow through. This leads us to a few twists and certainly surprises as she begins to work out exactly what's been going on.

Thoroughly recommended.

Jane Casey is a class act in crime fiction and Cruel Acts is another good instalment of the Maeve Kerrigan series.

It needs someone with Casey’s skill to make a good book from this, because there’s a lot of very familiar stuff (alone and confronted by the killer...of course) and, to me, some very off-putting plot elements – especially the serial killer torturing and killing women theme, of which I have had quite enough now, thank you. Nonetheless, Casey’s ability to create very real, human characters and to structure her story well makes it a gripping and enjoyable read. Maeve Kerrigan is an interesting narrator, with both her strengths and failings very well portrayed and other characters convincingly depicted.

This isn’t perhaps a classic of the genre, but it’s good. Jane Casey is always worth reading and Cruel Acts is no exception. Recommended.

(My thanks to HarperCollins for an ARC via NetGalley.)

A good solid police procedural. I haven't read many about a cold case, a case that caused a man to go free and then a retrial.

DS Maeve Kerrigan and DI Josh Derwent are a solid pair - imagine re-examining a case of someone like Leo Stone, a convicted serial killer. Someone who was in prison but now has been let out on a technicality.
He seems a really bad one that one and the police are convinced he needs to be locked up. Someone however seems to think he should be free. Was the evidence back then reliable?

The case is not all it seems and the twists and turns are good even if I did get a little mixed up towards the end. Maybe I and Maeve Kerrigan have different ideas of things , which I would hope her being an experienced policeofficer, she does!

Good solid procedural

Leo Stone was convicted a year ago of murdering 2 women and sentenced to life with no chance of parole. However his original trial is deemed a mistrial as it comes to light the jury, against advice, looked up Stone's previous criminal convictions and clouded their judgement. Stone is released and it's up to Detective Maeve Kerrigan and her colleagues to reexamine the evidence for a pending retrial. There is also a potential 3rd victim, who's body was never recovered and was only linked to Stone in a dubious manner which Maeve is determined to investigate more thoroughly.

I read the first chapter as a sample on another website and couldn't wait to get my hands on this. I was hooked from the word go! I love Casey's writing, about midway through the novel I thought I had it all figured out perfectly but there were more layers and surprises to go. Everything feels right, there doesn't seem to be shocks or twists just for the sake of them which I find happens sometimes with this genre. I enjoy Maeve and Josh Derwent's relationship most of the time, it's interesting and there's a chemistry there that is laced with love and hate. It shows how easy it is to trust someone's instincts or respect their work manner but at the same time be absolutely driven mad by them! I do wish we saw a bit more of Maeve's personal life. I know work is pretty much her life in some sense but I think Maeve could do with loosening up a bit. That said, it's a cracker of a book and I'm already looking forward to book 9!

As I’ve frequently mentioned, I love a good police procedural, and Jane Casey’s are among the best. Cruel Acts is the eighth in a series featuring DS Maeve Kerrigan (I haven’t read them all yet, but I’m sure I will eventually), and like the others I’ve read it’s an excellent read.

The trouble with series featuring recurring characters is that by the time the next one comes out, I’ve always more or less forgotten what happened to the characters previously. Ideally I’d just read them all one after the other, but of course that’s never - well, rarely - how it works out. I had only a vague memory of the latest events and relationships involving Maeve, her colleague Josh and others, though some of it did come back as I read.

In the latest instalment, convicted killer Leo Stone - a particularly unprepossessing character - has been released from prison following his original conviction being found to be unsafe, due to irregularities with the jurors at his trial. The investigation into the murders is reopened, with a view to finding further evidence pointing to either Leo or someone else. Maeve becomes particularly focused on the disappearance of another woman which she, although not the original investigators, believes to be linked.

The relationship between Maeve and her frequently infuriating colleague Josh Derwent is, as ever, a highlight. Admittedly there’s sexual tension between them you could cut with a knife, but I’d really rather they stay as friends.

Another brilliant read, and I really must find time soon to catch up on the two or three books in this series which I’ve so far missed.

This series just get better and better. I was gripped from the first page and i so felt for Maeve trying to discover the truth and work out who she could trust. Her friendship with Josh continues to be a complex highlight and i was stunned by the twists there. I'm really hoping that aspect will be continued in the next book. 5 stars all the way.

3.5 stars

I'm no closer to knowing what's going on with Kerrigan and Derwent, but pleased to say,I'm not sure Kerrigan knows either!

Good solid story line of possibly wrongly convicted murder,and going over an old case.
Good few twists and turns,and a genuine moment or two of "what????" .
So all in all I'm a happy reader.

I love the Maeve Kerrigan series. Cruel Acts is another amazing edge of your seat thriller. This book had me holding my breath it was so intense! DS Kerrigan has a hard case to solve. Was the serial killer Stone, who has been released early due to a technicality, really guilty or are they dealing with a copy car killer!

Thank you NetGalley for my copy.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

wow this was a gruesome read... a man put away for murder is released from jail because the jurors had looked him up on the internet and found out his history..so he was released but the police were investigating the murders again to try and put him back behind bars....

can the police find the evidence to put him back behind bars...and kelly the son of murderer, is he as innocent as he seems or is there something behind the surface...

all makes for a gruesome interesting read that will keep you on your toes till you find out the truth...

another well written book by this author...

This series is my favourite one and I always eagerly look forward to the next instalment. This was just as good as all the previous book. It was full of twists and turns and great characters. The writing is amazing and I stayed up late into the night finishing it. My only criticism would be that I wish we didn't have to wait so long for the books to come out!

when double murderer, Leo Stone, is released from prison on appeal after a miscarriage of justice, Ds Maeve Kerrigan and DI Josh Derwent are asked to re-evaluate the evidence in readiness for a retrial. here the doubts start to creep in as to whether Stone was guilty of the crimes he was convicted of.

a great police procedural tale that you won’t want to put down.

many thanks to netgalley and the publishers for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for the chance to read this Netgalley.

I have read the Maeve books before so when I saw this one I had to read it. She’s given a case to investigate, which has already been solved and the culprit has spent years in prison for. However it’s been reopened! Maeve akd Derwent need to start from the beginning and make sure they had the right man!

Really well written and exciting. Likeable characters and a book that I read quickly. Loved it!

This book had me gripped from the beginning until the last page. Plenty of twists and turns to keep me enthralled. Loved the characters interaction. Would definitely recommend this book and look forward to her next offering. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it.

I have read all of the DS Maeve Kerrigan police procedural novels, and really enjoyed them all. This, the eight novel in the series, was no exception. It’s worth saying at this point, that each novel can be read as a standalone novel – there’s no need to have read others in the series in order to enjoy ‘Cruel Acts’.

On this occasion, DS Maeve Kerrigan and DI Josh Derwent are re-examining the case of a chill individual, Leo Stone, a convicted serial killer, who, having spent a year in prison for murdering two women, for which he’d been given a life sentence, is out on the technicality that a couple of jurors disobeyed the court’s rules. While waiting for his retrial, Stone claims that he was wrongly convicted.

While the police hope to see Stone back behind bars, there are several causes for disquiet about the original conviction, as well as concern that two past cases, which had relied upon the evidence given by a post-mortem pathologist who’d since died, had been successfully challenged. This raised a question about the safety of the evidence used for Stone’s conviction.

DS Maeve Kerrigan, ambitious, painstaking and clever, but still suffering from the end of her previous long-term relationship, goes back over the original investigation of the missing women, and the reader follows her as she does so. Gradually, she begins to wonder if they convicted the wrong person. And then another woman goes missing.

Kerrigan’s previous relationship with Rob is mentioned several times, but it is her relationship with DI Derwent that is the focus of this novel, and this comes alive through the banter between the pair, which builds on the humour inherent in both of the characters. Maeve Kerrigan comes across as a realistic, convincing police officer, but all of the characterisation in the novel – protagonists and less important characters – is very good.

As always with a Maeve Kerrigan novel, I stayed up reading far too late into the night, unable to close the book until I knew what happened next. It was a compelling, gripping read that was quite scary in places. If I were nit-picking, I’d say that I’d have liked a little more story, and I found the denouement a trifle confusing. Also, it was hard to believe that an experienced DS, such as Kerrigan, would have acted quite in the way she did at times. I won’t say any more as I don’t want to spoil it for readers.

I very much enjoyed ‘Cruel Acts’, and thoroughly recommend it.

Thank you, NetGalley and HarperCollins, for my advance copy of the novel.

Leo Stone is a convicted murderer, or is he? After spending a year in prison for murdering two women and given a life sentence he is out and said he was wrongly convicted.
DS Maeve Kerrigan and DI Josh Derwent are looking into the case and hope to put Leo back inside.
When another woman goes missing is it Leo or a copycat on the loose?
Twists and turns from start to finish.

The latest in the Maeve Kerrigan crimes series sees Maeve and her partner DI Josh Derwent assigned to re-examining the evidence for the retrial of Leo Stone when it emerges his murder trial jury was prejudiced. The stakes couldn't be higher. The case relied on evidence from pathologist Glen Hanshaw and since his recent death two other cases for which he did the post-mortems had been successfully challenged. Another would open the floodgates and more evidence would be needed to be sure of conviction.

There are plenty of twists, I was pleased to spot a couple of clues but equally fell for a few red herrings.

Cruel Acts is my first Maeve Kerrigan and I'm guessing anyone who has been following the series has a better handle on her relationship with Derwent. Dropping in on them in this book, the whole thing seems a little clumsy leaving me wondering how Maeve could simultaneously have so little understanding of him and have previously given him such an insight into her personal life.

It's a good read, a police procedural that will keep you hooked.

I love the Maeve Kerrigan series of crime novels and the eighth in the series is no exception.
This was a one sitting read for me and it was great to be back with Kerrigan and her DI Josh Derwent. ‘Cruel Acts’ is a intelligently plotted book that draws you into the reinvestigation of a previously convicted killer. As Kerrigan and Derwent look over the case for the retrial we follow the original investigation of the missing women and soon the case broadens.
Like most books in a series, you really need to read from the beginning to understand the characters and their relationships. Of course, this investigation is new and will work as a stand-alone in that respect. But the drive of these books is the central story of Maeve Kerrigan and by close association, Josh Derwent. I for one, love their ‘relationship’ and in this book there are more complex developments between the two, which add some real depth and intensity to the story.

A fascinating, intelligently plotted and tension fuelled crime novel that I’ll be reading more than once! All I can say is roll on book nine!!!!