A good mystery with a solid plot and pinch of paranormal.
I liked the description of the policing work as well as the paranormal side with the prophetic dreams and the ancient ways learned by family.
Recommended for those who love a good solid thriller.

I would like to thank Netgalley and BookBuzz.net for a review copy of A Tangled Web, a police procedural set in Newfoundland featuring RCMP Sergeant Winston Windflower.

Windflower jumps into action when Molly Quinlan reports her five year old daughter, Sarah, missing. He organises searches and issues an amber alert but as time goes on and they don't find her he has to assume that she has been taken. From this simple beginning Mr Martin spins the eponymous tangled web with some very unexpected twists and turns.

I really liked the descriptions of policing in rural Canada where one minute they're looking for a missing child and in the next setting up roadblocks to close snowbound highways. It gives the reader a real insight into the challenges facing these small, understaffed detachments where all officers become Jack-of-all-trades. I was less keen on all the detail of what he eats and the frequent dog walking which becomes a bit monitors and repetitive.

The plotting is excellent and very realistic with one unplanned incident uncovering a multitude of other crimes and repercussions. It all seems natural and unforced in the way it unfolds. Initially the reader has more information that the police as they know exactly what happened to Sarah but once the novel gets going the narrative returns mostly to Windflower's point of view.

Windflower is a Native American who tries to follow the old ways with smudging and other customs. He also has prophetic dreams which always turn out to be true. It's not my cup of tea and must admit to rising incredulity as I read them as the contrast between them and the realistic, matter of fact tone of the rest of the novel is marked.

A Tangled Web is a solid read.