I really wanted to like this, I really did but I just struggled with it! The writing was amazing and I had no problem with that and I really enjoyed the plot. Saying that the book had multiple plot points going off and sometimes it was hard to keep up to which case they were talking about. I really didn't get to know much about Kelly either. Not as much as I wanted to know.

I feel like we're starting to become over-saturated with UK detective novels featuring cold female leads. Each time I pick up a new series starter in this vein, I’m really waiting for something different or exciting to take place, but they all kind of follow the same path that’s been cleared before by someone else. It’s starting to feel a little bit trampled around here.

I will say, this was a decidedly darker approach to the typical and I really liked that aspect.

DI Kelly Porter is a transplant…back to her hometown. She picks up three cases for her new team and quickly finds that they are all related to a human trafficking ring. Other than that, I couldn’t really tell you much about the world being created here by the author, Rachel Lynch.

I found the main character, Kelly Porter, to be likeable enough, but she’s lacking a distinctive voice and humour. Her sister, who is barely in the novel at all, had the biggest personality of anyone in the book – make of that what you will. Porter’s colleagues were grey blobs, just different versions of DCI and DS and DI and DC with new last names. There was no team atmosphere, no sense of how things function. The character development was lacking, really even I’d go so far as to say character creation was stunted. It came across as very flat.

Some kind of scandal had forced Porter from London Metro back to her small hometown, and I wish that had been explored a little more, maybe tied into the ending to create a cliffhanger-type ending. I feel like there were layers here that could have been developed to add some texture and depth to the overall sense of who Kelly is and where she works and what her life is like and what’s coming her way.

Honestly, it felt like the novel was mostly told from the perspective of the bad guys. To me it felt like uneven plot development and a lack of accessibility to the main character, who should have been the most captivating touchstone for the reader.

Truth be told, I’m a sucker for good character creation. I like a personality that pops off the page, I like gallows humour and moments of conversation/banter that naturally lend to insight and understanding and humanity. And I find that when a main character is well developed in this way, it really elevates the rest of the cast. Actually, not just the cast, but the plot as well. Because crime fiction is very linear – in the sense of you have a bad guy, you need to catch the bad guy and there are clues along the way to do that.

In the procedural genre, those clues, and following lines of inquiry, is really all you get until catching the bad guy is complete. It can get kind of boring if the characters you’re investigating along with are mostly lifeless. There needs to be moments of humour and heart, and I’m missing that from a lot of procedurals lately.

So this is where my review will differ from others. It’s a solid 3 star novel, right down the middle. Nothing amazing, but not bad either. While other readers are raving about this, to me it all comes down to character if the plot is there. And yes, there is a plot here, one that is mostly well thought-out, if not a little predictable. (By the 40% mark I had solved the cases, while the other detectives were still wondering how the pieces fit.)

What this is missing is polish, vibrant characters and a more unique voice for the genre. I get that it’s procedural, so “thrills” aren’t necessarily part of the package, but a little suspense could have gone a long way, as well. It was pretty uneventful in that department – no twists or thrills to speak of.

This type of crime fiction is a dime a dozen lately, and I’d really be more excited about it if it had featured something special to set it apart. As it is, it’s a procedural with a decent crime but a gaping hole (that’s what she said) where characters should be. The writing is good, prose are decent enough. Not amazing, but not bad either.

I think if you’re a big fan of UK procedurals with straight-faced characters you’ll definitely enjoy it.

A great introduction to what hopefully proves to be a new series of police procedural/ crime thrillers.
As well as being very well written, I loved the main character, DI Kelly Porter. Whilst she is not perfect, she is not seriously flawed (as seems to be the current trend with the main characters in a number of books in this genre). Kelly has returned from London to work in the Lake District where she grew up.
Kelly is immediately given a cold to case to reinvestigate of a child murder and is then thrown into looking at a sudden death of a prominent local figure that leads her to prostitution, drug dealings and human trafficking. It does not prove to be the quiet life Kelly had anticipated in the sleepy Lake District.
Thanks to NetGalley for a Kindle copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book, it was a really well written story. I love finding new Detectives who's story I want to follow and I think DI Kelly Porter is just that. I highly recommend this book and I look forward to reading the next instalment.

Thanks to Netgalley for my copy

This is a DI Kelly Porter novel. She has returned to her childhood home in the Lake District and is back living with her mother.

The novel starts with Kelly investigating a 10 year old cold murder case. However quicker she is also left investigating an abandoned baby as well as the murder of a local businessman. I did find this book a little hard to follow perhaps too much was going on as most reviewers love it however for me it wasn't to be.

A gripping novel from start to finish. For me, it was a little too violent which in my opinion didn't add to the story. Still a good read. Recommended.

I really like this book. UK crime books are really common, but this stands out from the crowd. Everyone loves a good under-dog story, and Kelly is definitely that. Well-written, exceptionally planned and all round good.

Although this is a typical police procedural novel, it's fast paced and compelling, as the threads of three different cases are woven together for one compelling crisis. It's not the type of book that keeps you guesses - for the most part, it's pretty obvious who did what. But the characters are well drawn and the ending leaves you wanting more.

I'm definitely looking forward to the next book in the series.

This excellent thriller exhausted me. I had many matchstick moments, desperately trying to keep awake late at night to read on and desperately wishing my eyes would read the words as quickly as the action was unfolding!

After being let down in the Met, by a colleague, D.I. Kelly Porter returns to her roots in the Lake District and transfers to the Cumbrian police force. If she thought crimes were going to be a bit milder here, she finds she’s very much mistaken. She reopens an old case…a distressing one involving the murder of a young child and at the same time investigates when a local businessman is found dead in a nearby hotel. Lottie’s case is heartbreaking but requires closure, especially for the mother, and the other is seemingly straightforward. But as Kelly digs into evidence in both cases, she discovers that crimes in Cumbria can be as far removed from mild than she ever imagined.

This is an exceptionally well crafted plot...and extremely well characterised…from the devious, hideously perverted, amoral, seedy characters, to the innocent, virtuous and law-abiding. Whilst the criminals in this story are very likely not going to be seen again, Lynch left plenty of scope for further development of Kelly and her team in further stories. Don’t get me wrong…that doesn’t mean it was lacking in this one!

A terrific, gripping, fast-paced thriller…I sincerely hoped this was going to be the start of a long line of DI Kelly Porter instalments, so I was ecstatic to find I could pre-order the next one, due later this year. A very very easy decision!

Thank you to netgalley and Canelo for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

DI Kelly Porter has left MIT in London to return home to look after her widowed mother and take up in the local force in Cumbria. She is investigating a cold case on the death of a young girl which links to a large trafficking ring.

Oh wow, this was such a brilliant read, so gritty and I had already cast the actors in my head (which is my favourite trick on books I can imagine on screen!) damn school run is stopping me from starting book 2 immediately

I thought this book, the first in what I believe will be a series of books about DI Kelly Porter, had its good points, but also, at times, some things that affected my overall enjoyment of the book. The storyline was good and was topical but I just felt that there were some things in the story (particularly ones where the Police didn't do things they should have done) that let the book down. There were points in the book where I just felt that things had become over-complicated and these detracted from the overall enjoyment. As a first in the series, I think things are promising for DI Kelly Porter now we've got to know a bit more about her and look forward to the other books in the series.

This review is also posted in my blog :
https://onewordtoomuch.wordpress.com/2018/04/17/dark-game-di-kelly-porter-1/

Thank you to Canelo and Net Galley for a free copy of this book in trade for an honest review.

Wow, just an interesting read with a plot so twisty that makes you want to wonder whether the events are possible, but indeed somehow it is. I love this book for its complexity yet straightforwardness at the same time. The complexity of revealing an old case (the murder of Lottie Davies) and unraveling the ring of prostitutes/pedophiles that involved a number of prominent business men from this city. The straightforwardness of a good police work, a no nonsense attitude towards such a complicated case.

The story at first seems a bit meek. Kelly Porter is trying to unravel the murder of Lottie Davies. At the same time, there’s a business man, Colin Day is found dead in a hotel room. What follow is two cases that running in tandem at the same time and at one point crossed path.

This story also highlighted the story of human trafficking and slavery. How some immigrants are trying to get better life in the UK, but instead got tricked and separated upon arrival. It’s a sad and horrible truth to read because human trafficking and slavery is still a problem in our modern world. It’s a scary thing to be within the prostitution ring without any choice of running away.

The characters have a strong attitude. Kelly Porter as a police is very straightforward and strong. Like the police team work in the story too. Gabriella as part of the story main character has a keen eye and courage. This is no weepy story, no drama.

The end is quite surprising but revealing. In the end, it’s like the story good guys win, bad guys lost. I think I would love to read another series from DI Kelly Porter again in the future.

Recommend for those who love to read about a good police work, a story with a twisty plot but still easy to follow and absolutely no weepy drama.

This book was very good. I enjoyed reading it. I love the Lake District and felt amazed that anyone could think of the dark underbelly that existed in that beautiful spot. However maybe that does happen, I do not know, but the plot was believable and interesting.
The characters were well drawn and you definitely felt threatened by them.
The life of young girls drawn into a secret life where they do not "exist" is very worrying.
I did find that end of the story a little confusing as to what exactly happened as Kelly sorted it all out, but otherwise a good read.
I would love to read more by this author.

What a great first outting for D.I Kelly Porter.
After leaving the Met in London Kelly moves back to her childhood home of Penrith. She thinks work will be at a slower pace out of the city but she ends up cracking one of the biggest people traffickng cases the country has ever seen. A Slovic gangster called Marco Popovic has been bringing illegals into the country in conspiracy with a father and son who own a haulage company. They are charged huge sums of money and promised new lives but the women are drugged and used as prostitutes, the men in illegal, fight to the death, boxing matches and the children sold as slaves or to peadophiles. Kelly and her team work tirelessly to figure out and bring down everyone involved.
I can't wait for the next book in this brilliant new series. Kelly Porter, I predict, is going to be as big as the likes of Jane Rizzoli and Will Trent.

DI Kelly Porter has moved from London to the Lakes after a botched case that she took the blame for. And as she settles in and sorts through a cold case, she comes across some details that start to link together,
Kelly is portrayed as a strong lead which is refreshing. The cases are difficult and a hard read, linking drugs and human trafficking.
The story was gripping and well told without being overly dramatic but following a natural unfolding. Also included are the points of view of victims, witnesses and one of the killers, who is drawn in a little at a time from small time crook to murderer, unable to cope with more hardened gangs.
A gripping and disturbing read.

I couldn't put this page turner down, I was hooked to read about DI Kelly Porter and her uncovering of her new case(s). Utterly addictive, great characters, well written. I look forward to reading Rachel Lynch's next offering.

I love a good police procedural book and this did not disappoint. Very dark and sometimes very graphic but throughly enjoyed it

Great location descriptions very much my type of book plot with twists and dark undercurrents

Thankyou to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book for my honest review. I have not read any books by this author so was looking forward to reading it. I was not disappointed. It was great and the storyline had you guessing all the time. Just when you thought you had it another twist would come in. I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the next chapter in the series.

I really enjoyed reading this book, as it held me from page first to page last. The characters that Rachel Lynch has built are totally real (foibles and all) and this gives the novel depth. Am really looking forward to book 2 to see how the stage that is The Lake District manages to support another book of this quality.