What a great debut! With an intriguing plot and gripping action, it just might have you “up reading until stupid o’clock”. (One of my favorite lines in the whole book along with “waking at oh silly hundred hours”😊). Selman does a nice job pacing this novel with just enough at just the right time. My only regret was that the ending didn’t quite live up to the rest of the book, but overall a solid mystery from a solid new writer. Looking forward to the next Ziba MacKenzie book!

This was a fast paced thriller and the first in a new series starring Ziba Mac as a profiler who is starting back on her feet following the recent death of her husband and leaving her job in special ops. (Think it was special ops?) It's entertaining and features a strong (albeit one-dimensional) female lead and a super quick read.

I hope that future books in the series calm down a little with the irritating slang. It's okay to call coffee what it is; the over-use of 'lifer-juice' just felt really pretentious and I cringed every time I read it. Similarly the over egging of Ziba's powers of observation and deduction started to feel a little like a parody. Throw in a super obvious romantic sub-plot and I'll just say that if you value nuanced characters this might not be the book for you.

The plot does require a huge suspension of disbelief, but that's no bad thing if you want a quick and entertaining read.

My thanks go to NetGalley, the publishers and Amazon firsts for the opportunity to read an advance copy in return for an honest review.

With twists and turns that are sometimes difficult to follow, “Blood for Blood” weaves a tale well worth reading. The many flawed characters keep the reader guessing “who dun it” until the very end.

Many thanks to the publisher Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for allowing me to read a preview copy.

This book started off strong, though there were a number of coincidences that hampered the plot. Zeba MacKenzie is a Special Forces veteran and a ‘profiler’. She’s on a train at the start of the book that is involved in a crash which causes several deaths and injuries. She assists with the injured, even though she is also injured. One woman, who is dying, whispers “He did it. You have to tell them he did it”, to her, who did what is the question that Zeba sets out to answer. She is also invited by Scotland Yard to assist in tracking down a serial killer who had last killed 25 years prior and has killed again recently. The solving of the serial murder takes up the bulk of the book, and Zeba herself draws the attention of the killer. The killer? He was on the train that crashed, the woman that whispered her last words? That was his mom. Overall not a bad book, I would look for another by this author.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

This was an odd book. It started really strongly, with Ziba involved in an horrific train crash. (I thought the cause of this crash might be a crucial part of the plot, but - spoiler alert - it wasn't. The crash just seemed to be a device to get Ziba to meet the 'Catholic woman' who gives her a mysterious message.) Then the next chapter goes back in time and recounts the crash from the perspective of a clearly disturbed man. Then it emerges that Ziba is a former special forces profiler and she is called in by Scotland Yard to assist in the investigation of a serial killer called (I kid you not) the Lacerator, who has started killing again after a break of 20 years.

For a while the book plodded on like a police procedural, with Ziba acting not at all like a former special forces officer and constantly revising her profile, but nevertheless proving reasonably likeable. Then the tone changes again and it becomes like an episode of Amazing Race. At this point I started skimming. The ending was fairly satisfactory and I did appreciate the tying in of former red herrings/loose ends. I thought at one point there was going to be an enormous twist, but the author headed that off and the perpetrator - spoiler alert again - was just some one who had been on the train. There was a very mild hint at a love interest for the widowed Ziba, but I'm not sure I'll be reading the rest of the series to see where that goes.

Finally, I was continually jarred out of the story by odd uses of language. These took the form of slang used by Ziba. She would be talking or thinking perfectly normally and then use a really odd expression, which was totally out of place. It was as if the author had gone through at the end and tried to make her vocabulary more 'edgy'. It didn't work for me.

I ARC received via NetGalley and in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great thriller with lot of twist and turns.

Profiler Ziba MacKenzie helps a dying woman who passes on a cryptic message: He did it. You have to tell someone.

As she investigate the cryptic message from the dying women a corpse is found bearing the gruesome signature of a serial killer dormant for twenty-five years as the body count rising she wonder if the dying women message is connected.

I like this character because she strong female as she stop at nothing to get the killer who is really creepy all the while dealing with her own grief. Can't wait for the next book.

This is a straightforward serial killer/ profiler cat-and-mouse thrill ride with enough twists to keep you turning the page!

See my full review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2703642655

And on Twitter

Rush hour, London. A packed commuter train is torn apart in a collision. Picking through the carnage, ex-special forces profiler Ziba MacKenzie helps a dying woman who passes on a cryptic message: He did it. You have to tell someone.




Thank you to net galley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book it was a great experience first time reading anything from this author

I read this one after reading the second in the series as loved it so much wanted to see more of Ziba.
This didn't disappoint absolutely enthralled from page one right until the very last page.
Ziba is a great character as is Jack and I hope to keep reading about them both for a long time.

High octane, high stakes, high speed. With energy and panache, Selman’s heroine goes it alone in this serial-killer thriller, perfect for our time.

Blood for Blood is a fantastic debut from an exciting new author. A brilliant explosive opening is followed by a thrilling plot that kept me gripped and guessing to the end. As well as a pacy plot and an enjoyable mystery, the characterisation was superb. Ziba MacKenzie is a fresh and intriguing female lead with some cracking skills and some great one liners. I can’t wait for the next instalment in the series.

Everything you'd hope for in a debut. A lead character that leaps off the page and into your head. Someone who's not too cliche, and carries the story well. Great pace to the plot, and overall a non-stop pacer thriller that I'll be recommending to people in the market for a new author to discover.

Rush hour, London. A packed commuter train is torn apart in a collision. Picking through the carnage, ex-special forces profiler Ziba MacKenzie helps a dying woman who passes on a cryptic message: He did it. You have to tell someone.

Ziba is a character with lots of agency and a distinctive new voice. I read this book at speed because I had to find out what happened.

Blood for Blood is a great, pacey thriller with a compelling heroine and enough twists to keep you hooked to the very last page. I thoroughly enjoyed it.