When a teenage girl dies after jumping off a cliff, the coroner enters a verdict of suicide. What should seem like an open and shut case takes a different turn, however, when several other cases D I Kelly Porter and her team are working on all have a link to a local school. Could there be more to this story than meets the eye? Kelly’s investigation sees her coming face to face with a foe from the past whilst also trying to come to terms with a huge revelation about her own life.

Bitter Edge is the fourth in the Kelly Porter series, a police procedural set in the Lake District. As always, the Lake District provides a perfect backdrop for the plot, the unforgiving mountainous areas becoming central to the story. This is seen right from the beginning as we witness the harrowing death of young Jenna Fraser. As always, we see a determined Kelly not content with accepting the verdict of suicide, her tenacity, and the work of her team, finding a link to other similar cases.

As in previous books, Bitter Edge contains some harrowing story lines, dealing with the likes of suicide, drugs and child abduction. With several stories being told throughout the book, I did begin to wonder if and how they would all tie together. As a result of these multiple plots, the story built up slowly to give you time to acquaint yourself with all of the characters, ensuring that it never once felt confusing to read. By the end of the book, the plots did all converge, although not all in the way I assumed they would. A few twists along the way ensured that my interest was piqued throughout.

Kelly’s personal life does, again, feature in this book but it never overshadows the crimes that are being investigated. This is one of the things I like most about this series as, in some books of this genre, there is an over-reliance on the private life of the detective to provide some of the intrigue. Kelly’s back story is an interesting one and in Bitter Edge, there are some spoilers that reveal things from previous books. While it is not essential to have read the previous books, therefore, it is advisable. The books are all fantastic reads and you will not regret it!

I really enjoyed Bitter Edge and found it a great addition to an already brilliant series. I look forward to the fifth installment!

I am a huge fan of this series. This is the fourth instalment and it carries on with the gritty crime set in such a beautiful landscape. I love the character of Kelly and was glad to see how she has moved on from the revelations in the last book. Can't wait for Number five!

Fabulous book, brilliantly written with absolutely great characterisation . I read it in two days and thoroughly enjoyed it, and in fact it wasn’t until I was almost at the end that I understood who the actual ‘bad guy’ was. Certainly keeps you guessing.

Perfect psychological thriller! It moved at a fast pace with twists and turns throughout! I couldn’t put it down! Highly recommend!

Rachel Lynch has created vivid characters and set them in beautiful vistas. To even this out, she makes them suffer- and she does it very well.

The relationships between the main characters is developed at an appropriate pace and their stories weave around each other.

Ms Lynch is onto a winner with this series of books.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. Although this is the 4th book in the series about DI Kelly Porter set in the Lake District it did not really matter. I still really enjoyed the book. Had lots of twists and turns

Trigger Warnings for Bitter Edge – Suicide, Drug Use, Bullying

Bitter Edge begins with the traumatic death of a young girl – Kelly’s team are responsible for discovering just what happened to her. A young girl from the same school goes missing a Kelly’s team must try and find her before it’s too late, but are these two cases connected? Is there any connection to two previous suicides at the school? And how is this all connected to a case from Kelly’s past? Bitter Edge will pull you in until you’re hooked and have the answers to these questions and many more!

It’s safe to say I absolutely loved the latest instalment of this series. The plot was extremely well paced; one of the things I think Rachel does exceptionally well is to pull together all the different plot strands into such a satisfying conclusion without it feeling forced or making me, as a reader, feel cheated about how it all came together and Bitter Edge is certainly no exception to that. Due to some of the subject matter covered certain parts of the book were difficult to read, but please don’t mistake that for me saying it was badly written, it’s not, quite the opposite in fact! I think she did a wonderful job making me empathise with one character in particular who was perhaps not the most likeable!

Onto Kelly herself, she’s been through a lot in the series! I love seeing her as an extremely capable and conscientious detective who manages to bring the best out of her team, but I also really enjoy reading about the human side to Kelly. I love that she’s found someone who understands her in Johnny, so I never tire of reading scenes containing the two of them. Dead End threw a fairly major curve ball at Kelly when she discovered that the man she had always believed was her father wasn’t, that in fact her mother had had an affair and her biological father was another man that she knew and worked with, I was really pleased to see that followed through into Bitter Edge, and Kelly finally discuss it with him. I was devastated by the ending though, more heartbreak for Kelly! Can’t wait for more!

I would definitely recommend Bitter Edge to anyone who enjoys crime fiction, like the other novels in the series it can be read as a standalone novel, there’s certainly enough information within the book to understand the case and be satisfied with the outcome, but this is the first of the books in the series I’ve read and really felt the reader would benefit from reading the previous books. As well as the personal elements of the book there are elements of the case which link back to the first book in the series, so to really get the most out of it I would recommend reading all four books in order!

Just finished this book! What a brilliant read.
Incredibly on topic with the fight against drugs and how it can destroy families.
Again more of Kelly's personal life which makes her a very likable character which yoh can't help but admire.
Loved it.
Thrilling ending as usual, I am now late for an appointment as I just couldn't stop reading it!
Excited for the next book.

Thanks to Netgalley, Rachel Lynch and Canelo for the opportunity to read and review this enthralling book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Canelo I received an advanced copy of this book.
Have never read anything from Rachel Lynch before although I understand th a is the 4th book from her about DCI Kelly Porter and I now can't wait to read more about her. Loved the way the book covered different aspects of an investigation her descriptions of this and the area in which the book was set. The book unfolded more and more from the early supposed suicide of Jenna to the more complexities of the missing girl Faith with drug abuse and bullying. The book kept the reader totally absorbed and I loved the personal involvement of finding out and making a connection with her birth father and the sad loss of her mother. More please.

Having read the previous books in this series, I had been looking forward to this one, and I certainly wasn’t disappointed. The story is taut for the most part, though there are spots in the book where the momentum gets bogged down in description and rather unnecessary detail. However, the characters are great and the story itself, though very sad in many ways, is captivating.

This is the fourth book in the DI Kelly Porter series, but it’s the first one that I've had a chance to read. I will however be going back and reading some of the earlier DI Kelly books.

Bitter Edge is a well-written, multi-faceted crime thriller that features the lead character: Kelly Porter, a Detective Inspector with her own problems to contend with, as well as trying to solve various cases including a missing teenager, a snatched toddler, all in a backdrop of a school with a serious drug problem that’s experienced a couple of suspicious suicides.

Kelly is likable individual who appears to have had a few problems in the past (the previous 3 books in the series probably touch more on this), although she does fit into the stereotypical hard working detective, although, I did like her character, and enjoyed reading about her relationship with her friends and family.

My only negative was during the first half of the book there was multiple storylines which made me question the direction the book was heading in, however the second half of the book the different storylines started to come together.

All in all though it was an enjoyable read and I enjoyed reading a bit about the Lake District.

A great read.

This novel read a lot like an Ian Rankin novel to me. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and the plot twist was very unexpected.

I actually hadn't read the other titles in this series of Kelly Porter but the book was still easy to follow and flowed well.

However, there was one sentence about a teenage boys masturbatory habits that actually took away from the book quite a bit. It felt unnecessary and forced. This stuck in my head for the wrong reasons and it didn't fall in with the writing style of the rest of the book.

However, in general this was a great story with an interesting plot twist that reminded me of the great Ian Rankin.

Definitely worth a read.

First of all I must apologise to all concerned that I didn’t manage to review this in time but I thought I’d start at the beginning and read all four back to back, and I’m so glad I did. I only finished number 4 yesterday.

I have to say this author is up in the top ones for me, they are few and far between but I’ve added her to my favourites. Rachel’s books are well written, up to date and plausible.

This one I was so sorry to finish, and without spoiling it, was tinged with sadness. I think Kelly and her team are very realistic and the backdrop to the story is just amazing. As a child I used to visit the lakes, and what a beautiful area of the country Cumbria is.

Kelly really has her work cut out with the suicides, Nez is back and girls are going missing. It’s a sad fact of life nowadays with all the drugs about and Rachel handled it very well.

My thanks to Rachel and Netgalley for the ARC. I see she’s got number 5 out in May, i can’t wait. She could write one a month for me!

I was born and brought up in Whitehaven and the northern lakes have always been one of my favourite places, so the setting of this book really appealed to me. The author paints a vivid picture of the beauty of the area and clearly knows it very well, although I was surprised at the statement that houses in Keswick are cheap-maybe compared to London?
I hadn’t read the other books in the series but the novel works well as a stand alone and the author gives enough of the back story to fill you in on previous events.
I liked Kelly Porter, she is a strong woman who works with her team, unlike many female DI’s in crime novels who, for some strange reason, decide that they are better handling things on their own, thereby endangering themselves and their colleagues. I’ve stopped reading several series for this reason.
The plot of this novel is good with likeable characters and a decent pace to the events.
My thanks to Netgalley for this copy.

I doubt Rachel Lynch, author of the DI Kelly Porter novels, is top of the Lakes Tourist Board’s Christmas card list! For when she describes a light dusting of snow has transformed the fells, one doesn’t know whether to grab a camera or checkout the nearest rehab clinic. Once a place where poets walked whimsically amongst daffodils, writers wrote of conies in warrens and walkers donned stout boots to explore the fells, now it appears drugs are the recreation of choice. Even worse is the link between drugs and the apparent suicide of teenagers in the Bitter Edge. Here DI Kelly Porter investigates a number of teenage suicides which seemingly have no connection but she thinks otherwise. Furthermore there’s her mother’s battle with cancer to contend with and the discovery that her biological father might be a fellow professional.

The Bitter Edge has it all, the hook, pace, great detective work and interesting back stories and for those who remember when only BBC TWO was in colour……an insight to the impact social media has on the young and impressionable.

I loved Kelly and Johnny I really like how their relationship has changed and grown over the past few books.

I love the description that Rachel puts into her books, her writing is great I love the description we get not only about the case but how Kelly feels and how she gets so involved with her characters and picks up on how they felt and everything in the case. I do love how Kelly gets so invested in the case.

I love how throughout the novel we have the ongoing family issue and we get to see how she carries on dealing with it especially as she is still coping with it.

I love how personal life and investigation intertwine with each other, both sides of the book are very interesting and gripping. The book kept me hooked all the way through and I really can't wait to see what happens in the next book (which I saw was announced on twitter yay.)

The plot was really slow paced at times but it was really nice being able to all sides of this plot, but the best thing is that when it needed to be faster it was and the story was very action packed and I loved that.

Anyway can't wait for the next one, it's going to be fabulous!

Bitter Edge is the fourth in a series written by Rachel Lynch and it really feels it. It is not that I could not get into the book (I flew through the first quarter) but there is much that I feel I am missing out on. Her characters are well established and relationships obviously have much history that understandably is not always explained. Events in previous books are also referred to surprisingly frequently but to be fair, this is often covered with a little background in a following paragraph but all too often as a new reader I felt a little like an outsider to the story.

The novel is fairly fast-paced and even with my misgivings I did get involved with the characters. But there are many occasions when it would appear that the author feels like the Lake District setting for the book would be a great place if it weren’t for the locals… the over 30s drink every night and the under 30s almost without exception use drugs, frequently cocaine and heroin on top of prescription drugs. Lovely. In fact the author may not be too fussed on the location at all and states that “even though people raved about the hills around the town, he didn’t know what all the fuss was about. They were mere … humps compared to other national parks” but then maybe it is natural to see the realities of the place you are from even if it appears to be beautiful from the outside.

I love the puzzle and revelation aspects of crime fiction but could really do without the graphic elements of the crimes that are so frequently included. Sections of this novel are particularly and unnecessarily explicit when it comes to descriptions of injury, harm and mutilation to the extent that I could not quote from them in a review. I’m not shocked by this just a little disturbed! But then that appears to be the expectation of modern detective novels. It does bring home the brutal nature of many crimes but I don’t feel that it adds to the story.

But my reservations aside, although certainly not groundbreaking, this is a well constructed, well written modern thriller. It may be set in a bucolic location but the events are certainly not tranquil or picturesque – Midsomer Murders this is not – but I did enjoy it despite myself and am very close to giving ‘four stars’ and I have a suspicion that if I were not being introduced to this series so far in I would have enjoyed it more.

Copy supplied by NetGalley

This is the fourth book in a series- this US the first one I have read.
I found the main character D I Kelly Porter to be a believable character with interesting family and friend relationship.
The pace and storyline were fast and detailed with lots of twists and turns which kept the reader engaged until the very end.
Part of her history with her family - finding out her father wasn't her real dad, her mother's illness and her difficult relationship with her sister added depth and interest to the plot.
The main themes of drug deaths and drug dealing ,particularly in relation to a schoolteacher were chilling and realistic.
The location also added interest to the story.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book and would read more of Rachel Lynch 's books.

Loved this book. Read it in one sitting. Will be downloading more from this series as this was the first one I had read

Another great read about DI Kelly Porter. Kelly has so much going on firstly her Mum is ill and she has a suicide of a young girl to sort out and also a missing young girl and it’s all going on at Christmas. Will Kelly be able to juggle everything that’s going on at the moment and get satisfactory results. A great read that draws you in from page one.