Next Victim is the first book in a new series by Helen Durrant.

The main character is DCI King who is based, along with her team, in Manchester. Needless to say King has a very complicated back story and private life that impact on the investigation and at times it seemed to distract a bug too much from the core story.

That saying the book is very readable and the supporting cast have plenty of promise. The first book in a series is always a bit of a scene setter so I will keep an eye out or future books

Recommended

Thank you NetGalley and Joffe Books for this arc.

This was a nice solid read for me. It is the first Rachel King story and I do hope there are more. Rachel is a DCI with the Manchester Police. She is also a gal with a lot of secrets.... some of which are sorta resolved with this story, although given her inability to be completely honest with anyone (about anything), I suspect those secrets will continue to rise up and haunt her again in the future. She is still a very engaging character even with her screwed up priorities. The supporting characters of her team are also intriguing and I definitely look forward to seeing more of them in the future. This was a fast paced and somewhat twisted procedural.

I’d like to thank Joffe Books and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Next Victim’ by Helen H Durrant in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

The body of a blonde-haired young man is found tortured and thrown in the canal and DCI Rachel King of Manchester CID’s Serious Crime Squad is given the case. Not long after another young man’s body is found and his looks are remarkably similarity to the first victim. Is the killer targeting a certain type of young man? The case is taking longer to solve than Rachel anticipated as the killer appears to be deliberately leaving false clues causing her team to waste time chasing trails that don’t exist. While she works all hours of the day and night trying to solve these crimes Jed McAteer, well-known criminal, property developer and Rachel’s ex-lover from university days, is back on the scene causing her problems. Can Rachel discover the identity of the killer without her boss finding out about her personal life and putting her job with the police at risk?

‘Next Victim’ is Helen H Durrant’s first thriller featuring DCI Rachel King and I hope it won’t be the last. I like the character of Rachel King as she struggles with a tough job at the same time as keeping her family safe, while trying to avoid the skeletons in her closet from becoming common knowledge. It has a gripping and fast-paced plot, twists and turns that kept me guessing, and the deeper I got into the story the more the tension increased, leading to the conclusion that was nail-bitingly dramatic. This is definitely a thriller not to be missed.

This is my first Helen H Durrant book and I was not disappointed at all it was an excellent read and a great start to a new series that I hope will continue. The writing was top notch and the characters were very real with all the foibles of everyday life to contend with and Rachel King more than most when an old flame comes back into her life making her job as a DCI very difficult. So if you want a good sound police procedural with lots going on you have it all here and well recommended and a solid 4 stars.
My thanks to NetGalley and Joffe Books for giving me the chance to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Helen Currant strikes again. Another fast paced murder mystery. Someone is torturing and murdering young gay men in Manchester, and carefully crafting it so that the police look in a specific direction. The detective in charge has a secret which could interfere with the case, but will it?

An enjoyable book

ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

 DCI Rachel King is a mother of two teenage girls and is divorce.

As she is called in to investigate a young man murder she has deal with a secret from her past that can affect her career and her family.

As the investigate heats up it leads to her daughter friend Alice who insist she had a twin brother. As i was reading I thought she was involve with the murders because she lost her brother and everyone thought she was crazy and her father kept deny she had a twin brother I'm like I bet the killer but I won't spoil if the twin brother is real or not or the killer.

Even though this was a ok read I wish it was more a thriller. I'm definitely want to read from this author again.