This is a really good read. Jessie's character is intriguing. Her back story is interesting and I want to know more about her. Shannons murder and the people she knew kept me gripped. I read this book in one go. I had to know who murdered Shannon and the circumstances surrounding her murder.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Thank you to Bookouture for my copy of this book via Netgalley and for letting me take part in this tour. Crime books are now a firm favourite of mine and Bookouture have some of the best so when I saw a new detective series I just had to read it.

To begin with, I found the book a little too complex. There were a lot of characters and I was struggling to keep it right in my head. I wasn't sure if this was a personal thing as I've been having problems with focus recently or it was just the book. After the first 20-30%, something clicked and I fell in love with this book.

The story flicks between the present day and various times in the past. To begin with its not quite clear on the relevance of the past but after a few chapters, it does become clear.

There were a few scenes I had to reread. Again I don't know if this is just me or the book but I seemed to be confused as to when some characters arrived on the scene.

The story was quite gripping and Kerry did a good job of unravelling it all at just the right moments. Kerry also built some back story for Detective Jessie Blake which I am looking forward to hearing more about in the future books.

This was quite a complex police procedural. Initially I found it a little convulated and there was just lots of things going on that were a struggle to keep up with. It did become better throughout and it was full off twists and turns so I would definitely say this does have the potential to become a good series

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. I liked this book but not sure why and found I spent half of my time skipping large bits of it.

A new detective series from Kerry Watts.i was really looking forward to reading this book and I am really glad to say WOW WOW WOW. I was hooked from the first page, could not put this book down. Reading it in one sitting and kept me reading late into the night. Tapping my kindle like a demented wood pecker. This is a story of a school girl that goes missing and her body is found two days later. DI Jessie Blake is given this high profile case just after her recent promotion. Jessie and her team find striking similarities in a case from twenty years ago. Two school boys were convicted of that crime. Is this a copycat, is the killer of twenty years ago still at large ? So many questions and as for suspects they were coming thick and fast. At the beginning of this book it is a bit manic and very busy. Please stick with it as it all makes sense in the end. This book had me sat on the edge of my seat and in places got my heart racing. A gripping read, and very clever story telling. This looks like another addictive series for me. An easy five stars and HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
I would like to thank the author, Bookouture and Netgalley for the advanced copy in return for giving an honest review.

Detective Jessie Blake Book 1

Twenty years ago Sophie Nicoll never came home from school. Days later her body was found in a shallow grave on a remote farm. Two boys from school were found guilty. Now, schoolgirl Shannon Ross has vanished from a small town in the Scottish Highlands. It's Detective Jessie Blake's first big case since she joined the Perthshire police. She's more used to working in London. Jessie lives in fear about people finding out about her past. But it seem that there is more than Jessie with big secrets that they want to keep hidden.

I did like this book but there was just far too much going on in it. Shannon's case almost mirrors the case of Sophie who had went missing twenty years ago. As Jessie and her team investigate, they find there is more to the small town than they first believed. Apart from the dual storyline there are a lot of characters to try and remember. DC Dylan Logan and Jessie make a great team. I can't wait to read the second book in this series to find out more about Jessie's dark secret.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Bookouture and the author Kerry Watts for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

WOW Kerry Watts had me on the edge of my seat with this exciting new detective series i literally could not put it down.
DI Jessie Blake faces her first big case since her recent promotion and it begins as a missing schoolgirl from a small town in Perthshire,Scotland.
Twenty years ago a schoolgirl with a similar description was brutally raped and murdered by two teenage boys who were caught and prosecuted for the crime.
Could these crimes be linked ? What is DI Blake running from in her previous life in London ?
With too many suspects to mention suffice to say this is by far the best book I have read this year for a crime thriller it ticks all the boxes.
A must read book worthy of 5 stars.

This is a very easy book to read, it flows and takes you along with it. I did find it a little over populated at the beginning when all the different parts of the story were put in place but it soon sorted itself out. The storyline focused on the disappearance of a fifteen-year-old schoolgirl and had the potential to be intriguing but as her fate was disclosed in the precis it took away any suspense which was a great shame.

The two detectives were likeable and with no superior officers to distract them were able to work the case in their own way. D.I Jessie Blake has a past which was hinted at and seems likely to be more important in future books whereas her colleague D.C. Dylan Logan is a steady family man who compliments her working style.

I didn't find this a complicated case to solve, but the quality of the writing hints at greater things to come and I fully expect the next book to be more challenging.

I was able to read an advanced copy of this thanks to Netgalley and the publishers in exchange for an unbiased review and would recommend it as the first in a series with great promise. I will definitely be on the look out for book two.

Heartlands is the debut novel by Kerry Watts and it is a promising start to what will hopefully be a good police procedural series.

The story was fast moving although I had worked out the guilty party quite early on. I would also have preferred to have known more about the lead character's backstory during the book but these are minor quibbles

Overall recommended

I have to admit that I thought that I wasn't going to get on well with this book. To begin with, I found the huge amount of characters that were introduced in such a short space of time quite confusing and with quite a few of them, there wasn't anything obvious to make them stand out. I found myself flicking back and forth trying to decide who was who. It's a bit unfortunate really, as I suspect that this might put some people off, which would be a real shame as once you get past that initial phase, the story moves quickly and develops well.
Heartlands tells the story of a missing teenage girl. As the detectives start to investigate it becomes clear that there are plenty of secrets being hidden in the small community and the disappearance is causing them all to be revealed. Alongside this, is the story of a girl who disappeared twenty years earlier. There are parallels between her and this current missing girl story. I did assume that it had happened in the same place and couldn't understand why more people hadn't seen the similarity, but I realised later that it was in the North of England, while the rest of the story takes place in Scotland.
This book works well on many levels. Not only do you have the main mystery itself, but we also see how the missing girl twenty years ago affected both her family and the people involved in her murder. There are a few twists and turns in this one, most of which I saw coming, but that didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book. I did think that some of the people acted a little oddly. I'm not sure if I was dealing with any life-changing experiences that they were, I would have had the emotional energy to help out friends who were going through similar, but different experiences.
This was a very good start to a series and I'll be looking forward to finding out what will happen next for Jessie, the lead detective in this book. She clearly has a back story and past that I suspect will be catching up with her in the near future in perhaps the next book.
This isn't an easy light read, there are a lot of characters to get your head around and plenty happening in this fast-moving storyline. Don't let that put you off, because you will miss out on a good read if you do.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Heartlands by Kerry Watts had a really good story. Unfortunately it was really hard to get into and enjoy for me. I found that there was too much going on at once and too many characters to get my head around. There was also multiple timelines happening and it was hard to keep up. I found it a bit o predictable as well, the ending not a real surprise.

I think that the series has potential, a Detective in Scotland with secrets of her own. A teenage girl goes missing and is found dead. There is also a story of a girl who was raped and murdered 20 years earlier.

Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for my advanced copy of this book to read. All opinions are my own and are in no way biased.

2.5 rounded up for good potential new series

This one is really hard to rate. I believe this series will get good as it hits its stride. The main problem was trying to lay too much of a foundation in the opening book. Too many characters, storylines and timeframes left me confused here and there. Some loose threads were left unexplained and have me thinking that they will be revisited in the next story. Too much, too soon, and that’s a shame and may scare some off...

It’s a good premise and the writing is quite good. Jessie is an interesting character and I am curious to learn her backstory. It looks like there will be some tough times ahead for her. Be patient, but give this a shot. I really think it’s going to get good.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and Bookouture for a copy in exchange for a review.

The story had begun some twenty years earlier when two boys raped and killed Sophie Nicholl. Jack Mackay was - on the face of it - from a decent family, but he was the ringleader. Daniel Simpson was a follower, but he still raped Sophie and he could have stopped what happened but didn't. Sophie's body was found in a shallow grave by an enthusiastic cocker spaniel a few days later and the boys were arrested, tried and sentenced to five years in a young offenders institution. There were those who thought that the sentence was too lenient, even for fifteen-year-old boys and Sophie's elder brother, Tom, was one of these. He wasn't going to let the matter rest.

Twenty years on and in a different town - this time it's Invertochty in Perthshire - Shannon Ross disappeared. She'd been on her way to meet her best friend, Eric, for a thick shake, but never arrived. Her mother, Louise, was distraught. When DI Jessie Blake is sent to the town to investigate she discovers Shannon's notebook. Shannon's obviously been a keen observer of people: she knows who's sleeping with who when they shouldn't be and she's been writing it all down. There's the famous author with the pregnant wife who seems to be rather too fond of Shannon's mother, Louise. Then there's her father, Jason, who's never been quite the same since an accident in Iraq which was brushed under the carpet and which led to Jason's discharge from the army.

Jessie Blake obviously has some troubles in her past which she's keen to keep there. She's recently moved to Perthshire from the Met: the change of scenery suits her, but why is she so keen to ensure that her husband Dan doesn't find out where she is?

It's always a pleasure to find a new police procedural series: recently I seem to be joining the party when it's already got a good head of steam going. This is Kerry Watts' debut novel and I was quietly impressed. She handled quite a substantial cast of characters with panache (one or two stayed in my mind after I'd finished reading) although the women came off the page more fully-clothed than the men, but that's a minor quibble - I occasionally had to think who the men were, but the women stayed alive in my mind. I don't doubt that the increasing confidence of the next book will even this out.

The plot was good, although perhaps not as jaw-dropping as the blurb on Amazon might suggest, but it didn't disappoint. I worked out the two main plot reveals in advance, but by the law of averages I have to be right sometimes! It's the first book in a series (I gather that there are three books commissioned) and I'm keen to see what the next book has to offer. I'd like to thank the publishers for letting Bookbag have a copy for review purposes.

Jessie Blake is called to investigate the case of a teenage girl who has gone missing. The case is reminiscent of one year’s before. Who was responsible for Shannon going missing and will her family cope?

As always the lead detective has a back story where just enough comes out to get you ready for the second book which is a good thing. I enjoyed this although a teensy but predictable and there was a lot of main characters which were a bit overwhelming but all in all a great start to a new series.

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

Always willing to try out new authors or new crime procedures . It was a lot take in the first few chapters. I felt like you got a little lost with the flashbacks chapters. I will read the next one in the series, to give it another try. Who knows? Maybe it will grow on me.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Bookouture for an advance copy of Heartlands, the first novel to feature DI Jessie Blake of Perthshire Police.

When teenager Shannon Ross goes missing from the Perthshire village of Inverlochty DI Jessie Blake is called in to investigate. It is her first major case as an inspector.

Heartlands is a bit of a mixed bag. There is a good plot in there somewhere but it gets lost in the execution. The story of Shannon’s disappearance is intercut with the progress of Daniel Simpson who, in 1996, along with a friend murdered schoolgirl Sophie Nicoll in the North East of England. There is no correlation between the two stories except the obvious assumption that Daniel Simpson is in Inverlochty and it’s no stretch of the imagination to guess his identity. The novel also concentrates on the lives of Shannon’s parents and what her disappearance does to their marriage. As a result Jessie and her investigation come a poor third in the priority list. It seems to me that the author has tried to take on too much. As a straightforward police procedural the plotting would have made this a good, absorbing read but as an attempt to tackle the difficult issues surrounding murder, sentence length and rehabilitation it misses the mark, not having the room to tackle them in any depth.

Then there is the issue of Jessie’s violent ex. She is obviously frightened of him, a fact mentioned frequently, but it goes nowhere except to set up the next novel in the series. I’m not sure I’ll be reading it as stalking doesn’t float my boat.

The first story in the Detective Jessie Blake series and can’t wait for more from this author! Travels back and forth from 1990’s to present time as the current missing girl search unravels and finally a surprising result in the end. Intriguing story.

The pacing in this one is quick. The beginning is a bit hard to follow because you are introduced to so many characters in the past and present. It took me a bit to keep everyone straight but it was worth waiting. The mystery is full of twists. There is a good amount of suspense and action. The main character is still developing and at times is overshadowed by everything going on. I believe the series has a lot of potential and the ending definitely has me looking forward to the next book.

A gritty police procedural,set in rural Scotland. Past secrets which return to haunt, a recent death and a female detective with her own secrets. Look forward to book two.

I’d like to thank Bookouture and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Heartlands’, the first in the Detective Jessie Blake series written by Kerry Watts, in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Shannon has vanished on her way home from school and the residents of Inverlochty remember the murder of Sophie twenty years ago in similar circumstances when two schoolboys were arrested and found guilty. Detective Inspector Jessie Blake is called in to investigate and it’s her first big case since moving to the Perthshire Police from London.

I had high hopes for ‘Heartlands’ as the synopsis sounded interesting but I’m afraid I struggled with it. My main problem was the number of characters which I found very confusing and although I made a list of names and their parts in the story I had to refer to it frequently and this disrupted the story for me. The main character of Jessie Blake should have been more prominent but I found her fading into the background, on a number of occasions confusing her name with that of Cassie. The story started with such promise, the kidnapping and murder of Sophie and the journalist who wrote about the case returning when Shannon disappears, and although I liked the descriptions of the Scottish Highlands I can’t really find anything else positive to comment on. Hopefully the second book in the series will show a marked improvement.