This is the 3rd and final book in the Dan Grant trilogy.

I have loved this series and have really enjoyed getting to know Dan and Jayne.

The book grabbed me from the first chapter and it kept me hooked until the last brilliant twist.

Highly recommend this book if you love a fast paced page turner.

The last in the Dan Grant/Jane Brett trilogy, I found myself racing through the pages to get to the finale of this twisty, gripping story. Neil White has a talent for bringing the most incredible characters to life, and when you add that to his excellently crafted plotlines, you're on to a winner. It's a shame this book marks the end of the trilogy, (does it though, Neil? Does it have to be a trilogy? Surely Liz B can persuade you otherwise...) as I would love to see more of these two.

I have read books by Neil White before but The Innocent Ones, book three of a trilogy is the first that I have read in this series. Not knowing the characters didn’t impact on my enjoyment of the book and I will be reading the books I have missed as soon as possible.

In Dan’s latest case he is defending a local criminal who has been charged with murder. But the victim’s mother isn’t convinced that they have the right man and convinces Dan to find the answers in a cold case that her son was writing about. He gets back in touch with Jayne, a woman he defended in the past and who had done investigative work for him. In doing so he places both of them in danger.

It is a quite a while since I read a book that left me on edge so much. I became totally mesmerised by the cold case. At times, I forgot that there was also a current case that was being investigated. As the truth was revealed I was horrified, appalled and unable to stop reading. When the two cases overlapped and you saw exactly what evil they were facing I was numbed into silence, devastated by the tragic events.

Sometimes a book like this is unbelievable but the storyline is handled so well I was convinced by every reveal and twist. I was also convinced by the location. I have lived in Lancashire most my life and spent sometime trying to work out which town Highford was based on. In the author’s notes at the end my suspicions were correct. They were the only thing I did get right in this book.

The Innocent Ones is the third and apparently final book in the Dan Grant (lawyer) and Jayne Brett (investigator) series, and it's the most explosive to date. They do say to write what you know and that is exactly what Mr White has done with considerable aplomb here. White is a lawyer and important cog in the justice wheel by day, crime writer by night; it's his expertise when it comes to the law that makes this series both authentic and unmissable and having been in the profession myself I can attest it's realism. Something that is all but missing from books such as these.

There are two distinct threads to the plot which flirt with one another for the majority of the novel before merging into one. It's from that point onwards that the twists, turns and red herrings come at you one after the other. This is a well written and thoroughly gripping legal thriller where the tension is seriously ratcheted up in the second half and the shocks and surprises had me gobsmacked. There is so much intrigue and thrilling action throughout that I devoured it in a single afternoon.

Dan and Jayne are a dynamic, formidable team but it's apparent that the sexual tension between them still exists. They do, however, manage to keep things professional and platonic. This is an eminently readable, addictive and highly entertaining thriller. Many thanks to Hera Books for an ARC.

The Innocent Ones is the first book that I've read by Neil White. Since it's the third book in a trilogy, I can offer my opinion that it works fine as a standalone. It never felt to me that there were gaps in the narrative -- or, conversely, that too many background points were overemphasized. So, full marks for that.

What I liked most was the setting in a small, industrial British town. The book was well-crafted and nicely paced, with the only clunkiness I felt coming at the points of alternating timelines. The current, pressing case for lawyer Dan Grant has ties to two child murders from 1997. I liked the two main characters, Grant and his investigator, Jayne Brett. The chief detective from the old case was equally well-developed, but some of the lesser characters felt a bit two-dimensional.

The Big Twist in the plot was one that was new to me, so I scored higher for originality, but some of the secondary plot devices seemed forced. So, all in all, it was a pleasant but not a transcendent read. Thanks to NetGalley for an advance readers copy.

First off how can this book have been archived when it is not due to be published until 24th April?
Now to the review, what a page turner, reading it in one sitting and finishing this book in the wee hours.
A twisted story which got my heart racing, gasping for breath and tapping my kindle faster and faster. The climax was shocking but SO GOOD. I have read quite a few books from this author and I have never been disappointed. This read is another easy five stars and so Highly Recommended.
I would like to thank the author, Her a Books and Netgalley for the ARC in return for giving an honest review.

A new author for me, Neil white , this is the 3rd book is his Dan Grant and Jayne Brett Legal series.

Legal Thrillers are not something I usually read but looking to broaden my reading , this looked a perfect and interesting one to go with.

The book opens with the violent murder of journalist, Mark Roberts , a London lad out in the sticks looking to meet someone, to help him with a story he is writing, he is fatally assaulted.

Nick Conner a petty thief is found red handed; or footed in this case as his bloody footprints are found at the scene of the murder.

Criminal defence lawyer Dan Grant takes his case. What looks an open and shut case is soon made more interesting when intriguingly the victim’s mother approaches Dan saying she doesn’t believe they have the right killer and there is more than meets the eye.

Jayne Brett, Dan’s investigator and longtime friend, is now in Manchester, working away at a new life, a job in a supermarket with a leach of a boss and behind on her rent. She is asked back by Dan and soon agrees to pick up her old job.

As Jayne sets about finding out what Mark was looking into, she becomes embroiled in a small town that doesn’t want to be upset.

The book is told in alternative chapters, describing the present and in 1997, detailing now retired Detective Inspector Andrew Porter’s investigation.

Telling the story of the murder of 2 children. It’s soon apparent that Mark was looking into these murders and planning to write a book on the subject.

Soon this becomes a tale of intrigue and lies and Murder, small village culture and cover ups.

The finale is fast paced and never stops twisting and turning until it’s frantic end.

The book grabs you from the outset , it’s a clever idea, with a different and interesting start and I quickly shot through the first few chapters and thought, yes, I’ve got a good book on my hands here. The legal parts of the book are very well written and explained expertly.

With Characters that are easy to like, there is a nice spark between the main protagonists and it’s interesting to read their relationship as it’s grows. Dan, the lawyer doing his best and Jayne, hints of a person who’s been in bad places. They are very easy to relate to. The backing cast are well written and believable.

The locations are well described, and the scenes are set very well, from the seaside town to the courtroom.

Writing is easy accessible, it’s a pick up and read and enjoy. It’s a genuinely well written legal thriller, and I’ll be first to read more by this Author

It’s a cracking read.

4 ⭐️

This is the first book I have read from Neil White (though it is the third in this series). A well written murder mystery featuring a defense attorney and his investigator, set in England. Part detective, part legal-thriller, this novel stands alone and keeps a great pace that is a quick and interesting read. Great emotional character development, the author tells a story of child murders that had occurred many years ago, and a current murder of a reporter who was digging in to the old case. This won't be the last book I read from this author, I enjoyed the novel thoroughly.

Unravelling the complex case means finding the connection between Mark’s death and a series of child murders in Yorkshire over twenty years ago. Father of two, Rodney Walker, has spent years in prison after being convicted of killing of 6-year-old William and 7-year-old Ruby back in 1997.

But when Mark Roberts gets on the trail of the story, convinced that Walker is innocent, he exposed secrets that have long been buried. Secrets so dark, someone will kill to keep them hidden. Dan and Jayne are in a race against time to uncover the truth – before a killer silences them forever.

A tense and exciting crime thriller, that was a strong end to a series. Very interesting and complex, it kept my attention with intriguing action and a thrilling ending.

Thank you #NetGalley for the ARC of #TheInnocentOnes
Pub Date: 24 Apr 2019

Dogged lawyer Dan Grant and harried investigator Jayne Brett set off on their third outing in "The Innocent Ones." Neil White offers an easy, close-up style and a twisty plot, revolving around a murdered journalist following up a cold case of child killings. The two protagonists are easily appealing if a little blancmange in the modern day of heroes with huge handicaps. The Yorkshire settings are well portrayed. Recommended especially for fans of stalwart authors like Peter Robinson.

What a fine series this is and what a great shame that it ends with this third instalment. Neil White is a fine writer who brings his vast experience of the legal profession to bear in the Dan Grant trilogy. Grant is here reunited with Jayne, a former client whom he employs as his investigator, and their personal lives are almost as intriguing as the plot, which is full of surprises as the case they are working on takes them in unexpected directions, and the denouement is explosive! I looked forward to the next direction in this writer's career.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Hera Books for an advance copy of The Innocent Ones, the third and last novel, if the author is to be believed, to feature northern lawyer Dan Grant and his investigator Jayne Brett.

When investigative journalist Mark Roberts is brutally murdered in a deserted park in the fictional town of Highford the police are quick to arrest a suspect, petty thief Nick Connor. The evidence against him looks damning and Dan is struggling to find a defence until an unexpected source suggests following Mark’s footsteps to uncover a different motive.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Innocent Ones which is an engrossing thriller with several good twists, particularly in the tail. The novel has two strands which intermingle throughout the first half of the novel until they merge in the second half where the action ramps up and the twists come thick and fast. One strand concentrates on Dan and Jayne’s tentative efforts to find out what Mark was investigating while the other concentrates firstly on DCI Andrew Porter’s 1997 murder investigation in the seaside town of Brampton then on his present day feelings towards the re-investigation. Throughout it all Mr White keeps the intrigue going, making the novel moreish as the reader’s curiosity is aroused, and then slams the reader with a series of twists, each one more jaw dropping than the previous one. It is good, well paced fiction with my only niggle being that by the end I didn’t find all the characters’ actions believable. It is, however, fiction and the journey to the end is great, compulsive and very readable.

Dan and Jayne haven’t worked together for a year as she has moved to Manchester to start afresh but when the chips are down he reaches out and she responds. The attraction between them is still simmering but it’s all about the case so they work hard and smart. It’s Jayne who works out the breakthrough but it’s Dan who makes it work practically. They are a good team.

The Innocent Ones is a good read which I have no hesitation in recommending.

I went into this one completely blind. While the blurb about long forgotten cold cases played a part in my decision to pick this one up, it was the fact that the plot is based on children was what swayed me in the end. Thrillers with child victims are generally brutal and every time even a fictional kid is harmed distresses me. (I find it puzzling why I'm still drawn to this genre). The Innocent Ones is a gripping, twisted thriller that left me unsettled. Dan and Jayne find themselves bang right in the middle of a mystery when Dan chooses to represent Nick Connors. Nick is a petty thief accused of murdering a journalist Mark Roberts whose current project leads them to a town Yorkshire where two children were viciously murdered over two decades ago.
This is one of the few legal thrillers I've enjoyed. The plot was good - a slow buildup of the thrill and suspense but the offender revealed at the end was not really surprising. It was a bit predictable in a sense. However, I love the main characters Dan and Jayne, I love their chemistry and I'm definitely going back in the series to read and hopefully learn more about them.
Thank you to NetGalley, Neil White & Hera Books for an arc!

Neil White is an author who has real-life experience as a defender and prosecutor, whose books are are both gripping and enjoyable, based on the Northern small-town criminal world he knows. This book is the third of the Dan Grant trilogy, but is written in a way that it can be enjoyed as a stand-alone novel.

Dan Grant is a defence lawyer used to dealing with shady local characters. This time, he finds himself defending a man accused of murder, and being accosted by the victim’s mother who insists the defendant is innocent and implores Dan to prove it.

Determined and tenacious, Dan enlists the help of his investigator Jayne, a lady with a dark secret in her past, to delve further into the crime and try to find the truth.

With twists and turns along the way, Dan and Jayne encounter unexpected events and find themselves in perilous situations. The twists at the end will leave you wondering about the futures of the two main characters.

This book is well written and I recommend fans of thrillers and crime fiction read this. If you haven’t already done so, I also implore you to read all of White’s previous novels.

I have bags under my eyes from the mere four hours of sleep I got last night. I. Could. Not. Stop. Reading. I won’t give any spoilers, but thank you so much to Netgalley for this ARC. Wow!

I just broke a vow my eight year old self made. I vowed when I grew up, I would always read books in order and start with number one. I was half way through this one before I realized it was the third in a trilogy. But that really didn't seem to damper my enjoyment of the book. It was fast paced and well written. Now I am sorry to see that it is the last book because I know I would have enjoyed more in the series.

Dan Grant and Jayne Brett return in The Innocent Ones which is the third book in a series by Neil White.

Grant is a defence lawyer and Brett his investigator and this time they face a very challenging case which has its roots in the murders of 2 children twenty years ago.

The story is excellent with great pacing and many twists and turns towards a brilliant conclusion. The pages keep turning (or clicking) very quickly!

This book can be easily read as a standalone and is definitely recommended

Another cracking read from Neil. It’s so good to have Dan and Jayne working back together, they are such a well matched team.

This time there’s a journalist Mark Roberts who gets murdered in a sleepy seaside town and no-one knows why, who’s he upset? There’s no clues, but then Dan is representing a client Nick Connor, who has been accused of his murder, but something is not right the pieces don’t fit. Coupled with the fact that Mark’s mother doesn’t think Nick is the killer, but the evidence says otherwise.

Mark, it appears was writing a true life crime book about two murders that took place in this area twenty years ago, and whoever the culprit was, they will do anything to keep their secret. The small seaside town is keeping some very dark secrets and it’s up to Dan and Jayne to find out what.

As usual Neil draws on his vast experience as a criminal lawyer to keep the book as authentic as possible and in all the books I’ve read, never once has he failed to surprise me with the twists at the end. I thought I knew what was coming, but this was such a shock I had to go back and re-read it!

It is a great pity, that this was only a trilogy as there is plenty of room for more stories with this fantastic couple.

My thanks to Neil, the Publishers and Netgalley for the ARC.

Title: The Innocent Ones

Author: Neil White

Length: 377 Pages

Publisher: Hera Books

Publishing Date: April 24, 2019

Genre: Crime, Investigation, Mystery, Thriller

My rating: 5/5

Summary:

The story starts with a murder of Robert Mark. Lawyer Dan is appointed to fight a case for the accused of the murder who was wondering at the place of murder, stole the wallet of the victim and rushes home. Dan and his friend Jayne work on solving the case wherein the murderer is somehow linked to another crime that took place miles away.

My Take:

Would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher to provide the ARC for reading in exchange for an Honest review.

I’ve always been a fan of Crime and Thriller novels and this one just got me to read it. The title absolutely justifies the storyline and one can connect to it as well. The book is divided in 80 chapters which are medium length.

The story is medium paced with places where it’s stretched with too much detailing of the surroundings. The characterization is amazing. One can actually visualise Jayne and Dan. The chemistry between both the protagonists is superb and will definitely make one fall in love with them. At the end I realised that this is the last book in the Jayne and Dan series. Would definitely be buying the previous 2 books now.

This book has 2 stories of crime. The main crime which is being investigated and the other which is linked to the main crime, a crime which took place 20 years back. I won’t deny that upon introduction of the main culprit, I was able to identify the murderer. However, there is a big surprise element in the end which makes your jaw drop.

Climax is good and apt. I would have loved to see some action being taken on Jayne’s pervert boss which is at the beginning of the book. It was a great book and am already missing Jayne and Dan. A book which would make for a great web series or even a movie.

An unusual look at a murder from the perspective of the defence counsel. Fast paced and intriguing,lots to unravel and a surprising twist.