Ann Cleeves introduces a new series,a police procedural set on the coast of Devon with a multilayered protagonist, Matthew Venn. As the book opens, Venn is standing apart and to the back, watching his father's funeral,when he is notified of the discovery of a man's body on the beach. Unraveling themystery of the death what appears to be a homeless man becomes more complicated and affects the entire community. Highly recommended!

In this introduction to a new series, Ann Cleeves gives us a complex mystery and well-developed characters. Matthew Venn is a police officer investigating the murder of a man found on the beach near his home. The investigation takes him back to his home town and causes him to interact with people with whom he broke off contact in his late teens. All of the other police officers have complicated backgrounds that are slowly revealed as the story moves forward. I thought the scenes with the special needs students from the school were particularly well done. I'll look forward to reading more in this series and to seeing how these characters develop further.

Plenty of twists and turns to keep you turning pages. However, the story just sort of ended abruptly which was a little disappointing.

This was my first Ann Cleeves book; I was familiar with the TV series based on her books and was pleased to have the opportunity to read an advance copy of the beginning of a new series. I found The Long Call to be well-written and a very good mystery. I enjoyed the locale, and I thought Cleeves did a wonderful job bringing the characters to life. It was very suspenseful and the main story lines were nicely resolved. I look forward to reading more in this series and highly recommend this book.

“The Long Call,” Ann Cleeves’s newest mystery, and the start of another series, is an inoffensive detective story that’s long on characters and short on grisly details. She has peopled her book with nice folks, hardly an ugly word from any of them, even the evildoers. That’s refreshing and she makes it easy to digest.

North Devon, a place where two rivers converge and head for the sea, is home base for Detective Matthew Venn. It’s a strictly evangelical location from which Vann has alienated himself, but dark secrets lurk inside its many charitable institutions. Hidden perversions, rape, kidnapping, and murder unveil themselves and Vann has to face people he has previously respected and never held any ill will towards.

Vann is not a super hero. He uses his brain instead of brawn and his marriage to his husband, Jonathon, while interesting, is not used as a prop to add spice to the story. He does, however, surround himself with a team of police officers who are clever and dedicated and for, the most part, very efficient. One assistant, Ross, has good qualities, but also manages to be irritating, a clever sidebar that the author inserts without too much distraction.

Cleeves uses remarkably plain language in uncovering her story. There is very little violence or smutty verbalization in her writing. Indeed, her style is flowing, almost nonchalant, without shocking violence added to promote prurient interest. The characters, even in their evil moments, seen almost virtuous and absent any malicious leanings.

If this all seems a little milk toastish to you, think again. Cleeves has a way of engaging her readers in her quiet writing that proves to be enticing. The plot line is well conceived and the action, although quiet, is entrancing. I enjoyed this book and the opportunity to study some remarkable writing. I recommend it for a thriller that doesn’t use bloody carnage as an attraction.

I had never read a book by Ann Cleeves before this one, but apparently, my life had a hole in it that I didn't know needed filling. I'm a sucker for detective stories, especially ones that bring up the past that characters thought they left behind. The writing and story told are woven well together, making for an interesting detective read that you'll want to cozy up by yourself and shut yourself off from the world until you reach the end.

The Long Call is the first book in what will be a new series by Ann Cleeves. I jumped at the chance to read it as I'm a huge fan of both Vera and Shetland. Both have been serialised on the BBC so it is now hard to think of either character or book without picturing the lead.
Now we have Matthew Venn, lead detective on a murder case in North Devon, two rivers. Matthew is new to the precinct, gay and recovering from growing up in a cult-like religious community. All of which makes for great background and setting for The Long Call. Somewhere in the book, either the back or the front the Long Call is described as the sound of the gulls that often sounds like a cry of pain. That captured me right from the start.
As in her other books, everybody knows everybody and Matthew knows a lot of the characters as his mother and the religious community aren't too far from where he lives with his husband, Jonathon. So when a stranger is found murdered on the beach where the two rivers meet, Matthew and his team hear many different stories of who this person was and what he was like as they attempt to pin down his travels in the days before he was murdered. There is the Centre which Jonathon administrates and is home to a day care for mentally challenged people, especially Downs Syndrome. There is the apartment where the murdered man lived along with two women both connected to the Centre. And there are Jen and Ross, the two other mainstays on Matthew's team who are complete opposites.
All of this makes for page turning reading as Matthew wonders whether he should, in fact, be running the case as more and more people he knows and loves become involved. Welcome back Ann Cleeves, we missed you.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this ARC possible to read.

This was a murder mystery and it did keep me guessing up to the very end. In that respect it was a well thought out plot. I was not however able to really care much about any of the characters, their backgrounds or their motivations. They all seemed to have dropped in out of nowhere and had very little to tie them to each other.
I can only presume that having a married gay center character and two of the bad guys as supposedly religious men that the author was trying to make a statement, but it fell flat with me.

Having read and loved two other series by this author (Shetland Island and Vera Stanhope), I was excited to hear that a new series was in the works and even more so when I was given a chance to read an advanced reader's copy of the first book in the series. This introduction to the Two Rivers series drew me in immediately with its lush writing, as is the case any time I've picked up one of the Shetland or Vera books. The author's ability to create realistic settings and three dimensional characters, as well as complex mysteries that often blend past and present, is one of the reasons I love her work, and this novel did not disappoint.

I connected with Detective Matthew Venn from the opening pages. He is complex, thoughtful, and compassionate. I felt like I knew and understood him, and that he was the type of character I would enjoy spending time with in the future. I was also intrigued by Venn's co-workers (particularly Jen Rafferty) and his husband, Jonathan. I am eager to learn more about their backstories and look forward to getting to know them even better as the series progresses. The secondary characters were thoughtfully portrayed and felt as fully developed as the main characters.

While I have never visited a town like North Devon, I felt like I had been transported there and was fully immersed in that world. The sense of place was strong and provided another layer to the story. If you enjoyed the Shetland Island series for its strong sense of place, I think you'll be equally drawn to the world of Two Rivers.

The mystery begins when Venn is assigned to investigate an apparent homicide. He soon discovers that the dead man found on a local beach has a connection to the community center where his husband works. The investigation grows more complicated when two women with Down's Syndrome--one of whom has a connection to the dead man--are abducted from the center. More than once, Venn offers to step back from the investigation as the ties to the center grow. However, it is clear that he will follow the investigation wherever it needs to go to uncover the truth. His past also factors into the mystery, as does his tense relationship with his family. I loved the complexity of the story and how the investigation unfolded.

I look forward to returning to North Devon soon, and am thrilled to have a new series by Ann Cleeves to add to my "must read" list. This review is based on an advanced reader edition that I received courtesy of NetGalley and Minotaur Books (thank you!).

I cannot say enough about this book! Loved it and hated that it had to end. If you are a fan of Vera and Shetland then you are familiar with this author and her style of writing and character development. This follows that approach with a new character, Det. Matthew Venn. Set in North Devon, the author paints some glorious word pictures about the local. The character is different and yet similar to both her other lead characters and I am really looking forward to getting to know home as this series continues. I understand there will be at least one more as they are calling this book 1 in the Two Rivers Series so we have something to look forward to! Thank you NetGalley for the advanced reader copy for review.

A solidly crafted British detective story set in modern day England. The characters are believable and well developed. The story starts out as a "simple" murder, if any murder can be simple, and then slowly builds to encompass the separate kidnapping of two learning disabled women and a sexual assault on a third learning disabled woman. The finale will come as a surprise to even the most accomplished armchair detective.

I enjoyed the book from start to finish. I have rated this book 4.5 stars.

I received an ARC from Netgalley for my unbiased review as a volunteer reader.

Nice steady pace, slowly learn more about the characters as the story progresses. Interesting mystery that has twists and turns as more is learned about the victim. The book held my interest.

“The Long Call” was a very, very slow burn for me. I wasn’t caught until several attempts took me halfway through the story, then I wanted to find out the solutions to the crimes from pure stubbornness. The story ticks off a variety of identity boxes in the plot, almost all in a negative way. The only good folks here left standing are a few of the police team. This is a book that clearly leads toward an earnest small-screen adaptation.

The resolutions were unexpected and layered, as you’re in good hands with Ms. Cleeves. I respect her work and am willing to give the next in the series a try.

The Long Call by Ann Cleeves. St. Martin's Press. Minotaur Books. Mystery & Thrillers. Publication date is set for 03 September 2019. 5 Stars.

Great page-turner! The first volume in a new series, I was pleasantly surprised to learn midway that this was the writer who had penned Vera, one of my favorite tv shows. With a married gay detective who isn’t big, or loud or gymnastic—but who is smart and impressively introspective, this is a tale of suffering, mistakes, guilt, evil, and truth combined—with an ultimately redemptive finale. And I loved the sensitive treatment of the Down's Syndrome women. A new British police drama not to be missed!

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing this ebook for review.

I thought I had read every mystery novel that takes place along the English moors. But I was happily mistaken. I discovered Ann Cleves and I've got a lot of reading to catch up on. I mentioned her name to several reader friends and they said, "Of course, Shetland!" On Sunday I picked up The Long Call, the first volume in what I hope will be a long series, and I finished it this afternoon. We meet Det. Matthew Venn, who has transferred from a city police department, returning to his boyhood home in North Devon. Terrific characters, a great setting and a story that caught me on the first page. Mystery fans, add the Two Rivers series to your TBR list. Sending a big thanks to Minotaur Books, the US publisher. Dear Ann Cleeves, please hurry with the next book in the series.

I probably would not have read The Long Call if I had known that any type of child or vulnerable adult abuse was part of its storyline, only because I find the subject very disturbing to me. Often, for days or even weeks the memories of the abuse will pop into my mind at odd times. On the other hand, I did get pulled into the very many strands entwined in this mystery. I had to discover the evil doers and I was greatly surprised at the outcome. There are times where the descriptive sections became boring and, I feel, several pages could have been edited out. There is one thing that drove me to distraction, even though will be considered trivial to most. The first sentence in each chapter had what appeared to be random capitalization of some letters. It might have been only the A's and T's but I was originally trying to find a pattern and then I tried to ignore it. This is the first book I've read by Ann Cleaves but I would read another.

Title : The Long Call

Series:Two Rivers #1

Author: Ann Cleeves

Genre: mystery/ thriller

Pages:384

Pub date: September 3rd 2019

For the first time in 20 years, Ann Cleeves—international bestselling and award-winning author of the Vera and Shetland series, both of which are hit TV shows—embarks on a gripping new series.
In North Devon, where two rivers converge and run into the sea, Detective Matthew Venn stands outside the church as his father’s funeral takes place. Once loved and cherished, the day Matthew left the strict evangelical community he grew up in, he lost his family too.

Now, as he turns and walks away again, he receives a call from one of his team. A body has been found on the beach nearby: a man with a tattoo of an albatross on his neck, stabbed to death.

The case calls Matthew back into the community he thought he had left behind, as deadly secrets hidden at its heart are revealed, and his past and present collide.

An astonishing new novel told with compassion and searing insight, The Long Call will captivate fans of Vera and Shetland, as well as new readers.



My thoughts

Rating: 2

Would I recommend it? no

Will I be reading more of this series? no

Would I read anything else by this author ? maybe

The rating would have been higher but there was times the story was slow and boring and I didn't care about what was going on with the characters ,or what was even happening , for some reason it just wasn't holding my attention and it didn't keep me pulled into the story at all with that said I want to thank Netgalley and St. Martins for letting me read and review it exchange for my honest opinion .

This the start of a police procedural mystery story that was hard to put down. The plot was compelling and the characters well-portrayed.. The reader is drawn into the characters' lives and the mystery itself riveting.

Ann Cleeves new book, The Long Call, introduces her new detective, Matthew Venn. He is a complex, troubled character with a sense of justice. Ann Cleeves legions of Vera Stanhope and Jimmy Perez devotees will not be disappointed. While modern, progressive and character driven, this book radiates the author's love of a good plot. This a book you can't put down. A must read!
This book is one of Ann Cleeve's finest.

Great start to a new, hopefully, series. As with all series, we have to meet the characters, the surroundings, and then the plot for this particular book. This is a police procedural, with some twists and turns, Our main character, Matthew is in charge of police detectives in his unit and they have to solve a murder, kidnappings, and their own personal lives. Unfortunately the murder involves people from Matthews past, an unpleasant past at that, and people in his current life. Other detectives in this are interesting characters, good information on Jen, but I'm sure more will be learned about Ross in the future books. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC I enjoyed this new to me author, and look forward to the next.