Member Reviews

Dead Wrong is the second book in the DC Maggie Jamieson series by Noelle Holten and like its’ predecessor it is another excellent and very enjoyable police thriller.

This time Jamieson is faced with the possibility that she helped to put away an innocent man but her instincts keep telling her that she got the correct man but how can she prove this?

The book is definitely a page turner and it is difficult to believe that this is only the author’s second book.

Definitely recommended and it’s good to know that books 3 and 4 are in the pipeline

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Maggie Jameson returns in Dead Wrong, the second book in this police procedural series. Another cracking read that will keep you up late reading. It is dark and gritty and at times gruesome. Maggie and her team are all interesting characters with so much more to learn about them all. And after that ending I am desperate to read book 3.

Maggie has returned to her team after a secondment to the domestic abuse team. Fresh body parts are being found all over town , from victim s that went missing years earlier. And the man who was convicted of their murders is behind bars, put there by Maggie. She is determined to find out who he is working with and stop them. Bill Raven is a nasty nasty man and really pushes Maggie to her limits.

Thanks to Harper Impulse, Killer Reads, One More Chapter and NetGalley for my advanced copy of this book to read. All opinions are my own and are in no way biased

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Dead Wrong by Noelle Holten is the highly anticipated second installment of a series focused on DC Maggie Jamieson, and what a follow up it is! After a cracking debut, my expectations were high, and I was not disappointed in any way. This is another well-crafted police procedural that will keep you guessing, and will most certainly leave you wanting more.

Bill Raven has been sentenced to life for the murders of three women and is serving his time when the body parts of one of his victims turns up, appearing to be a recent kill. DC Jamieson was certain that the right man was behind bars for the crimes, but this recent turn of events will challenge her to re-evaluate everything she thought she knew. Does Raven have an accomplice on the outside? Maggie knows that it is a race against the clock to save the other women, and her best hope is to delve into the twisted mind of her most challenging nemesis to date.

I love the flow of a Noelle Holten police procedural, as you are virtually propelled along with the fast-paced and engaging storyline. DC Jamieson is a richly complex protagonist, and one who I look forward to getting to know in greater depth as the series continues.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Harper Impulse and Killer Reads, and One More Chapter for this ARC.

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Oh my days!!! Noelle Holten...how can you end a book like that!!
I have just finished my first read by this fantastic author and oh my days.... what a corker of a way to end a book!! I’m surprised you didn’t hear me gasp!!
Noelle is yet another author who I put on my TBR list for this year, and I am so pleased I did!
I’m a big fan of thrillers and have read many with some truly nasty characters in them, but Bill Raven made me shudder at times. The way Noelle describes this character, his mannerisms and the way he works is just shudderingly brilliant! He is one hell of a character!
For me, some books can fall short on tying up all the “how’s, why’s, and who did it” but this is so well finished off with the attention to detail of the outcome of the storyline, that I feel completely fulfilled with this book...... except the ending!! I’m so looking forward to reading the next instalment to see what happens next.

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This is book two in the DC Maggie Jamieson series but can be read as a standalone.

This is a tense thriller. that moves along at a great speed and has the Noelle Holten trademark twists and turns throughout. The book ends with a cliffhanger so I am waiting patiently for book number 3!!

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This book feels a bit like the book world equivalent of the "difficult second album". I really struggled to get into it.I think the first books focus on the probation world helped make it a fresh interesting storyline and the focus on Maggie this time just didn't really work for me.

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I really enjoyed the first book in the DC Maggie Jamieson so was looking forward to reading this and it didn’t disappoint. Gripping from start to finish and a ended on a huge cliffhanger leaving me eagerly waiting for book 3.

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5 Stars from me

Just like the stonking debut 'Dead Inside' from Noelle Holten, 'Dead Wrong' does not disappoint.

After reading Dead Inside I remember thinking I wish it featured DC Maggie Jamieson more, and in Dead Wrong I got my wish!

This is a fresh and exciting police procedural with a twist - a serial killer has been convicted and is in prison - so how can his freshly killed victims only just be appearing now?

Dead Wrong has a clever storyline and a whole bunch of dead ends and red herrings, it is very nicely plotted.

Raven is a beast of a character - he and Maggie together had overtures of Lecter and Clarice for me which was a nice touch.

Enjoy discovering how Maggie thinks and how she sets about proving that Raven is the killer - it's a bumpy ride but you'll love it.

Congrats to Noelle for another great read - made all the more enjoyable as she is such a lovely person to interact with on twitter!

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Having enjoyed the story in Noelle Holten's debut Dead Inside, but having had some reservations, I approached the follow-up with some interest. Once again the plot was interesting and the characters are interesting, and the quality of spelling and grammar was improved. However I still find the style of writing somewhat stilted.

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Having enjoyed the first book in the DC Maggie Jameson series (Dead Inside) I was looking forward to Dead Wrong and catching up with the gang. Personally I preferred this story but I've always had a soft spot for serial killers and grisly murder scenes. You can't get much more grisly than body parts turning up years after the victims went missing!

The twist in the tale is that these body parts are fresh meaning that the man who was charged with the murders (Bill Raven) may well be innocent. It is up to Maggie to find out what has happened and get the truth out of Bill; she is convinced she has the right culprit but he is an extremely slippery (also incredibly slimy!) man and she definitely has her work cut out for her. These exchanges in prison reminded me of Clarice Starling and Hannibal Lecter in Silence of The Lambs. The tension is ramped up by the fact that there are still at least two women classed as missing from the original case, the longer it takes Maggie to solve the case the more fresh body parts will appear...

In Dead Wrong we get to know a little more about Maggie including her brother and her blossoming relationship with a prominent character. I'm not one for giving spoilers away so I'll simply say...wow. Book three please!

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I don't know what I was expecting, but this one just didn't jive for me. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that this story was repetitive without repeating itself. What does that mean? It means I can sum up the entire book in the following couple of sentences; body parts of women thought long dead turn up freshly killed and dismembered. Maggie goes to visit the man who previously confessed at the jail, he riles her up, she loses her temper. Maggie goes back to the police station gets grumpy that no one believes her when she says the man behind bars is involved, throws a temper tantrum. Wash and repeat. At least until the point where everyone seems to start letting her have her way, which leads to the killer being found, but it took so long to get there and there were just so many instances of details being thrown at us that frankly, it was hard to stay invested at some points.

There were also areas that made no sense. Like Maggie's cat is missing throughout the entire book, Raven makes some vaguely threatening remarks about it at the end of the book and bam! She comes home to her cat, perfectly safe asleep in his bed? Just what was that all about?

I was also really disappointed with the sub-storyline regarding Maggie's friend (and criminal profiler Kate). While I can't go into details without giving away spoilers, I will say given her job and the fact that they were in the midst of hunting a serial killer, the way certain aspects of her story-line were treated made absolutely no sense.

What saved this story for me was the surprise twist at the end. I had not expected the book to go the way that it did which was a pleasant surprise. All things considered, I am sure this novel will appeal to people who enjoy detailed thriller novels with heavy police undertones (aka you spend a lot of time at the station and in the field trudging along with the characters). And considering how this one ended, I will probably give at least the next book a chance before making a final decision whether or not I'm going to stick with this series.

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.

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Oh, this is so good, set aside a weekend, make yourself comfortable, and shut out the rest of the world, you won't be disappointed.

DC Maggie Jamieson has just finished a secondment to the Domestic Abuse team after finding out a serial killer she put behind bars might not be guilty after all. Horrified she and her partner begin another trawl through all the evidence in the Bill Raven case while investigating the killing which has shattered everything she thought had been achieved.

As the body count looks set to rise the tension becomes almost impossible and, with pressure from all sides being concentrated on her, Maggie knows making further errors is not an option. As Raven is keen to point out, if the victim was killed while he was incarcerated then there is another killer to find and their initial investigation was flawed. With everything on the line Maggie and partner Nathan have to outwit their original culprit and regain the credibility for themselves and their department.

It's hard to believe this is only Noelle Holten's second book; the main protagonists are enjoyable, the hints about things to come enticing and Maggie's nemesis seriously creepy. Ms Holten also is an expert in the art of the cliffhanger, a double edged sword as the ending had me both speechless that what happened couldn't be explained and excited to know another book was already in the pipeline. I just hope the wait isn't too long as I need to know what's next!

I was able to read an advanced copy of this book thanks to NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an unbiased review and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys high class crime writing and sympathetically written characters as this is definitely both these things. I would suggest reading book one first to get the full impact of what is already a series of the highest quality.

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Fast-paced, engaging, and thrillingly eerie.
Maggie Jamieson is a strong female protagonist who will stop at nothing to stop the body parts from piling up, even if it means going vigilante style.
The pace was so smooth and addicting. I felt compelled to keep reading as each crisp chapter flowed into the next.

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Dead wrong by Noelle Holten.
Omg. Absolutely fantastic read. 2nd book in this series and wow. Had me guessing throughout. Raven was creepy and I had my doubts about him. I was shocked and surprised through out. Wright and Jameison were Brilliant. Loved the whole team. Looking forward to reading more from this author. 5*. Would give more if I could. Highly recommended.

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Book 2 in the DC Maggie Jamieson series.

This book proves that book 1 wasn't a fluke. Noelle Holten is a fantastic author.

Maggie is a fantastic character who I'm looking forward to reading so much more about.

The plot was fast paced, engrossing and kept you hooked right to the end.

And that last line......WOW.

Great read that I thoroughly enjoyed.

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Another cracking read from Noelle Holten. I love the feisty detective Maggie Jamieson and this was another gritty, twisted tale which made me go eeeewww a few times, but I couldn't stop reading. She drags you into the story by the scruff of the neck and makes you stay there, turning the pages faster and faster to find out how it's all going to end. Oh and that last line!!! I did actually gasp when I read that, but what a perfect start for the next story! Compelling storytelling and tension by the bucketload.

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Wow what a great read ! Couldn't put this book down. I think this author has a future in the book world. Can't wait for next one

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What a dark and twisted mind Noelle Holten must have, in order to have come up with a villain such as Bill Raven. He messes with people's minds and the way he had the public and police stumped was sheer evil genius.

After all it's not often you get someone in prison convicted of murder, only for the bodies to show up two years later, and looking freshly killed. Which is enough to stump most!

I would love to know how an author even remotely thinks up such dastardly plot lines, let alone how they weave them together such as in this case, that keep you gripped from page to page, eager to know more about everything.

I had absolutely no clue how it would all come together, let alone how on earth DC Maggie Jamieson and her team were ever going to be able to solve it.

I found Maggie's growing friendship with Kate Moloney, a profiler who has terrific insights into any case she is working on, to be a lovely touch. I loved getting to know Kate and found her fascinating.

This is the second book in the Maggie Jamieson series, and can easily be read as a standalone. However having read the first book, I enjoyed getting to know some of the recurring characters a little bit deeper, something I'm sure that will continue as the series progresses.

As someone who can find the specific live action killings of victims in these sorts of books at times incredibly gruesome, I was very happy to be spared that... and just had the descriptions of dismembered body parts appearing.. ok that still made me fill slightly ill, but in a different way.

A truly remarkable police procedural that had me scratching my head in disbelief, eager to read each and every short chapter as fast as I could and that I actually couldn't put down for the last third! I can't believe this is only the author's second book. She clearly is a criminal mastermind... (well fictional crimes only I hope!).

Thank you to One More Chapter and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

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The ending was the best part of this book for me. The rest of the book was tedious with DC Maggie and criminal Raven playing cat and mouse. Maggie knew she had her killer and the whole book just solidified this. Not sure what Maggie ‘s brother contributed and her relationship with Kate was very adolescent for two intelligent women. I became confused at times with body parts, pig’s blood , and locations. I just was expecting more.

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I loved my first encounter with DC Maggie Jamieson in Dead Inside, the first book in the series, so was great to be back again in this stand alone thriller which is the next in the series.

The case that Maggie is working on is certainly quite a complex one. It has her questioning herself as to whether she has put the wrong man behind bars. Bill Raven is a horrible character who reminded me of Hannibal Lector. He enjoys playing with Maggie’s mind and I have to say she is much more restrained than me as I wanted to grab hold of him a number of times and throttle some sense into him.

It really becomes a race against time for Maggie to find the killer. The pace and tension mounting throughout. There is also another thread that we see come into the story that definitely piqued my interest. This just added to an already gripping read that had me pounding away at my Kindle to turn the pages quickly so I could see how it was all going to end.

Dead Wrong is a superb second novel that I loved even more than the first. Which having loved the first also, is a big achievement in my mind. Detective series’ are definitely a firm favourite for me and this author adds her own take to it by letting the reader see a different side, making it fresh and stand out from the crowd. I just have to mention that ending! O…M…G did it send me hurtling off my seat. Needless to say, I need book three, like now. Right now!

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