This is book 3 in a great series.

Jo Masters is a strong character and now she's juggling work with motherhood there's another dimension to her.

The plot was fast moving and intriguing and I was hooked until the end. There was also some sad twists that I didn't see coming.

The storyline was quite dark at times and gives an insight into human behaviour that isn't all sweetness and light.

A great book that I won't hesitate to recommend.

I’d like to thank Avon Books UK and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Watch Over You’, the third in the DS Josie Masters series written by M J Ford, in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Back from maternity leave, DS Josie Masters is called out to an incident at 21 Canterbury Road where she finds her old friend, former DI Harry Ferman, dead with a head injury. It appears that Harry has had a young blonde woman staying at his house. More killings are soon happening in the area and the same woman appears to be involved. Can Josie cope with the struggle to balance work and caring for baby Theo?

‘Watch Over You’ is another compelling police thriller featuring DS Josie Masters which has been a pleasure to read. It has everything I want in a crime thriller, an action-packed plot, drama, suspense, interesting characters, and twists and turns. The conclusion is so gripping I’ve not been able to stop reading and have finished the book in twenty-four hours. I love the character of Josie who doesn’t always do what she’s supposed to but manages to catch the criminals anyway. This is an exciting thriller that I’ve thorough enjoyed and can definitely recommend.

This is the third book in the DI Josie Masters series. it starts off just a bit slow but soon evolved into a really good story. I liked the character development and Josie back at work after maternity leave. There were plenty twists and although it's a slow burner, it's a very good solid read. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

This book is spectacular. The characters are realistic and complex.The plot is fraught with danger and unsettling questions. The ending will definitely leave an impression on you. It is very unexpected. I defi itely recommend this book.

I really enjoyed the first one about Josie Masters and this one did not disappoint. Josie Masters is still a detective for Oxford Police and the story becomes intertwined with murders and by having a friend murdered which makes her even more determined to mind the killer(s). The old ex policeman lived on his own, or did he. It transpires that he has been helping a young girl get clean” but the people who she has been around in the past have other ideas and she is not safe.
There are more killings in the area and the Police find it difficult to piece the dramas together. A couple were killed in a large property and Josie tracks down the son, Gregory. It transpires that after a search of the property drugs were found which leads her to believe it is all drug related. Eventually Gregory advising the police that his sister is missing. He dislikes her as she changed his childhood when she was adopted. The story goes along that road and Josie starts to put two and two together and comes to the conclusion that Gregory is not as squeaky clean as he would like everyone to believe.The story twists and turns in a fab way and finishes not as I expected – another great book. Thank you

Firstly, thank you to Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book prior to publication.

This is the third book to feature Jo Masters, but the first one I have read. It works as a stand alone story, but not knowing the background of the main characters probably detracted from my enjoyment of the book, as there are a lot of references to what has gone before.

It is a good enough story, which begins with the death of an elderly friend of Jo Masters, and is her first case on returning to work after having her son, Theo. His death is the first of a series of killings, and it is quite chilling in places. It did not hold my interest at times – I got a bit lost with the time lines, and what was happening. It may have been because it took me a few days to read – it wasn’t a “couldn’t put it down” thriller for me, so I was picking it up, only reading it for an hour or so, then putting it down again.

I’m sure a lot of people will enjoy this book, especially if they have read the previous two.

When I picked up this novel, I was unaware that it was actually the third novel in a series. And while there is some mention of people and events that I assume took place in books one and two, it wasn't done in a way that made it confusing or hard to follow.

Despite that, I still found it to be a bit of a struggle to get invested in this one. To begin with, the way the time jumped from present-day to events happening in the past (even if it was only two weeks ago) at times made it hard to follow along. There also seemed to be an over-abundance of things going on at once that took away from the plot instead of adding to it. One example involves the young female that was living with Harry - we are told time and again that she is a "certain kind of person" or she "acts a certain type of way", and yet we see no concrete evidence of this being true. If anything, I feel the opposite was proven true by a side-thread that (to me) had absolutely no bearing on the story itself but seemed like it was added to increase the shock value.

I also had a very hard time connecting with Jo and her wishy-washy personality. She goes back to work, then decides everyone was right and she went back too soon. She keeps her son's father away from them due to his drinking, then invites him to come around. She keeps telling herself its wrong to rely on her family for help, but then turns around and does just that. I get it. It's hard being a single working mother, perhaps even more so in Jo's case as she doesn't have a typical 9-5 job. But can we at least pick the way we're going to act and stick to it?

Overall, I'm sure this story will appeal to others (especially those who have already read the other novels in this series). I may give this author another chance if they come across my radar again.

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.

Firstly, I have to say that I have not read the previous two books involving DI Jo Masters. There are some references to those titles, but not enough to put me off this third book in the series.

If we could find Jo a young, stay at home husband then that would be perfect? Her 6 month old son gives the book a slightly different aspect. The trouble is I found Jo to be selfish in this regard, but very determined at work.

After a laboured start to the book she is off chasing a killer (or killers)involving 2 separate murders. Good descriptions of basic police procedural stuff. I also liked characterisations of the other members of her team. Maybe a little more of their backgrounds next time?

There are two basic stories which end up linked, but I remain not too keen on this "then" and "now" narrative.

Thanks to Net Galley and Avon Books for the chance to read and review.

A solid 4star read. Great premise. Well written. Fantastic characters. Page turner. Plenty of suspense to keep me enthralled. Would definitely read the next one. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it.

My thanks to Netgalley for my copy of Watch Over You. This is the first in the Jo Masters series that I have read and it works just as well as a standalone novel although there are quite frequent references to what has gone before.

This is a really gritty police murder drama that is really rather chilling a lot of the time but it definitely grabs the reader's interest.

I really didn't like Jo Masters as a person although she makes a rather good police officer. Right through the book I found her very annoying and rather selfish and so I was surprisingly relieved when she redeemed herself right at the very end.

Watch over you
M J Ford

I enjoyed this book but I felt a bit lost in some places , I haven’t read The previous two so that was probably the reason why as I didn’t know the characters back story.
I liked the main character and her personality. The story was good although felt a little slow in some places.
Overall a 3 star. Would like to read the previous story’s in this series.

Our subtheme today is not knowing those you thought you knew, and this book is a perfect example! This amazing debut novel also starts off the DS Josie Masters series! Josei thinks she knew her mentor, but she had no idea he had someone styaing with him, or why. As her case starts to give her more clues than solutions, the body count also starts and Jose and her team are frantically trying to piece them together, to find out how they are all linked. And when they do, they are shocked at the outcome. An excellent Bfritish police procedural, I'll be looking for more in this series advantly!

DS Josie Masters returns to work after maternity leave and on her first day her friend and ex policeman is found murdered. It turns out he had a lodger - a young girl but where is she? Then more killings occur and Josie soon realises they are all linked. But where is the young girl and who is she with?
Can Josie combine motherhood and work ? and will she survive to be able to do both?

Watch over you M J Ford is the third book in the DS Josie Masters series. Was looking forward to reading this as I have read the previous two and enjoyed them.
After returning to work 6 months after the birth of her son Theo. Josie is thrown back into her first case. She recognises the address as her ex colleague and good friend Harry. She devasted when she hears that he is dead after a burglary gone wrong. As the investigation develops, she finds out that there has been a young woman staying with him. Quite unusual as he usually lives on his own.
As Josie knows the victim, she is more determined to find out the killer. So as the investigation goes on more bodies turn up. Josie is quite overwhelmed with it all, as she may think, and her other colleagues think that she may have returned to work early. Not only coping with the case but also being a mother to her child and she is now a single mother.
Thank you, Avon, and NetGalley for a copy of Watch Over you. I have followed this series from the start. But unfortunately, this was not my favourite in the trilogy. I did like the premise of the story and the realistic view of being in the Police and working as a single mother. I just thought that there was too much going on and took me until the last third of the book too really get into it. I though the last third of the book was the best bit. 3 stars from me.

An entertaining read; the third book in this series gives us a main character that is evolving from 'just a young detective' to an interesting personality. The way she cares for her old friend, the way she is very determined to solve this crime and the crimes that are connected with it, really speaks to me. I only hope that in the next book, we will see more of Josie and less of her son. It gets a little tiresome to read about her juggling her work and personal life. All people who choose to have a job ánd children have the same struggles. There a lot of interesting detectives, male and female, who have a partner and children. If we would have to read about the struggles of every man or woman who works for the police, we wouldn't read about nothing else.
I'm therefore looking forward to the next book in this series, because as I said, Josie is interesting and the plot of this book was good.

Thanks to Netgalley for this digital review copy.

A very good book in the police/murder/psycho killer genre. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book and whilst these types of books almost inevitably have what I class as a 'hollywood style ending' i.e. guns, shootout and main police character saves the day I have to say that I found the final 2 chapters exceedingly good and emotional.
I've lived in the Bristol area for 4 and a half years now and my Cotswold knowledge is not brilliant but I think the author may have got the towns mixed up half way through, Bourton On The Water has the water in the centre not Stow On The Wold.
Definitely worth reading and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did

4.5 stars.
This is the third in the series and, although the main story is self-contained, Josie is a bit complex so, to get the best from her, I would recommend you do start from book one.
So, Josie is back after maternity leave. She is called to an incident and is horrified to find the deceased is known to her. It's that of Harry, her friend and former colleague. On further investigation, there is evidence that, unlike Josie thought, Harry had not been living alone. But just as she starts to investigate things, there are reports of more deaths. Initially unrelated. But as the body count starts to really rack up, Josie has to pull out all the stops to find who is behind the killings and put and end to it all.
Apart from getting a bit fed up with Josie's baby which distracted me more than it did her, despite all the guilt she kept banging on about, this book was extremely well and convolutedly plotted. It appears to be a spate of random killings but, as things progress, the pattern starts to emerge and it all descends into an action packed showdown at the end. Obviously there's quite a bit in between - mostly from Josie but we also hear from James along the way. Exactly who he is and what he wants is not clear initially but, as we hear more and more from him, a picture starts to appear, and it's not a pretty one.
It's a bit of a slow burner - but then there's quite a bit of setting up which is acceptable if, and only if, the rest of the book stands well on the foundations that have been laid. This is the case herein and it never got too slow or laborious (Josie's baby woes aside) for me to contemplate putting it aside. And when I got to the end, when the shocking truth of it all was revealed, I left the book wholly satisfied.
All in all, a worthy addition to a series that looks like it's shaping up nicely. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Great book for a new author. Was a really good book had me on the edge. Hope to read many more my this author. Characters were totally believeable.

First time reader of the Jo Masters series and starting on book 3 didn't leave me feeling like I had missed out. Although i have now downloaded the first two because i now want to be part of the journey from the begining.

This book follows DCI Masters when she returns to work 6 months after her maternity leave, this aspect of the story is covered really well looking into the guilt that she faces throughout the book. When Jo returns to work she straight in at the deep end with a trail of murders that appear to have a link but the whole team are struggling to connect. One of the murders is one of Jo's very dear friends, she finds herself more determined than ever to find the killer but also determine the motive behind the killings.

Jo's character is the leading protagonist and her story is told well. The narrative is given in 3rd person but I do not feel this loses any momentum within the story. We also hear James' story which is told in 1st person and starts 7 months before Jo's and yet somehow they are linked. We as the readers do not fund it the link for quite a bit of the story.
The book is well written in terms of description, I often found myself visualising scenes that were described in such good detail but not to much detail. Even the gruesome scenes are easy to visualise. I found this extremly satisfying when reading, sometimes for authors it can be so easy to get into over describi

I really enjoyed this book. Such an easy read had me up all night reading so I could get to the ending in a good way. I found that I had managed to guess the twist quite early on however this doesn't spoil how it all goes down nearer the end of the story which I loved

The book really touches on some interesting issues, womanhood social expectations, alcoholism, drug addiction and so much more the diversity throughout the book is what kept me so intrigued throughout.
.
As a lover of crime fiction I can 100 percent recommend this book if you live Katarina Diamond, Micheal Connolly or Chris Mooney this book is right up your street. This book doesn't shy aware from some rather gruesome scenes, scenes that lead to more intrigue than anything else. If you like crime, thrillers or crime thrillers pick up a copy of this book.
My one and only criticism is as this is a ARC there are a lot of typos hopefully by the time it makes release date those will all be sorted.
This book earns itself an very easy 4stars.


Thank you netgalley and Avon Books UK for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. Really enjoyed this book.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the arc, which I have enjoyed reading.
I have read MJ Ford’s two other books and was therefore looking forward to reading this one, Watch Over You was an excellent read. I enjoyed the storyline, the pace and the main characters.
I thought Jo, the main character played an excellent working mother returning back from maternity leave, after her son Theo’s birth. The guilt, the love and the sheer exasperation at times, was a superb portrayal of a woman who wanted it all and felt herself letting herself, her son and all her working colleagues down. She was also an excellent police officer, doing her best at all times.
Highly recommended.