I struggled to finish this if I'm honest and I usually love this series. It just felt a bit stale and forced. I will try the next book

What’s not to, like and enjoy about a new Kim Stone novel. Reading her exploits never get old. This time Kim and her team must Investigate a murder that leads to another body and a possible cult. A cult that seems to not want its followers to leave because those that do end up missing or dead. Can Kim solve the mystery surrounding the cult or will the body count grow. There is a twisted ending that i did not see coming at all but makes perfect sense and wraps the book up wonderfully. Tense, pacy , humorous in places the book is yet another great read from the author.

Once again, Angela Marson has delivered an outstanding story in Killing Mind, the 12th Detective Kim Stone book.

I do not know how she manages it, but each book tops the last one. I love how the author runs two different storylines side by side, whilst at the same time delving a little more into each of the team’s personal life. These characters have become my friends, so much so that I keep checking the post for my wedding invitation!

As I always say - why oh why has someone out there not optioned Kim Stone for TV?

Another great read in the DI Kim Stone series.

Marson's research skills take center stage once again, as Stone and her team find themselves investigating a local cult after some former members turn up dead.
I’ve read books dealing with cults before, but none have been as thoroughly detailed and educating as this one.
The crew is in peak performance, and I was happy to see 'Tink' back again. She’s a great addition to the team!

As much as I enjoyed this, I did have to hold back a star as this was missing the intensity I’ve come to expect with Marson's work.

ARC provided by NetGalley

Wow 🤩 Another cracking read in what is one of my favourite series. A great insight into cults and the terrible harm they can cause. This series just gets better with each book and I love the way that the author keeps the main characters personalities grow . Pure Brilliance yet again

I know what I’ll get with any of the Kim Stone series, a gripping storyline, loads of twists, plenty of murders and an unexpected murderer!

Need I say more?
Probably not but I will!

The whole of this series has been one of my favourite crime series I’ve read. Kim Stone is a kick-arse cop that puts herself in danger ahead of her team! The characters are all well developed and with each book we get to delve deeper into their lives and find out more about how they tick.

With every book we are left bereft as we know it’s going to be a few months before we get our next fix!

So my next question is: when is book 13 out?

This is the twelfth book in the series featuring Detective Kim Stone. I’m a big fan of this series and this book certainly didn’t disappoint as it delves into the world of communes and cults. Kim and her team are called out to the home of a young woman, Samantha, who has been found with her throat cut and a knife in her hands. Everything points to a suicide but when Kim speaks to Sam’s parents she soon begins to have her doubts. A young man’s body turns up in a local lake with his throat cut And Kim realises that their deaths are linked. She traces back to them both having spent time at a local retreat and commune, Unity Farm. Kim becomes very suspicious and decides to send one of her team in undercover hoping to discover who the killer is. We meet up again with members of Kim’s team with DS Bryant struggling to come to terms with one of his old cases. This book has a very compelling storyline in dealing with how very vulnerable people can be manipulated. A highly recommended read and I can’t wait for the next book in the series.
Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

This is already the 12th book in the Kim Stone series, and everytime I think to myself, this time it won't be as good. And every time I am wrong. This was an absolutely fantastic read, and I can't imagine Angela topping this one... but I know she will! Highly recommended!!
TB

Thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy. I have been consistently hooked on this series! The characters continue to be intriguing and plot lines never get old. I don’t think I’ve felt another long series stay this strong through so many books. I will continue to read this author, and would certainly recommend.

Like every other Kim Stone story i read, i loved reading Killing Mind and it kept me on edge most of the time. This time, Angela Marsons takes us deep into the world of cults and how they changes some lives forever.
One young woman had her throat cut and made look like a suicide, another body turns out in a lake with a cut throat and then a third one drowned in the same lake. Is there even any connection between the different deaths?
As Kim and her team start searching for links and clues, they stumble upon a community that preys on vulnerable persons.
I enjoyed reading this book, although it was kind of disturbing to see how easily a mind and emotions can be manipulated.

I can’t believe this is the 12th Detective Kim Stone thriller book in the series as it is every bit as exciting and enjoyable as the first one.
In Killing Mind Kim and her team are investigating the murder of a young girl found alone in her flat with her throat slit. At first it looks like a suicide but on further investigation Kim decides it is definitely a murder.
Gradually as more is discovered about the victim it becomes clear it is not straightforward. Sammy’s father reveals that his daughter had been part of a cult and had all but disowned her parents. She has recently escaped from their clutches but was not fully recovered.
Kim and her team begin to investigate Unity Farm and Jake, the leader to try and find out why Sammy was killed.
The author has obviously done a lot of research about cults and how they gradually control their followers minds and lives. The scenes set in the fam when undercover detective Tiff tries to find out what is going on are quite chilling. Even Tiff is gradually taken in and has to really fight to keep her mind and free will.
The other themes in this book are relationships between parents and children and how failure of these important bonds can lead to some bad choices and unfortunate outcomes.
There is also a subplot concerning detective Bryant who goes to a parole hearing with a bereaved father whose daughter had been murdered 25 years previously- it was one of Bryant’s first cases and he has kept contact with the father over the years.
This is a compelling and interesting read which had me gripped from page one. Angela Marsons certainly knows how to write an exciting page turner and I’m now looking forward to the next book in the series.

Kim Stone is called to a crime scene where a young woman's death is initially ruled a suicide, but after completing the death call to her parents, Stone realizes something isn't right and soon establishes it was murder. Then a 2nd body is pulled out of a lake with a similar MO and the team is able to make a connection to Unity Farm, a suspected cult. After they are rebuffed while visiting this Farm and the team can't seem to get much traction in the case, the decision is made to send someone in undercover. What could possibly go wrong ?

There were some red herrings that helped to weave a very interesting, very realistic story that unfolded at a perfect pace. Kim Stone and her team filled their usual excellent roles in this engrossing mystery. Thanks to Net Galley, Angela Marsons and Bookouture for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

You know what you are getting with Angela Marsons‘s Kim Stone series: a guaranteed well-plotted, intriguing and easy-to-race-through murder mystery thriller, and her latest, Killing Mind, is no different. I enjoyed seeing Tink back in the team and I really hope she becomes a regular.

As always, Angela Marsons‘s characters are very human and fallible and there are some very dark moments in this book across the various developing strands. This is another gripping Kim Stone book and I very much look forward to the next in the series.

Thank you to the publisher for my copy of the book.

This latest outing for the complex , enigmatic and deeply private character, Kim Stone, is as thrilling as the previous eleven books. The deaths of two young people lead Stone into the murky, manipulative and destructive worlds of cults. There are many interwoven threads running throughout this brilliant book which enable us to see inside the driving force behind Kim and her team. We see Bryant still tortured by his first encounter with brutal murder and the compelling thirst for justice that drives him. We also get to see a softer side to Kim Stone as she shows her loyalty and care for her team and also the victims of the manipulative cult leader. Angela Marsons never fails to entrance and thrill the reader with her gritty storylines, authentic prose and a rare insight into what makes people tick. I'm left gasping for the next instalment!

I came late to the party regarding Angela Marsons and her Kim Stone series of police procedurals set in England's West Midlands, but I thoroughly enjoyed Child's Play (2019) and was very pleased to have the chance to read and review the latest in the series, Killing Minds.

A murder where the body is arranged to make the death look like suicide is a well-worn feature in crime novels, but Marsons takes the trope and gives it new life. When Sammy Brown is found dead in her featureless flat, her throat cut apparently by her own hand, everyone - DI Kim Stone included - is initially prepared to tick the suicide box and move on. It is only when Stone interviews Sammy's parents that she begins to sense that things are not quite what they appear to be.

Stone has a strong sense that Myles and Kate Brown are concealing something, but it is a second look at the crime scene photographs that triggers her response:

"She stopped speaking as her gaze returned back to the photo of the hand. Something struck her and it was like seeing it for the first time.

She turned the phone and looked at the photo from every angle.

'Penn, get me a red pen and ruler. Now.'"

Meanwhile, Stone's assistant, DS Bryant, has his own fixation to deal with. He was involved in the capture, trial and conviction of a notorious killer, Peter Drake, and has become involved with Richard Harrison, father of one of Drake's victims. A previously unrepentant Drake has, suspiciously, turned over a new leaf in jail and has become a model prisoner, thus transforming his application for parole from a forlorn hope into a distinct probability. Both Harrison and Bryant are powerless to prevent Drake's release. Both have a sense of foreboding about what may follow.

When another body - that of a young man - is discovered in a nearby lake, the fact that he apparently new Sammy Brown sets more alarm bells ringing. After painfully prising the truth - or a version of it - from Sammy Brown's parents, Stone's attention is turned on a nearby community, mostly made up of young people who have chosen to step away from real life. They all live in Unity Farm. Sammy Brown was a member of the group - as was the lad in the lake, Tyler Short.

When Stone and Bryant pay a visit to Unity Farm, they meet the leader of the community, Jake Black:

"A man in his mid-fifties appeared behind her. His hair was completely white, but thick and cut well. His shoulders were broad beneath an open-neck pale blue shirt. His skin was smooth with enough colour to radiate good health. His eyes were the purest blue she had ever seen. Once your gaze met those, the rest was forgotten."

When Stone makes the decision to send one of her younger officers into Unity Farm, posing as a distressed and unhappy young woman, things do not turn out according to plan and Marsons orchestrates a tense and nerve-shredding finale to the book. When the murderer is unmasked, it came as a cleverly constructed surprise. Killing Mind is published by Bookouture, and is available now.

This is book number 12 from the Detective Kim Stone series. This book starts off with Kim going to a scene and determining that the young woman died of suicide, but after talking to her parents, things don’t add up. When another young man is found dead in the same manner, it seems that these suicides are actually homicides. Kim and her team end up uncovering a local cult that was unknown to anyone who lived nearby. What they find there just leads to more questions, and more bodies…

I really enjoy this series revolving around Detective Kim and her camaraderie with her fellow team members as they all work together to solve these puzzles. Marsons writes these stories so well, where it is difficult to figure out “whodunit” before she wants you to put all the pieces together, which I appreciate. I don’t know much about how cults work, but this story was very interesting in its portrayal of the intricacies of the dynamic that plays out in commune-like communities.

Another fantastic book and I hope this series continues!



** I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review**

WOW ! This is one of my absolute favorite series featuring Detective Kim Stone ! A chilling and addictive series that is frighteningly believable and masterfully written ! Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read and review this book ! #Netgalley #Bookouture #KillingMind

My rating: 5 stars!!!! I have to sheepishly admit, I am not used to British slang, so I had to Google some words for translation! That being said, I have been following Ms Marsons since her first book, Silent Scream. Her writing is an addiction that I ... just .... do ... not .... want ... to ... give ....up on ... yet! I have come to a conclusion, in my vast reading experience, that I tend to drop authors, because as their novels progress, you see a pattern in their writing ...you can almost anticipate the next action ...shoot, some authors repeat same sentences over and over! They get stale - predictable! Well, I got into my first Angela Marsons novel and immediately loved her story line, her style of writing! Then the second novel ...and wait, didn't I just love that one too!! Around the 7-8th book I was beginning to think her story plots were becoming a bit predictable, but she blew that whole theory out of the water with one killer book that jump started the series to a whole new level for me! As for Killing Minds, bravo ...well done! I will be on pins and needles waiting for the next one to come out!!! As much as this book can be a stand alone .....I do highly recommend that you start at the beginning with Silent Scream because this author does like to weave some its and bits from past novels into her books

I would like to thank Ms. Marsons, the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this novel in return for an honest and unbiased review!

DI Kim Stone series is one of my favorites! Killing Mind is another solid read and did not disappoint. The story is extremely well written, with full of surprises and heartbreak. I highly recommend this whole series. These books work as standalone but do yourself a favor and start from the beginning because they're all fantastic reads.

Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture and Angela Marsons for a copy of "Killing Mind" in exchange of an honest review.

Killing Mind by Angela Marsons has DI Kim Stone called to the home of Samantha Brown. By all appearances, it looks like the woman took her own life. Kim and her trusty sidekick Bryant visit Myles and Kate Brown to notify them of their daughter’s death. Something feels off to Kim and she rushes back to the crime scene for a second look. Kim is now positive that Samantha was murdered, but she needs to prove it to her boss in order to begin an investigation. Kim and her team are called out when a dead man is pulled from a lake. The man did not drown, his throat was cut just like Samantha’s. They soon find a connection between the two victims and it leads the team down a sinister path. Killing Mind is the 12th A DI Kim Stone Crime Thriller. I do recommend reading the series in order. Each book builds upon the previous one in this engaging series. I thought Killing Mind was well-written and the story moved along at a fast pace. I like the diverse cast of characters that continue to develop. Penn is fast becoming a member of the team. They still miss Dawson, but, while Penn cannot replace him, he shows what he can add to the group. Kim and her team are a hardworking bunch. Bryant is a little distracted because a rapist and killer is up for parole. This case is what led Bryant to working in CID. One of the man’s victim’s is still alive and fearful that the man will come after again. The father of another victim has never been able to recover. Kim and the rest of the team busy with the two murders. The case leads them to Unity Farm which turns out to be a cult led by a manipulative leader. The author certainly did her research for this book. We see how easily it is to fall under the spell of a persuasive man. I thought it was fascinating and frightening. I enjoyed following the mystery to see if I had accurately identified the killer. Killing Mind is a compelling story full that will have you riveted until the very end.