With a friend like this who needs enemies?
Great read from Charlie Gallagher and reading wondering how it was all going to end.
Great plot that goes full circle and has you guessing.

This is my first read of Charlie Gallagher and will not be my last. A hugely entertaining thriller which kept me turning page after page; unable to stop.

D I Joel Norris is coming back from an illness and is paired with D S Lucy Rose who seems to have little faith in her superior officer.

Danny and Sharon Evans are desperate for answers as to why their teenage daughter tried to take her own life, leaving her in hospital fighting to survive. Danny, somewhat of a local hero is approached in a bar by a stranger who tells him he knows the reason and the people responsible. For his daughter’s attempted suicide. A chain of events starts and Danny finds himself in right the middle of it.

The body count rises, including an undercover police officer, and initially there appears to be no connection.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Avon Books and Charlie Gallagher for my ARC of The Friend in return for my honest review.

Thrilling, face paced and cleverly plotted. Highly recommended.

Just finished this book last last night, found it hard to put down! It is a long read but a very good one. A few unexpected twists in this but really enjoyed the plot turns. I do hope there will be a series as im interested in seeing how the working relationship between DCI Joel & DS Rose develops. Very well written book and I enjoyed it very much.

This was better than I thought it was going to be and I enjoyed it was a thriller/suspense with some family issues. Well written. Creepy AF. Loved the multiple twists and turns throughout. PLUS, IT WAS NOT PREDICTABLE!! Predictable books are a huge turn off for me. I highly suggest this and would read another book by Charlie Gallagher in the future.

All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thanks to Netgalley, Charlie Gallagher and Avon Books UK for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 4/1/21

Great new book From Charlie The Friend, I have read his previous books and miss Maddie and George however have a new character in Joel. The story is a slow burn with a good story development as people are hurting are manipulated. I literally couldn’t put the book down.

Another great book by Charlie Gallagher. I loved her previous series so was looking forward to reading this. I wasn’t disappointed, gripped from the beginning with twists and turns to keep the reader engaged. It makes you think how some people can be manipulated by some disturbed individuals. An excellent read and I would recommend this book and author.

ANOTHER FAST-PACED GRIPPING CRIME THRILLER
If you’re a Charlie Gallagher fan, you’ve met George Elms, and you’ll also be familiar with the Harry Blaker/Maddie Ives partnership. In the first in a new series The Friend introduces the unlikely pairing of D I Joel Norris and D S Lucy Rose.
An ex-sergeant in the Tactical Support Group, Joel has been thrown into an investigative D I role in a new setup in Major Crime by his superintendent. His first job is to investigate a headless corpse that has been washed up on the beach.
Who is the Friend who approaches strangers seemingly to do a good deed, but in fact just manipulating them to do his own dirty work? Why does he want to completely wipe out an entire family?
As the body count rises, including that of an undercover police officer, it looks as if Joel has been set up to fail. See how the initial animosity from his team (of one!!), Lucy Rose begins to thaw as the investigation races to a climax.
As ever the author skillfully brings the different threads of the plot together in a tense finale, whilst gradually introducing us to two new main characters, of whom I’m sure we are going to learn a lot more as the series progresses.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. I think I should have been reading this in order and would have given this a higher rating. I actually enjoyed this like police procedural books and I am going to go back and order the previous books.

Another masterpiece by Charlie Gallagher!! Hooked right from the start, could not put this down!!!
Highly recommend!!!

Danny’s daughter is lying in a coma after attempting suicide and he has no idea who is to blame for getting her to that point. A mysterious man approaches him one night and offers him all the answers to his questions but is the price he will have to pay too high?

I received this book as an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. If I had of purchased this book I probably wouldn’t have made it through the first few chapters but I gave it my best shot so that I could give a proper review. It did pick up about a quarter of the way in but I really struggled up until then, it is really slow to start with. All in all the the last three quarters were ok, my reading definitely picked up pace and the ending was alright, a few twists and turns but I probably won’t be reading any more books by this author, a bit too slow and not enough character engagement for me.

Very well developed characters and an extremely engaging story. Well thought out and very suspenseful story line that keeps the reader guessing until the final twist! This is the book to read this year! Highly recommended!

Clever! Rather than get their own hands dirty the murderer expertly and deviously manipulates others to do the deeds under the misconception that they themselves have been terribly wronged by that person. Blackmailed and forced into a corner they have no choice and you really get a feel of their helplessness and anguish. Dark themes under the central theme of child abuse and grooming and the feelings this instilled in the families of victims. The plot unfolds slowly and tantalisingly and has plenty of twists and turns to keep you on your toes leading to an exhilarating conclusion.

A deep, dark, twisted thriller. It’s the type of book that makes one ask the question,”who comes up with this stuff?!” The first quarter of the book was a bit slow, but that was because it was laying the complicate ground work of what was to come. If you enjoy a great thriller this one is for you. Thanks to NetGalley for the early ARC.

Well written mystery thriller that took me way out of any comfort zone. Gruesome, gory, deceitful, manipulative and extremely violent. I enjoyed the investigation by DS Rose and DI Morris later in the book, as events began to make more sense. I did not like the shroud of evil presented here, nor any of the characters. All were unlikeable. Spoilers for child pornography, spousal abuse, suicide, mental health, addiction, and much more. There was nothing positive or uplifting about this story.
Thank you to Mr. Gallagher, Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Charlie Gallagher's new book, The Friend, is a stand-alone story and I'm pretty sure it will evolve into a series. His previous books, The Langthorne Series and Maddie Ives series were outstanding reading and it helped that I read them in order. Doing this makes you understand how the main character evolved. DI Joel Norris is his new character: funny, flawed, and on point!

The story begins with Callie, a young teenage girl who finds herself trapped in a situation that she's afraid to share with family. Without going into detail, let me share this quote from her: "Evil isn't shrouded in black, beckoning from the darkness under the bed. It doesn't make itself known. Evil is slow, quiet and patient. It is the shadow consuming a smoker's lung. It is the person who pretends to be your friend so they can silence you forever." This is a pretty powerful emotion and one that, I am sure, will draw you into reading this book. And, as you get further in to the story, you'll meet Danny (Callie's father) and you're going to feel every single emotion and desperation, every fear, helplessness to the point that he no longer feels human!

Honestly, once I was done reading, I felt as if I was in mourning. The storyline revolved around deception, manipulation, control, and rage. This was a totally new plotline for me. I could not put this book down! Charlie, thank you again for scaring the wits out of me!

And thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this AC! You rock!

This is a slick, pacy detective story with a complex, twisting plot that keeps you guessing for a satisfying amount of time. It's really clever because you are witness to the murderer and their methods but the why and who is elusive, so there is still a sufficient amount of tension to make this a thrilling read. The unpacking of the murderer's activities also gives you the race against time element which means that if, like me you are impatient, you zip through this in no time. It was a little graphic at times (violence, not sex), which made me think a bit of the granite noir genre, very much along the lines of Stuart MacBride's novels, but as I love those, this was a great comparison for me. I will definitely be looking into Gallagher's previous works.

I have never read a plot quite like this before. Its one amazing non stop action thriller, set against a backdrop of ordinary family life.
Not the usual police procedural. We know the crimes and we learn who committed them. However someone is out to get their own revenge rather than leaving it to the police and the judicial system. The mysterious investigator and does he speak the truth or is it all lies? Is he being a helpful friend?
Danny a minor football celebrity, is set up by a stranger, a private investigator, to get revenge for the people responsible for putting his fifteen year old daughter into a coma, from which she might not recover.
Original, intricately plotted with many surprises, twists and turns Highly recommended. I thoroughly enoyed it.

This is a new set of characters for Charlie and having read all his other books, I have to say it didn’t grip me like the previous books.

It’s a dark tale, and the beginning starts off with Danny meeting a stranger who seems to know the answers to his problems. He claims he’s “a friend” and knows the answers. Well with friends like that who needs enemies!

More murders occur and it’s up to him and DS Rose to find out who’s behind it.

Although I’m not a police officer, and Charlie is, I found it a bit strange that for such heinous crimes, there were only two officers doing all the work! Usually there is a plethora of officers, but there was just DS Rose and DI Joel Norris solving the crimes.

The characters themselves were likeable and I’m sure with a bigger team and more insight into them it will make a good new series.

My thanks to Charlie, the publishers and Netgalley for the ARC.

This is the first book I have read by this author. It won’t be the last.

When a headless body washes up on a Kent beach, Newly promoted DI Joel Norris is thrown in the deep end and asked to investigate his first murder case. As other bodies start to pile up and it seems that the murders could be linked to each other, DI Norris will have his work cut out for him as he tries to discover who is responsible.

A great thriller with plenty of twists which kept me guessing until the end.

Really enjoyable read kept me gripped throughout and guessing looking forward to more in the series! Highly recommended