Thank you to Hera Books and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

20/20 by Carl Goodman is a dark police procedural thriller starring D. I. Eva Harris, who has been sent to investigate a serial killer who takes away his victim's eyes. If you think that is too much detail, you should stay away from this book, which really goes into graphic detail regarding how the killer murders his victims. If you are the type of reader who enjoys that, keep reading!

Here is an excerpt from an opening chapter that tells us about Eva:

"Eva had expected her first placement as a DI to be in the city, tackling digital forensics and unravelling complex fraud cases. That was what she had trained for, where she excelled. A bit too young to be a DI. Well at twenty-seven maybe that was true, in anything other than cyber anyway, but cybercrime was precisely where DI Eva Harris would have shone... A computer science graduate with a passion for complexity and with a complex background of her own, Eva was more than ready for technical investigations..."

Overall, 20/20 is a dark detective story that will appeal to readers of the Unsub series, which is my favorite thriller series, or The Jigsaw Man, which came out earlier this year. It is unputdownable. I had to keep reading to find out what happens next. I ended up finishing the book in a few hours. One highlight of this book is Eva, the protagonist and detective. She is such a great character and very easy to root for. I will definitely be reading any future books if the author decides to turn this into a series. If you're intrigued by the description or if you're a fan of police procedural thrillers, I highly recommend that you check out 20/20 when it comes out in June!

This novel is suspenseful and gripping and a terrific page turner! I got so invested in the story that I finished the book in a day. I had my suspicions on the ending but was wrong. Fantastic read, fully recommend it if you enjoy a fast paced thriller with twists and turns galore! I’ll definitely be on the lookout for more titles by this author ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I would like to thank Netgalley and Hera Books for an advance copy of 20/20, the first novel to feature DI Eva Harris of the Surrey Police.

On the first day of her new position Eva doesn’t even get to the office before she’s summoned to a murder scene. Irina Stepanov has been drained of blood and her eyes cut out, but with little in the way of forensics Eva knows it will be a difficult investigation, especially when it becomes apparent that Irina is only the first victim.

I thoroughly enjoyed 20/20, which is a multi-stranded police procedural with several twists and turns. It is told mostly from Eva’s point of view which makes it easy to get immersed in and even easier to stay that way, as she is a woman with a past and many agendas.

At 27 Eva is young to be a detective inspector, but she’s a cyber crime expert and only in Kingston’s CID as part of the necessary rotation in departments before returning to cyber crime, at least that’s the cover story. In reality she’s there to discover the identity of the bad cop working for a criminal organisation and hunting a serial killer is not part of the plan. Then there’s the three cold case murders that may be linked to the new ones and why is she trying to hack a hard drive in her own time? All these questions are answered at the end of the novel, but they’re intriguing and attention holding throughout the novel. There is enough going on to keep the reader continually occupied.

The plotting and pacing in the novel are good. There are developments and reveals throughout, just enough to whet the appetite and urge the reader to keep going. I found it to be a compulsive read and really liked the twists at the end, which are clever. I think the motives are different enough to give the novel an edge, but not so different to be unbelievable. On the downside, I think the perpetrators are too easy to guess, although motive is more elusive and I take issue with the way the word psychopath is bandied about, it is not a synonym for psychotic or delusional, and it became quite annoying. There are also a few techie passages that I ignored as I have no understanding of the detail.

I’m undecided about DI Eva Harris and if the author had used the term psychopath to describe her I might have been more convinced. That, however, would not stop me from reading more about her, just to help me decide. More seriously I liked the plotting and all the strands in the novel as it gave me something to think about and ponder and it’s quite exciting and tense in parts.

20/20 is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

On the first day of her new job, D.I. Eva Harris is called to the scene of a brutal murder at the heart of Surrey society. A shocking crime by a meticulous killer – who escaped with the victim’s eyes.

With the body drained of blood and no forensic evidence left at the scene, Harris’ efforts to find the killer becomes desperate. But as her investigation is complicated by corruption at the heart of the police, she doesn’t know who to trust on her own team.

As the pressure mounts, Eva realises the murder is even more horrific than it seems, and her own dreadful history threatens to be drawn out with it…

Carl Goodman puts the thrill in thriller, in this novel. He writes flawless characters in such horrific scenes. Definitely one of the best reads of the year.

Talk about a bad first day at work! DI Eva Harris is called to a murder scene where the killer has taken the vistms eyes with him for a trophy. Not only that, the body has been drained of every drop of blood. With few clues and less evidence, Eva is left trying to prove herself to a new team she’s not sure she can trust. This is a gruesome thriller with a delightfully conflicted and compromised heroine

This is a mindbending thriller. It’s episodic in structure and intriguing at all points. I enjoyed it immensely and highly recommend it.

20/20 is a real thriller! I couldn't read this fast enough! Very well written! Characters were amazing!
I devoured this in one sitting!
Thanks NG Pub and Author