In Past Life we see Aector McAvoy up close and personal in a case spanning his whole career on Humberside. We see Roisin as we have never seen her before as well, in a plot that takes them both to the very heart of darkness.
There is no British crime writer who does this sort of thriller better than David Mark. He deserves to be right at the top of the bestseller lists.

Past life by David Mark.
A DS McAvoy novel Book 9.
DS Aector McAvoy must face the dark, disturbing secrets of his past if he's to keep his family safe.
The clairvoyant is found with her tongue crudely carved out, a shard of blue crystal buried deep within her mangled ribcage.
A very good read with good characters. Good story. 4*.

A dark, gritty and gripping thriller that I couldn't put down. It's not a relaxing book as it kept me on the edge and there's graphic violence and a quite disturbing plot.
That said I couldn't put it down as it tells a story of secrets, past errors that are bound to the present.
The style of writing and the storytelling are excellent.
Even if it can be read as a standalone it's better to read this series in order.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This is a superb dark mystery in the Aector Mc Avoy series which is set in Hull. Aector is plunged back to his past while investigating the brutal murder of a clairvoyant. The book is written between the past and the present and can be read as a stand alone as there is plenty background information. This is an excellent series which I can highly recommend. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

EXCERPT: He picks up a crystal from the circle surrounding the stones. It's heavy and sharp: sparkling and brittle.

'Liar,' he says again, and hits her in the side of the head with such force that the jagged edges of the twinkling rock embed themselves in bone. There is a grotesque slurping sound as he pulls the gory crystal from the wound. She slumps forward. He hits her again. Harder, right at the back of the neck. Takes a fistful of her rosaries, and pulls.

The chain snaps.

Beads fall like hail.

He lets go before she dies. Pushes her onto her back. She's heavy, and there's a thud as she topples back onto the floor. One of the cats, nosing near her feet, gives a hiss before it darts away.

He crouches over her. Opens her eyes and peers in.

There's life in there, he tells himself. A consciousness. Something that can still feel.

'Charlatan,' he says, leaning down so his lips are by her ear. 'Deceiver.'

He considers the pupils in her dulling eyes. Changes his angle until he sees his own barely-there reflection in the glassy surface of the eyeball. Peers in as if searching for something. For someone.

Smiles as he finds it.

'My love,' he whispers, and puts one hand to his heart.

He pulls the blade from his pocket.

Reaches into her mouth and seizes her wet, dead tongue.

Begins to carve.

ABOUT 'PAST LIFE': The clairvoyant is found with her tongue crudely carved out, a shard of blue crystal buried deep within her mangled ribcage.
The crime scene plunges DS Aector McAvoy back twelve years, to a case from when he was starting out. An investigation that proved a turning point in his life - but one he's tried desperately to forget.
To catch the killer, he must face his past. Face the terrible thing he did. But doing so also means facing the truth about his beloved wife Roisin, and the dark secrets she's keeping have the power to destroy them both completely.

MY THOUGHTS: It is easy to tell when an author is passionate about his craft. The passion shines through the writing, enthusiasm and love rippling and tumbling through the words and the plot. David Mark is extremely passionate about his writing and I am equally passionate about reading it. But never has this passion shone through so brightly as it does in Past Life.

Aector MacAvoy is not at ease with the world or his place within it. He feels permanently displaced, dislocated, endlessly cast as an outsider. He's a lumbering, red-haired Scotsman with a strange name. He became a policeman to do some good; to help people, to try and stop bad people from getting worse. But he just seems to bumble through, ridiculed by most of his fellow officers who understand neither the man nor his strange relationship with his boss, Trish Pharaoh. While he has a passionate relationship with his wife Roisin, and that is a whole wonderful story on its own, his relationship with Trish is more symbiotic. Where once they were master and apprentice, the balance of power has shifted. He needs her protection, her approval. She feels rudderless, adrift without his comforting presence. But he is a good man, something even his father-in-law has to admit, and he is a man who never thought he would countenance a policeman in his traveller family.

I think, like Pharaoh, that I have fallen a little in love with Aector. And greatly in love with this series. Past Life is definitely one of my top ten reads of the year. Dark, gripping, gritty and twisting, it has everything I want in a crime thriller, and then manages to deliver more.

Although Past Life is #9 in the Aector McAvoy series, it is able to be read as a stand-alone. It is written over two timelines, now and in the past, which provides most, if not all, the background information on the characters and relationships needed.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐


#PastLife #NetGalley

I: @davidmarkwriter @severnhouseimprint

T: @DavidMarkWriter @severnhouse

#fivestarread #contemporaryfiction #crime #detectivefiction #murdermystery #suspense #thriller

THE AUTHOR: David spent more than 15 years as a journalist, including seven years as a crime reporter with The Yorkshire Post – walking the Hull streets that would later become the setting for the internationally bestselling Detective Sergeant Aector McAvoy novels.

His writing is heavily influenced by the court cases he covered: the defeatist and jaded police officers; the inertia of the justice system and the sheer raw grief of those touched by savagery and tragedy.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Severn House via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of Past Life by David Mark for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review is also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage

‘She wakes with a yell, jerking upright and swinging madly at the air.’

In the Sunk Island area of Hull in East Yorkshire, a middle-aged clairvoyant is found dead, her tongue carved out, a shard of crystal buried deep within her ribcage. The gruesome scene reminds DS Aector McAvoy of a case twelve years earlier, a similarly gruesome case in which Roisin (now his wife) was a witness. DS McAvoy thought the killer involved in that murder was dead, but if he is not then McAvoy’s family is in danger.

Twelve years earlier, because of a feud between two Irish traveller families, Roisin’s aunt was killed. Recently, Roisin has been unsettled and Aector McAvoy is worried about her. But he needs to work with his supervisor DS Trish Pharaoh to try to solve this case and tries to push his family concerns out of his mind.
Brutal murders, blood feuds, bleak landscapes, and complex characters each have a place to play as the story unfolds. The past threatens to overwhelm the McAvoys and their children Fin and Lilah are in danger. Some secrets are dangerous.

While I have read several Mr Mark’s recent standalone novels, this is the first book I have read in the DS Aector McAvoy series. I enjoyed this novel and I now want to read the earlier novels in the series, to explore the past.
A very dark read, with a few twists and surprises. A couple of aspects left me wondering but I really enjoyed the journey.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Severn House for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

I enjoy this series and the developing of the characters, who are all a bit different from the norm. I found this to be a bit more 'unbelievable' than previous books but enjoyed the story nonetheless.

If like me, you like to read a series from the beginning, then this book is actually a rather good place to begin. It goes back to the beginning of Aector McAvoy’s relationship with his now wife, Roisin and straddles a dual timeline between those days 12 years ago and the present day.

McAvoy is such a brilliant character; you can’t, as a reader, help but love him. Big, beefy, ginger, prone to blushing and as irretrievable in love with his Irish traveller wife Roisin as he ever was. Now they have two children, Fin and Lilah and already Lilah is exhibiting signs that she may be more of a seer than Roisin. McAvoy is a DS in Hull. Working with his boss, the irascible, chain-smoking Trish Pharoah.

I’m a huge fan of Mark’s writing. He is dark and visceral; his descriptions zing with the bloody authenticity of a crime scene and there’s a sense of repressed violence bubbling under the surface that erupts from time to time, never failing to make you wince. At the same time he writes about love and tenderness in a way that makes you long to experience it and that’s how he gets you to care quite so much for his characters.

In Past Life, McAvoy is troubled. Troubled because he knows Roisin is keeping secrets from him. He’s almost afraid to ask; wants to give her time to tell him herself, but is afraid she is not going to do so. Then Dymphna Lowell is murdered in her cottage on the Humber – a forlorn place that offers little comfort to the sightseer. She was giving a reading to a new client and something clearly displeased them about her interpretation of the future because she has been savagely attacked.

This death is reminiscent of another event in McAvoy’s past and it connects Roisin to this crime. As we discover more about how Roisin and McAvoy met , we also learn more about Roisin and her Traveller family and history – and an age old feud between two long standing tribes that has never dissipated.

Roisin’s aunt, also a fortune teller, was savagely murdered and there are prickles on the back of Roisin’s neck when she hears about this murder. Something wicked is coming and Roisin knows it’s coming for her.

The interplay between Roisin and Trish Pharoah is delightful to watch. Two women vying for the affection and loyalty of one man – in different ways, for sure, but each wanting to be the stabilising centre of his world. We learn more about Trish Pharoah’s backstory, too, in this book and it helps to better understand her.

David Mark’s books are redolent with atmosphere and the bleakness of the Humber estuary and Sink Island stand out. His murders are bloody and viscous, but his capacity to illustrate and capture love and tenderness as a contrast is second to none.

The strands of 12 years ago are woven into the strands of the present day and cannot be undone. There is an inevitability to this battle that you know is going to be violent and cruel; the only question is who will survive and at what cost?

Verdict: This is writing that grabs you by the throat and makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. It’s tense, thrilling and sometimes makes your heart thump a bit too hard as you await the outcome of a battle you know is going to end in death. If you’ve not read any of this series, I’d strongly recommend you start. By all means start with the first in the series, but this, too is a good entry point. Whatever you decide, I recommend this series very highly. Writing like this is superb and does not come along often enough.

This is the ninth book featuring Detective Superintendent Trish Pharaoh and Detective Sergeant Aector McAvoy. There has been a wait of two years since the previous one. However no. 10 is on sale early next year.
A woman has been murdered in the Sunk Island area of Hull in East Yorkshire. She was a clairvoyant. There had been a similat murder twelve years previously and McAvoy's Roisin was a witness to that one.
There had been a feud between two Irish traveller families. One of them Roisin's family. A psychopath had been set on Roisin's family by their rivals, with the intention of murdering them all! Aector and Roisin killed the murderer or did they? Aector's family - Roisin and their two children Finn and Lilah could be in danger?
Trish is now a widow. Children grown she has moved to an upmarket Apartment. She and Aector are closer than ever. Roisin's family are involved in the investigation and she seems to be keeping a secret.
Well written with plenty of suspense and violence. This has been well worth the wait. We won't have as long to wait to enjoy the next one.

I suspect fans of this series, which I'd not read before this, will greatly appreciate learning the back story of the relationship between DS Aector McAvoy and his wife Roisin. Much comes hurtling toward McAvoy and Roisin when a psychic is murdered and mutliated. Roisin, from a family of Travellers, has secrets she hasn't revealed even to Aector. Then there's Trish, Aector's boss. She's got a back story of her own that I suspect hasn't been previously told. And don't forget, this is a gritty procedural set in Hull with good twists. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I'm going to look for Mark again.

4.5 stars. I wish to extend my sincere thanks to NetGalley and Severn House/Canongate Books for this dark, grim thriller. I only discovered crime writer David Mark this year (2021) and have read and enjoyed several of his stand-alone books and only a few of his DS Aector McAvoy series, and hope to read many more. I don't think it necessary for prospective readers to be familiar with his previous books to enjoy the chills and thrills in this one.

It is a complicated plot that covers events and details from the past and then skips back and forth to the present, but its structure is not difficult to follow. The story is well-written, told in polished, elegant prose, and some disturbing, gruesome scenes. It is an atmospheric story, revealing the hearts and minds of its main characters, McAvoy, his wife Roisin, and his boss Trish Pharoah, and the emotional ties that connect them.

It covers events from the past when McAvoy first saved Roisin, who was undergoing a brutal attack when she was 12-years-old. She developed a crush on the big, shy policeman. Later, they were responsible for saving each other's lives. They are now married and have two small children and a happy home life. They are both haunted by crimes and secrets from the past. Now, something is worrying Roisin, but she will not confide in her husband.

For generations, there has been a feud between the Teague clan, the traveller clan to which Roisin belongs, and the Helden clan. The Heldens hired a deranged, vicious killer, Cromwell (called the Devil), to murder members of the Teagues, in retaliation for deaths they blamed on their rivals. The McAvoys have reason to believe him long dead. This elusive killer is also suspected of a past murder of a fortune teller in a scene of gory brutality. This killing of a fortune teller may not have been his first.

Now, in the present., another fortune teller has been tortured and murdered in an identical manner. It appears that Cromwell has resurfaced. Roisin knows he will continue his revenge on the Teagues. His goal will be to kill her family members and herself. McAvoy will do anything to save his wife and children from harm, and his boss Pharoah will bend the rules to keep them safe.

There is a surprising twist near the end that is entirely unexpected. There are several scenes of explosive action, serious injury, and death in its hair-raising, suspenseful, and intense conclusion.

4 stars for another dark, gritty mystery in the Aector McAvoy series set in Hull, Yorkshire, England.
In this book, #9 in the series, Aector and his boss Trish Pharaoh, are called to the scene of a brutal murder. Aector realizes that this could be connected to a killer that he thought was dead. There was murderous feud between the Teagues and the Heldens, which is supposed to be over. But the killer, Cromwell, brought in by the Heldens to kill Teagues may still be alive.
Aector is married to Roisin Teague. He knows that she is worried about something, but she won't tell him why. Past secrets come out gradually in the book, which alternates between present day and events in the past.
I recommend reading these books in order, although this would probably be ok as a stand alone. There are several murders, some graphic violence and some profanity. Probably not suitable for cozy fans.
Two quotes:
Weather: "A pig of a day. Afternoon bleeds blackly into evening: big dark shillings of rain tumbling down from slow-moving, pot-bellied clouds."
Roisin: "She's had the dream again. Waken, drenched in sweat, and slithered her way to the window and the chill night air. Soon she will return. She will climb in beside him and rest her head upon his chest."
Thanks to David Mark and Severn House for sending me this eARC through NetGalley.

After some recent diversions into dark stand-alone psychological thrillers, David Mark is back with a new
DS Aector McAvoy novel, Past Life (Severn House, 1 November 2021).

The book opens with the gruesome murder of a middle-aged woman who makes a living as a fortune teller and clairvoyant. She lives on an isolated part of the Humber Estuary near the English city of Hull, and one bleak evening she makes the mistake of inviting a strange man into her home for a reading.

McAvoy is summoned to the murder scene and soon sees a similarity between the slaughter and a case that he was involved in twelve years ago. It was the case that united him with his future wife, Roisin, and led to him hiding a dark secret for over a decade. Now it seems that the almost mythical killer responsible for that first murder is back from the dead and targeting McAvoy and his family.

As we follow McAvoy and his vividly captured supervisor, Detective Superintendent Trish Pharaoh, pursue the killer, a second storyline goes back twelve years and we become caught up in the earlier case and the decades long feud between Roisin’s Traveller family and another clan. It is this feud which led to the death of Roisin’s aunt, another fortune teller, and the consequences of which still trickle down through the years.

A little patience is required, especially if you are new to the series, as Mark puts the various strands in places and sets out the complex relationships, but once underway it is a gripping read. The second half of the book bristles with tension and suspense, and the book builds to a taut and bloody conclusion, and a surprise or two.

As always with Mark’s books, the characters are well crafted, well rounded and very interesting, and the locations, especially an estuary island where some of the action takes place, are evocatively described and suitably bleak. Regular readers of the series will enjoy witnessing the maturing relationship between the main characters, especially Trish and Roisin, and they will appreciate the background information on how Roisin and McAvoy first met.

Some aspects require a slight suspension of disbelief, and parts of ending are a touch convenient, but overall this is a really first class British crime novel that will readily immerse you in its dark world. A very good read.

It was great to see the return of Detective Sergeant Aector McAvoy in this new novel by David Mark. Entitled “Past Life” this one also explores Aector and Roisin’s early relationship, flashing back in alternate chapters to when they first met.
Whilst investigating the murder of a clairvoyant Aector is transported back into the past as it bears similar characteristics to a case 12 years previously when Roisin was involved in a similar incident.
Meanwhile, in the present Roisin is extremely worried about something but fears revealing anything to her husband which leads to some awful events taking place.
This is a fast moving story which as well as being a great thriller, is also an interesting exploration of Aector and Roisin’s relationship. Also the reader learns a lot more about her traveller background and particularly her father, who appears to be some sort of gangster.
Aector’s bond with his boss, Trish is also examined and the two women in his life form an alliance in order to help him and the whole family. The background of Hull was well described, particularly the island where one of the murders took place and in fact the watery location of the city seemed to be a major part of the story. Hull is after all a city which is situated both on a river and by the sea.
This was a book which I couldn’t put down. There were two stories, one set in the past and one set in the present but they were both inexplicably linked by murder. The book raced along quickly and came to a very satisfactory conclusion.
It was wonderful to catch up with Aector, Roisin and Trish, finding out about their “Past Life” and I’m now looking forward to their next outing.
Thanks to NetGalley and Severn House for my arc.

Everybody familiar with the Aector McAvoy series knows that it is not so much Aector's story, but also the story of his wife Roisin and his boss Trish Pharaoh. In each book we read about their background, how they met and how much they care for each other. Because yes, Aector is deeply in love with Roisin but he has a big soft spot in his heart for Trish. She in her turn feels the same although she is still very much Aector's boss and they don't always see eye to eye when working an investigation. And Roisin is Roisin, who has adored Aector since she was twelve but sees his weak points too.
I'm happy that David Mark decided to give us the full story about how Aector and Roisin met and what happened between that first meeting and their getting married. The horrible crimes that make up this story are no less horrible but at least something good has come from them. Trish has her own sad story, much sadder than I originally thought, and thus this ninth book in the series is somewhat of a turning point for all characters, because there is an ending to a lot of things that needed to be ended. And there are new beginnings too.
I thought this book - again - excellently written, but not so overcomplicated as some of the other books. Although we read the story from multiple view points, and in two different timelines, it is very clear and straightforward. It wouldn't be a David Mark book if there weren't some interesting surprises but the main storyline was easy to follow.

A deeply dark DS McAvoy tale told in a backwards and forwards style that requires concentration but ultimately is well worthwhile. Very violent throughout with various clairvoyants meeting horrific deaths seemingly at the hands of a hitman employed years before in a feud between two Irish traveller families one of which is Mcavoy’s wife’s family. McAvoy is a fascinating character as seen in previous episodes and his relationship with his superior Trish Pharaoh adds even more to the yarn which races to a shock violent climax, excellent story!

I won't repeat my spiel about coming late to an established series (which I seem to do all too often), so here's a brief account of where we are in Past Life. Aector McAvoy is a Detective Sergeant working in Hull, on the north bank of the Humber Estuary. He is married to Roisin, who is of Irish Traveller heritage, and they have two children, Fin and Lilah. His boss is Detective Superintendent Trish Pharoah. McAvoy is a bear of a man, born to a Scottish crofter family. He is capable of great violence, but is fundamentally a gentle soul but perhaps too conciliatory and thoughtful for his own good. Author David Mark tells us:

"He is not a man at ease with the world or his place in it. He feels permanently displace; dislocated - endlessly cast as an outsider. He's still the lumbering red-haired Scotsman who left the family croft at ten years old and has been looking for home ever since."

The story begins with a murder, graphically described and, at this point in the review, it is probably pertinent to warn squeamish readers to return to the world of painless and tidy murders in Cotswold manor houses and drawing rooms, because death in this book is ugly, ragged, slow and visceral. The victim is a middle-aged woman who makes a living out of reading Tarot cards, tea leaves, crystal balls and other trinkets of the clairvoyance trade. She lives in an isolated cottage on the bleak shore of the Humber and, one evening, with a cold wind scouring in off the river, she tells one fortune too many.

When McAvoy and Pharoah arrive at the scene they find the ravaged remains of Dymphna Lowell, and understand why one or two of the police officers first to respond to the 999 call have parted company with their last meal. Trish Pharoah has seen worse, but then she has been a regular onlooker at grisly tableaux that demonstrate the depths that humans can sometimes plumb. She is the wrong side of middle age, but not going gently into that good night. She has four daughters and nursed her husband - although he was an absolute bastard - day and night as he took a long time to die from an aneurism.

As McAvoy and Pharoah hunt the killer, the back-story is crucial and it needs to be explained. Roisin's family have been engaged in a decades-long blood feud with another clan, and there has been copious amounts of blood shed along the way. Part of this history involved Roisin saving McAvoy from an infamous killer nicknamed 'Cromwell'. Cromwell was then gruesomely punished by Roisin's father, she and McAvoy fell in love and married, but the savage murder of Roisin's aunt - another fortune teller - cloaks the narrative like a shroud. Roisin is a woman not at ease with the world or herself:

"She has found herself some mornings with little horseshoe grooves dug into the soft flesh of her palms. Sometimes her wrists and elbows ache until lunchtime. She sleeps like a toppled pugilist: a Pompeian tragedy. She sees such terrible things in the few snatched moments of unconsciousness."

When the satanic Cromwell strikes hard at McAvoy's family, the big man goes off the radar and hunts down the killer. David Mark gives us what we think is the climax as McAvoy and Cromwell go head to head in a terrifying and violent  battle in a disused WW1 sea fort, but just as we relax and think "job well done", there is a plot twist that few will see coming, and we learn that there is a final trauma to be endured by the McAvoy family.

This is a dark, brooding novel, with more than a touch of Derek Raymond-esque nihilism and despair but, like his late, great Noir predecessor, David Mark also gives us searing honesty and compassion. Past Life is published by Severn House and is available now in hardback, and as a KIndle in November.

I totally love the Aector McAvoy books. It was lovely to get some back story on his life. David Mark never disappoints. Always leaves me wanting more.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Severn House Publishers for an advance copy of Past Life, the ninth novel to feature DS Aector McAvoy of the Hull police.

The murder of a psychic takes Aector back twelve years to a case at the start of his career, a pivotal moment in his life and actions he’s not keen to remember. Now he has to remember because the past is catching up with him and his wife, Roisin, who isn’t telling all she knows.

I thoroughly enjoyed Past Life, which is a gripping read with an involved plot and several twists. It should be noted that it is a violent and cruel novel at times and while it’s not overly gratuitous it might not be for the faint hearted.

It is told over two timelines and has various points of view. This is not great for my current poor concentration as the switches don’t allow the reader, at least initially, to get wholly invested in events. The timeline switches between the present day investigation and the events of twelve years ago when another psychic was murdered in similar circumstances. How these two cases come to have a bigger impact on Aector and Roisin’s lives could be seen as a coincidence too far or simply the hand of fate, given the victims’ occupation. I’m not going to quibble because it makes for an interesting read with the excitement and tension rising as the novel progresses. It is well plotted with reveals and twists in all the right places.

I have read most of the novels in the series and don’t feel much closer to getting a handle on the weird dynamic of the characters. There’s Aector, a big lump of guilt and sense of inadequacy, who, you would think, after so many years in the force would have a better handle on his capabilities, especially with his wife, Roisin, fighting with his boss, Trish Pharaoh, for his attention. And, yet, the two women are close. Somehow it works, even if the reader sometimes feels they are navigating treacherous currents.

Past Life is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

The murders of two clairvoyants twelve years apart for this book. During the first, as a young detective, Aector McAvoy falls in love with Roisin, a member of a travellers family which is at war within. He marries her and moves to Hull which becomes the context for his past catching up with him. He has a past which was designed to protect his family but which might be the ruin of everything he stands for if it is revealed. Virtually every character in the book is dysfunctional in some way including the superintendent Trish Pharoah who is not fit to have her job. Nor are virtually any of the others. There are many characters in the book and it can be hard follow who belongs to which side. The placing of it in the Travellers culture plays to the idea that they are all crooks. I found the story unsatisfactory and without any real conclusion. I am unable to recommend it,