Before I had started reading Bad for Good I knew it would be a cracker. I had already heard of author Graham Bartlett, who has advised the brilliant Peter James on many of his novels, having being Chief Superintendent of Brighton Police. This stands Bartlett in good stead for really nailing the detail of this novel, in terms of the correct police procedures and unfortunately, how to get around the system.

Bad for Good will scare you at times, with its descriptions of how easily those who should be protecting us can be led astray, and the devastating consequences. You'll be left praying that those situations never come to pass with your local police force!

A great debut and I look forward to reading more from Graham Bartlett.

4.25⭐

Bad for Good is a dark and gritty police procedural set in Brighton in a time when police forces are shrinking and budgets are being cut. Yet, those in charge and the public still expect the same level of service.

But when it becomes clear that Brighton police are losing control a group of vigilantes step in and offer to take action for a price.

So when DCS Phil Cooke's eighteen-year-old son Harry a promising footballer is murdered, they are willing to step up and help and with plenty of locals believing they have the right idea the Detective Superintendent tasked with catching the killer has her work cut out, especially given her personal history with her boss who is beyond desperate to find his sons murderer.

And with great pacing, lots of believable characters, twists and some violence (which I loved) This was a really enjoyable debut novel by a former detective whose more known for advising other authors on police procedures and that definitely showed with the humour, eye for detail and gritty realism that was prevalent throughout.

I was aware of this author as an advisor to authors on crime matters before finding this, which is his first crime novel. With his background I was expecting a pretty detailed police procedural and that’s what I got. Set in Brighton and told from various POV this is incredibly well written, with a very large cast of characters, rather too many I found as initially I was getting quite confused about who was who. That said this was a very fast paced and quite complex story with a number of different threads that all came together in a seamless manner.

Briefly, DS Joanne Howe is investigating the murder of Harry, the 18 year old son of her boss DCS Phil Cooke. What she doesn’t know, yet, is that a vigilante group are also looking for the killer, and Phil is paying them. As more brutal attacks take place, and people go missing, she soon finds that a security firm are getting called out when the police don’t arrive quick enough and they deal with the matter, at a price.

A brutal storyline, that I hope it a bit far fetched, which highlights the issues facing our police force today in terms of underfunding, leading to undermanning and an escalation in crime. There are some really good characters and I liked that we saw the good and bad side of some of them, although some definitely didn’t have an iota of good! A great plot line with plenty of twist and turns and an exciting and explosive conclusion ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Wow- but this was really, really good. Crackling with authenticity this is a one of the best police procedural I have read for a long time. As an ex-cop, the author understands the realities of policing, the politics and the constraints which they work under.

The excitement is nonstop and the characters well drawn. I read this in one breathless day and really enjoyed it.

Highly recommended.

Police procedurals usually have a troubled cop, but here we have a whole force-full. Vigilantes are usually killers, but here we have a fully integrated system for snatch, torture and disposal of lowlifes. Cops are usually DS or DI level but here the roster stretches all the way up to Chief Constable Helen Ricks and her budget holder the Police and Crime Commissioner. Stuck in the middle is Detective Superintendent Joanne Howe, the Head of the Major Crime Unit that covers Surrey, Sussex, Kent and Hampshire. Her background was the Brighton and Hove force, which is now headed by Chief Superintendent Phil Cooke, with whom she had had a short affair many years ago. Their lives are now going to be thrown together again, because Phil’s son, Harry, has just been stabbed in the heart by an unknown assailant. The high profile of this killing, and the delicacy of her situation with Phil, mean she is initially not all that concerned by Superintendent Gary Hedges’ concern that a vigilante gang have started operating in the area, taking advantage of the over-stretched and under-funded local force’s inability to quickly respond and deal with minor crimes. Are all these things just coincidence, or is there a giant conspiracy going on? As everything starts to spiral out of control, Jo has to juggle her domestic situation, Phil’s paranoia, the Chief Constable’s meddling, and the increasingly violent activities of the vigilante group.
The style of writing is very strong, with many graphically violent scenes – especially early on. The police procedural details are, reportedly, highly accurate, because the author is a retired Chief Superintendent from Brighton and Hove. I hope the funding and staffing situation is not this bad in reality but exaggerated for plot purposes (the vigilantes could not develop or operate in this way unless the police system was this disastrous). Even allowing for this plot device, it seems extremely unlikely that such a complex vigilante system could ever be developed – it requires dozens of people and the use of publicly visible structures. Frankly, it stretches my “willing suspension of disbelief” to breaking point. In terms of the whodunnit aspect, I worked out the who and why very rapidly, but didn’t believe the motive. As to the other characters, I didn’t really believe in any of them. The ending is OTT, but that seems par for this course. On the positive side, it’s a fast read and quite entertaining if you like a bit of violence and you’re not too fussy about logic.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

This is a dark and gritty read, set in Brighton. The characters are well developed and the story is told from multiple points of view, which worked really well. I did feel sympathy for Phil, the main character but none for Kyle, his son. The author is a former police officer and advisor to crime writers, this portrays well in the book. The pace is steady throughout and builds up to an action packed finale. A thoroughly excellent read and one I would recommend. I look forward to reading more in the series. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

This is a book I have been looking forward to for some time. I mean, the author certainly knows what he's talking about and, having worked as advisor to authors and screenwriters, he was bound to have picked up the odd tip or two about crafting the tension on the page. Not that experiencing it first hand over the course of his career won't have given Graham Bartlett experience enough of course. But how did all of that knowledge translate onto the page? Quite brilliantly as it turns out, with a story which is a strong a socio-political commentary as it is straightforward adrenalin spiking thriller. For a debut novel, Bad For Good certainly packs a punch and I can't to see how the author carries us forward from here.

From the very early scenes in this book you can feel the authenticity ooze from the page, along with what can only be described as the overwhelming frustrations of modern policing. Investigations stymied by lack of resource, powers that be who are more concerned with budgets and headlines than they are the true root cause of a seeming crime epidemic that is starting to overtake the south coast region. Where once several forces operated, now there is one singular police district , a pool of resource that is never quite enough. Luckily for businesses in Brighton, there is an alternative. A group ready to step in where the police can't.

And therein lies the problem. At least as far as Detective Superintendent Jo Howe is concerned. She is the principal Detective in this complicated and deadly investigation, one which pits publicly funded policing against private industry, in a case with a very dark heart. I really liked Jo as a character. She has a hell of a job on her hands, handed somewhat of a poison chalice after her predecessor, Phil Cooke's, son is murdered, faced with having to investigate his murder whilst trying hard to get to the root of another evil that is blighting the streets. She's far from perfect, her past almost as complicated as the case she is investigating, her relationship with Cooke the one chink in her otherwise sturdy armour. But as a character, Officer, Mother, Wife, she felt very real, and someone I could really get behind as the story progressed.

Jo Howe is just one of many characters who inform and direct the action, some of whom I'm sure are made of snippets of people the author has met and worked with in the past, many more of which I hope weren't. Phil Cooke, whilst not an entirely sympathetic characters throughout the course of the book, was someone else I became quite invested in. Placed in an impossible position, with an ill wife and now a murdered son, I could see why he acted as he did, even if I could not quite absolve him of his bad decisions. I'd have expected better, but was intrigued to see just how his full story would come to pass. The author gave him just the right balance of positive and negative traits to make him engaging and to keep me drawn into his story.

There are several threads to this story, from the impact of low numbers of serving officers on duty, to knife crime as reflected in the murder of Cooke's son. Missing persons, corruption, profiteering and vigilantism all play a major role in a case which seems at first to be quite straight forward but that becomes more complicated with each page turn. There is an undercurrent of threat from the very start, and a tension that bubbles along until near the end where it escalates into full on, heart pounding action where everything is at stake. It made the final chapters of the book so exciting, so fast, that I almost had to re-read the ending to make sure I hadn't missed anything. I was certainly an explosive and game changing ending, and one I'm really intrigued to see the aftermath of.

If you like a really authentic feeling police thriller, with great characters, and high stakes, high tension storylines then I would definitely recommend picking this book up. Dare I say that some of Graham Bartlett's clients might want to watch their backs? They've some real competition here and I can't wait to see what he dreams up next.

The murder of a promising footballer and, crucially, the son of the Brighton's Chief Superintendent, means Detective Superintendent Jo Howe has a complicated and sensitive case on her hands. The situation becomes yet more desperate following devastating blackmail threats.

Howe can trust no one as she tracks the brutal killer in a city balanced on a knife edge of vigilante action and a police force riven with corruption.

This novel completely blew me away!

From the first chapter we are thrown into the action, and it is a nonstop ride from there.

The plot was fast paced and compelling. I ended up staying up into the early hours of the morning because I was desperate to see how it ended.

There are a lot of moving parts in this novel but Bartlett balances them masterfully.

Each of the characters were well developed and realistic. As readers we understood the decisions they made and were made to query what we would do in a similar situation. The main character Jo Howe was the star of this book, the author managed to capture the plight of being female with a small family and a career brilliantly. She was a character I could empathise with.

There are some scenes of violence in this book however they are not gratuitous instead they portray a pragmatic view of current events. Bartlett highlights the predicaments the police face at the current moment with increasing budget cuts and an overwhelming rise in crime. We come to understand the effects that this has on policing on a more in-depth level.

I would recommend this book to absolutely everyone, this is a stunning debut and I wish the author Graham Bartlett every success.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book in return for an honest review.

What a brilliant debut this is! Graham Bartlett is a former cop himself and he paints a pretty damning picture of his former colleagues. There is blackmail and violence, lies and deception aplenty. The central case involves the murder of a promising footballer whose dad just happens to be the region's top policeman. The action is relentless from the start and never lets up as DI Jo has the almost impossible task of finding the culprit among a nasty line-up of suspects. Superb!

That was a rather dark, grim story, set in Brighton, against a backdrop of escalating crimes and a shrinking police force as budget cuts start to bite. As police take longer and longer to respond to break ins and assaults a private vigilante group takes the opportunity to grow its business. They might be providing a service but it is by no means free and the methods are quite brutal as we see in the opening pages. But worse is to come.

Detective Superintendent Joanne Howe is tasked with finding the killer of Harry Cooke who was the 18 year old son of her boss Detective Chief Superintendent Phil Cooke. Harry was felled by a single, well aimed stab to the heart. There is nothing to go on and task of finding Harry’s killer seems hopeless. Word on the street suggests the killer could have been Marco, a young guy who runs a drug ring in the area. Soon his young dealers are brutalised and Marco is in hiding. Jo Howe doesn’t want to acknowledge it but it does seem like the vigilantes are cleaning up the streets. But how does Harry’s death fit into the narrative? He was a popular boy with a promising sporting career ahead of him.

The vigilante group contacts Phil and offers to find Harry’s killer, for a price of course. He doesn’t want to play this game but soon they put too much pressure on him to refuse. They have information that he really wouldn’t want to be made public. He is being wound in like a fish on a hook. How do they know so much about him?

Meanwhile Jo conducts the investigation as thoroughly as always and ignores certain directives from on high. She has a difficult relationship with some of her senior officers and a few secrets of her own. This all sets the pieces in motion for an explosive finish which doesn’t disappoint. The book reads as very realistic but, in a way, I hope it isn’t as there really was a lot of violence in the story. The detectives are well portrayed as neither all good or all bad, just like most us. I did really sympathise with them though, trying to do a good job in the face overwhelming odds.

My only gripe with this story is that the narrative jumped from one scene to another without any logical break and I was often going “who, what?” After a while, and once I’d ‘met’ all the characters, it wasn’t so much of an issue. Overall, it was a fast paced, interesting story with a fair amount of realism. Many thanks to Netgalley and Allison & Busby for the much appreciated arc which I reviewed voluntarily and honestly.

Detective Superintendent Jo Howe is investigating the murder of a young footballer who just happens to be he son of Brighton's highest-ranking police officer.
But who can she trust in the corrupt world of the Brighton Police. And who is running the vigilante group which keeps appearing whenever there is trouble.

3/5 Good

This debut from ex police high up Graham Bartlett is an assured, well written first book that really dives deep in to the world of policing, this really is a proper police procedural.

Interestingly the main protagonists, and there are a few, are high level police, it’s not DC and DS as you usually come to find but Superintendents etc.

The story itself is done well, with the murder of a police chief’s son and a vigilante group the main plot lines.

The cast of characters are ok, I didn’t mind Jo Howe, and a couple of others , but there are no real stand out characters and the story doesn’t grab me as much as I’d like.

I found it all a little one paced until the finale which has an adrenaline injection,
and worked out / Guessed very early who the killer would be as well as the other big twist, but that’s more than likely just the sheer amount of crime I read and getting lucky rather than not being concealed well.

Overall, it’s a decent start from Graham Bartlett, and I’d like to read more from him, but maybe not more of these characters…

I am afraid this one was just average for me. Did not make me want to keeping reading longer to find out what was coming next. Perhaps too many characters . Just something missing.. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it.

This was a wild ride from start to finish! A gritty debut from a former police officer, we see the lengths people will go to to get what they want. I really enjoyed this story - I thought it was well written & the characters were fleshed out, and it had me on the edge of my seat. At first it feels like there are too many people & too many stories, but gradually, things start to become clearer. As things were getting pieced together, I had to know what was going to happen to everyone, and my jaw dropped at some of the revelations. Blackmail, corruption & vigilantes make this a tense story that I couldn’t put down - I hope Graham Bartlett has more stories to tell!

Gritty & real - a book that doesn't hold back! Police procedural at its best.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy!

Missing Line of Duty? Try this for a fix of gritty English policing - it even has Bent Coppers! This debut novel by career police officer and crime writing advisor Graham Bartlett was a pleasant surprise, and has restored my faith in British police procedurals, after one too many formulaic serial-killer-chasing maverick detectives. I’d seen the name come up in the UK Crime Book Club on Facebook, so was pleased to be approved when it came up on NetGalley.

Brighton Superintendent Jo Howe is a talented and hardworking detective trying to balance the workload of diminishing funding and rising crime, with caring for young children and the petty politics of the police hierarchy. When a group of vigilantes start taking criminals off the streets, some believe they should be left to get on with it, but then a promising young footballer is murdered - who happens to be the son of Jo’s boss, and former lover, Peter Cooke. Under pressure to solve the crime, Jo must work out who she can trust before more innocent - and not-so-innocent, lives are taken

This was a tense well plotted thriller with believable characters, plenty of twists and lots of realistic procedural details, which convey the frustration of those on the front line trying to do ever more while hypocritical politicians and the rabid media criticise every move they make. The main character is much higher ranked than the DIs and DSs we are used to in crime fiction, but even she gets continual bollockings from higher-ups who think they know better. The Bad Guys were interesting - I generally like fictional vigilantes, but these brought home just why justice should be left to the professionals - they’re as corrupt as the criminals they claim to be targeting. I hope that this is the start of a series and look forward to reading more of Jo’s adventures - especially if the author can stay away from serial killer plot lines! 4.5 rounded up for good writing and a cinematically breathless final action sequence.

Thanks to NetGalley and Allison & Busby for the ARC. My only criticism is that the copy I received was poorly formatted with no breaks between scene or POV changes that made it confusing to read. I’m conscious that this will be fixed for publication but it’s annoying and might deter some reviewers.
I am posting this honest review voluntarily. Bad for Good is published on June 22nd.

Bad For Good is a very promising start to a new crime series. Set in and around Brighton it concentrates on the upper echelons of the police force, which is not surprising as the author was a senior police officer himself. His inside knowledge gives the novel a very realistic feel - almost too much so in places. Police politics is occasionally described in too much detail, sometimes getting in the way of the action.

The plot is complex and the cast of characters is huge. It can be difficult at times to remain on top of the various police roles and relationships, especially for those unfamiliar with the world of Police & Crime Commissioners, etc. Murders and vigilantes, cronyism and corruption all feature, alongside a heavy dose of violence. This isn't one for the squeamish.

The key character is Jo Howe, a senior detective. Driven and principled, yet with secrets in her past, she is an intriguing and nuanced character. She has difficult relationships with some of her senior colleagues and this is a factor in her investigations. There are several characters with plenty to hide - and the plot twists make this a very good read. Bad For Good is much more than a murder mystery.

This was a gray dark and complex crime drama. Lots of great characters with a richly developed backstory Really dark and compelling, kept me invested in the story from beginning to end.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book

Thank you NetGalley and Allison and Busby for a copy of Bad for Good by Graham Bartlett. The debut novel from the author who is an ex- chief inspector and Police advisor. So, I was expecting great things and I wasn’t disappointed.
When Brighton and Hove football team next rising star Harry Cooke is murdered Detective inspector Jo Howe is been given the tasked to catch the killer. The case has been given special circumstances as Harry was the son of Jo boss Chief Superintendent Phil Cooke and no doubt a big media outrage that a son of a prominent member of Brighton’s police force has been killed.
Jo has worked hard to get to where she is today and even sacrificing her time with her own family. And where the police are stretched as it is with lack of bodies and resources. So, Jo and her team and have a big task ahead of them.
This is a fast paced and has loads of action from the very first page. This is a story of a Police department doing what they can to find a killer with limited resources that they have, people trying to take the law into their own hands and about corruption in the Police force. With the authors knowledge I found this story to realistic, and I really enjoyed the book first in the series. The only thing downside I thought that there was a lot of characters in this story that I got a bit overwhelmed in who side was who on. But I can’t wait to see how this series develops. 4 stars from me.

Bad for Good is the debut novel by Graham Bartlett and whilst it definitely showed great promise in parts of the book overall I felt slightly disappointed and that an opportunity for an excellent story had been missed.

The sheer number of main characters was quite daunting at times and made following the storyline difficult as the author tried to use them for different parts of the book. The formatting in parts of the ARC I read was a contributory factor.

The action was fairly full on and kept the pages turning right until the end of the book.

I will keep an eye out for future books in this series where hopefully the promise is built upon.