I would like to thank Netgalley and One More Chapter for an advance copy of Below Ground the eleventh novel to feature DCI Matilda Darke South Yorkshire Police’s Major Crimes Unit, based in Sheffield.

Matilda has been kidnapped and DS Scott Andrews stabbed. The team are in no doubt that Matilda’s nemesis, former PC and now high security prison inmate, Steve Harrison, is behind it. The team is in a panic to find her and the last thing they need is a decomposed body found in a car boot in local woodlands.

I thoroughly enjoyed Below Ground once I got going with it. I’ve had too many distractions over the past few days so I was only reading a chapter at any one time and that is a shame, because I finally had time to sit down and read the remaining 70% with few interruptions, and found it to be a meaty, compulsive read with a strong story to tell, only let down in my opinion by another cliffhanger ending (I don’t like them - too much time between books to remember).

As I said this is a meaty read with so much going on. It has its roots in the past and previous novels in the series, but this is not an issue for readers new to the series or those, like me, that haven’t retained old plots as everything is sufficiently explained to give the reader context. There is the hunt for Matilda, the body in the woods, all sorts of mind games and a lot of raw emotion. There are interconnections between minor characters and main players that play out in unexpected ways with unsuspected motives and actions that take the reader by surprise. These small incidents give the novel a certain realism, while the big incidents are designed for entertainment rather than realism. It is a tense read at points, but mostly it is emotional as the team grieve Matilda’s disappearance and potential fate. DS Sîan Robinson and pathologist Adele Kean take the lead in this.

The novel is mostly told from the investigative point of view as the various team members contribute their experiences and emotion with a few chapters from the imprisoned Matilda’s point of view. I think the author has done a tremendous job of conveying the stress, tension, emotion and determination of the characters, making it an immersive read.

Below Ground is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

I’d like to thank HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Below Ground’, book 11 in the DCI Matilda Darke series written by Michael Wood, in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Someone hates DCI Matilda Darke so much that she’s kidnapped and DS Scott Andrews stabbed in the process. DI Christian Brady is in charge of the team searching for clues of Matilda’s whereabouts and the person responsible and although they’re convinced ex-police officer and serial killer Steve Harrison is involved, he’s securely locked up in the high security wing in prison. Meanwhile bodies are found in various stages of decomposition lying in undergrowth in Wigtwizzle that the team also needs to investigate.

‘Below Ground’ is a fantastic addition to this amazing series set in South Yorkshire and is so gripping that when I haven’t had my Kindle in my hands I’ve been trying to work out who would want to destroy Matilda. I’ve been totally hooked from page one as tension increases and the drama, suspense and twists and turns have kept me involved in this brilliantly written plot and its characters, especially the diabolical Steve Harrison. Michael Wood definitely knows how to write a first-class thriller and I’m surprised it hasn’t been turned into a televised serial yet. I’ve loved reading more of Matilda and those close to her who are more like family than colleagues. I’m disappointed I’ve come to the end of the story and can’t wait to read book 12. I’ve given it a big 5 stars although I’d give 20 if I could!

This book was intriguing. Full of twists and turns amongst numerous characters within one police crime unit. This could be read as a standalone but really, to understand the characters properly, you need to have read the others prior in my opinion.

Undoubtedly, this is one very unlucky police squad, with extreme events happening left right and centre! A little bit far fetched in certain areas maybe, but it made for an entertaining read!

My thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter, for giving me the opportunity to read an advanced digital copy in return for an honest review.

Thanks to Michael and NetGalley for allowing me to read Below Ground before the publication date.
This is the 11th book in the DCI Matilda Darke series but the author has included background snippets which allow it to be read as a standalone book.
As you might expect from Michael, there are numerous threads and loads of red herrings running through this book.
He manages to draw the reader in as he conveys the sense of physical and mental exhaustion which the team experience throughout the investigation

Set in January 2021 against the background of the pandemic and DCI Matilda Darke’s Homicide and Major Crime Unit has experienced many personal and professional problems over recent times.

Donal Youngblood, an exhausted technical assistant to forensic pathologist Dr Adele Kean, has plucked up the courage to propose to DS Scott Andrews. Arriving at the remote property where Scott lives in a self-contained flat above Matilda’s garage, he is shocked to find Scott seriously injured with multiple stab wounds.

Matilda is nowhere to be seen. DI Christian Brady takes charge of the investigation as they search for Matilda and look for reasons for the attack.
ACC Ben Ridley, a man who has always been quick to take the credit for the team’s successes and even faster in denouncing Matilda, is quick to hypothesise that Matilda could be responsible for stabbing Scott and had then run away.

When a body is found in an abandoned car, it will stretch the team to their limits.

Taking Matilda out for good?! Please, no!😩

This new DCI Darke thriller is packed full of tension and I loved it. Normally it's Matilda Darke leading her police team in the search for the dangerous and depraved but this time Matilda has been kidnapped and it's left to her subordinates to figure out why she was taken and rescue her before she meets her maker all while solving a growing list of cold case murders. But there's plenty of peril for the whole team, even Matilda's pathologist housemate Adele, and their principal suspect is firmly locked up behind bars for life.

Below Ground's plot was a real page-turner with enough surprises and thrills to keep me reading uninterrupted for hours. I liked the storylines for the individual detectives, particularly Sian who is still dealing with the repercussions of having been married decades to a serial killer, and Scott, Christian, Finn and Adele (all living with the trauma of losing colleagues and loved ones in a horrible shooting spree).

Michael Wood is a go-to author for me and Below Ground totally lived up to my expectations. Definitely recommended for fans of British suspense.

Thanks to Harper Collins UK/One More Chapter and NetGalley for sharing a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest opinion.

Firstly thank you to NetGalley for a pre publication copy of Below Ground.
It was great to be back in the company of Matilda and Co. The characters in the Matilda Darke series are fabulous. Michael has created such a brilliant crime/police procedural series. I particularly like how all the books link together. I’ve loved all the books but this one exceeded all my very high expectations. Full of heart in your mouth moments, fast paced, tense everything you want from a great read. Michael Wood is such a talented author. Now only a year to wait for the next one.

When I saw all the 5 star reviews for this crime thriller I thought it would be right up my street and I couldn’t wait to read it. Once I’d started I couldn’t wait to finish it. I don’t mean to be unkind … but it was ridiculous. How many completely disastrous and over-the-top things can happen to the members of such a small police team? We have a DS whose husband has been a serial killer for 25 years, a DC who is now in a wheelchair for the rest of her life after a car accident involving the aforementioned serial killer, an ex-policeman who is also a multiple killer, a DI who hanged himself in DCI Darke’s house because she got the job and not him, and then we have poor old DS Scott. He was severely stabbed at the beginning of the book. Severely. There was a huge amount of blood, he was unconscious, his pulse was barely registering, he was cold and unresponsive, it was touch and go, and he was rushed into hospital for emergency surgery. Relatives and colleagues gathered at the hospital in floods of tears waiting for news. Oh I forgot to add, two days later he was back at work. I think I’ll leave it at that! Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read and review this book and I’m sorry that it’s one that I definitely won’t be recommending.

Followers of DCI Matilda Darke will have been waiting for book 11 of the series and here it comes in blockbusting fashion. For new readers I recommend reading the previous books to understand the storyline in all its gory detail and to work out the relationships between the Sheffield MIT people, the victims and even the murderers! However, I think it would read well as a stand-alone as bits of backstory are well explained by the author. This is a great police procedural series, always well written and brilliantly plotted, completely unputdownable.

Briefly, it is winter and Matilda is arriving home with her tenant and fellow team member Scott. On entering the house Scott is attacked and stabbed and Matilda kidnapped. Immediately the team suspect murderer Steve Harrison, who openly hated Matilda, of being involved even though he is locked up in Wakefield Prison. However he is a master manipulator and seems to know what is happening. As the team work frantically to find her bodies turn up from a previous case…

Due to the storyline we don’t see so much of Matilda in this book but it’s good to see more of other members of the team, they do seem to attract a lot of drama and this time is no different. Fast paced and at times dark (no pun intended) this is an addictive read with shocks galore and a typically cliffhanger ending! Book 12 please.

Woo! This book begins at a run and races through to the end. I read it in two days and feel a little breathless.
This was my first read in the DCI Mathilda Darke series and my first book by this author. Starting a series at book 11 leaves a bit of catching up to do and there is obviously much that has happened before and it all impacts on this story. However the author does a great job at explaining the back story without going into endless and unnecessary detail and also brings us up to speed with the characters and their foibles.
Having said all of that there was an element of how much bad luck and rotten eggs can one unit have. This particular branch of the South Yorkshire Police appear to have an an unfair share of both - it was reminicent of Midsummer Murders with the build up of bodies - and needed some suspension of belief.
But, I would certainly be happy to read other books in the series and will definitely look out for the next as this book cleverly ended on a cliff hanger. Good writing, great characters and incredible pacing.
Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins, One More Chapter for an arc copy in return for an honest review.
Recommended.

My first foray into the Matilda Darke series and first book by this author. I was immediately gripped and found this book very difficult to put down.

It does work as a standalone novel, but there are also a lot of references to what has obviously gone before in the series (this being book 11). This was a little distracting as I felt I ought to have read some of the background - and it did make it seem a little beyond belief that so many of the ‘team’ were not who they seemed over the series - how unlucky can one police team get?

Still, I liked the characters and got to know them well - even Matilda who doesn’t feature a lot for a long time other than through her colleagues.

Will I go back and read the others? Well, I’ve already downloaded book 1 so this could be my new fave character and series - we’ll see!

This is going to be a very short review.

If you enjoy twisty tales that mix police, killers, missing people and all sorts of wonderful story telling - go out and buy this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I believe you will too.

Matilda has been kidnapped her team are devastated but trying to find out the truth is becoming very difficult the main suspect is Steve Harrison as he has an obsession with Matilda which goes back a long way but there are a lot of people who she has made enemies which comes with the job. The team also have to deal with another investigation when they find numerous murder victims are they related to Matilda’s kidnap?

Really enjoyed the book and all the other books can’t wait to see what happens next.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins UK, One More Chapter for an ARC

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Hands down, Below Ground is a new favorite in this series.

I have been following this series for a while now and with each new installment, the story (tension and suspense too) keeps getting better and better. When Matilda was kidnapped and Scott was found in a pool of blood in her home, I knew her team would find her soon. But then, the story proceeds and her team have no idea of her whereabouts and one of them doubts if Matilda is alive... gosh, I had my heart in my throat!

There's something magical about Michael Wood's storytelling. From mystery to suspense to character portrayals to emotions, Michael Wood writes it the best.

I was hooked on to the story from start to finish - kept everything from my usual routine on back-burner because... I had to read this book!!

The perp's identity was a shocker. Yes, Steve Harrison appears to be involved but how and why - well, this turned out be an interesting development.

Below Ground by Michael Wood is a completely gripping, intense, spine-chilling, and edge-of-your-seat page turner. Abso-bloody-lutely fantabulous police procedural!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advance copy of Below Ground in exchange for a review.

Going into a series starting at book number 11 can be a daunting thing – but thankfully Michael Wood guides any newbies like me very carefully through what is clearly an exciting back-story to where we find ourselves at the start of Below Ground! Whilst I’m sure there will be things I don’t have the full story on, I didn’t feel lost and confused at any point and was able to fully enjoy this story.

The lead character in this series is DCI Matilda Darke – someone we unfortunately don’t see LOADS of in this particular book, but who is a very well-respected DCI who everyone trusts to know how to tackle any situation that may arise.

So, when she is kidnapped at the start of the book, everyone seems to be at a loss as to what to do without her – both at work and emotionally as her friends.

The key suspect for her kidnapping is the dangerous Steve Harrison, who is behind bars in the supermax section of Monster Mansion, Wakefield Prison. No one can work out how he might have managed to orchestrate the kidnap, but surely it must be him behind it?

Meanwhile, the forensics team begin finding bodies in the woodlands at various stages of decomposition. Is this connected to Matilda’s kidnap and Steve Harrison?

This was a very gripping cat and mouse tale – as Matilda’s colleagues race to figure out the riddles from Steve and who might be working with him in time to save Matilda, whilst more bones are uncovered out in the woods. At times I felt like there were a LOT of police-based characters, but it didn’t spoil any understanding of the story and I’m sure won’t be confusing to people who have read other books in the series! And I also felt like I could do to understand a bit more about what Steve had done in the past to make him be known as ‘the most violent man in Britain’ which seemed super extreme!

The relationship between the characters was really enjoyable despite being new to them – the close bonds and new relationships forming really made the story more powerful and the desperation to find Matilda more urgent.

Below Ground was really gripping and absorbing – and I’m keen to read more in the series, especially where I might get to see a bit more of Matilda!

With thanks to netgalley and Harpercollins for the opportunity to read in exchange for an honest review.
Although this isn’t the first novel telling the story of Matilda Darke, it was a first for me. A clever and twisty police procedural the characters are well drawn and elicit support (for the good characters at least). Every member of the team appears likeable and are easy to invest in, but are human having their issues and bringing their baggage to the storyline. I also enjoyed the writing style. I’ll definitely be on the lookout for earlier books in the series so that I can explore the back stories written about in this book. I’ll also be waiting eagerly for the next book in the series.

This is the next book in a the DCI Matilda Darke series by this author. I didn’t realise there had been quite so many previous books when I requested an ARC of this book. I’ve not read any of the early series and this was a definite disadvantage.

The book drew me in very quickly with a knife attack on Detective Sergeant Scott Andrews, who lives in the apartment above the garage of his boss DCI Matilda Darke, who is tapered and kidnapped at the same time.

There are a lot of characters in the book and a huge amount of diabolical history to go with them. One Detective Sergeant has just returned to work after discovering her husband of more than 25 yrs is a serial killer. Another young DC is confined to a wheelchair after a car accident involving the DS’s serial killer husband. Another policeman has committed suicide by hanging in the house of DCI Darke because he blamed her for being promoted over him. Yet another multiple killer an ex policeman is serving time in prison, he hates DCI Darke and vows to kill her.
I wouldn’t want to be a copper in this neck of the woods.
At the same time a body is found in the nearby woods, a missing sex worker…………then a second……then a third.
For me sadly, it was all too much. I fear this is the danger when you write upwards of 10 books about the same team of detectives and pathologists. So much has to happen to the same people that it all becomes simply too far fetched. Possibly better to have had a few ‘standalones’ in there.
I found myself rolling my eyes when the stabbed policeman is back at work almost immediately with his stitches still in situ and needless to say gets involved in another fight and his wound is burst open. No-one in their right mind would have an officer on active duties with an abdominal stab wound so recent that the stitches were still in!!
So, sadly, this book was just not for me. I would read another of this author’s books but not part of a series. The ideas for all these plots all sounded interesting, just not happening to all the same people.
My thanks to the author, the publishers and to NetGalley for an advanced e.reader copy of this book. However, my review, as always is entirely voluntary and is only my personal view.

This is the next book in the continuing saga of DCI Matilda Darke and her team.

Although I had not read any of the previous books in the series, I felt this was very acceptable as a standalone. Yes, events and people are mentioned from earlier stories, but this did not spoil the flow and pace of this offering.

Quick off the blocks, it was an action packed roller coaster of a ride full of morbid details, obnoxious characters, tragedies, and lots of unlikely and unbelievable, though not entirely unexpected, events. If you can suspend all belief in the normal then this would be perfect for you.

I can understand why this series has a dedicated following, it is an exciting read, especially if each book has a cliffhanger like this one. Not entirely to my taste, but worthy of a read.

Thank you NetGalley.

I don’t know how to feel about this series anymore. It used to be my favourite but it’s getting a bit much. There’s only so much trauma to the team I can read. It’s always a bit over the top and no one seems to be able to function without Matilda even though she’s always in danger. I swear that woman has more lives than a cat. I also hate cliffhanger endings and this series thrives off them.

That being said the team is full of lovable characters and I love the wheelchair user representation. With the team working a murder case alongside Matilda's kidnapping, there’s plenty to have you hooked. It keeps you guessing and picks up pace for the explosive ending. If you love over the top drama and shocking killer reveals then this is the series for you.

One thing about Wood's books that I love it the fact that they take off running from page 1.

I found it extremely hard to put my kindle down and to not sneakily read at work. I might be biased as Wood is my favorite Crime Thriller author but I can honestly, not find anything wrong with this book. It immersed me from the first chapter, with our beloved Scott attacked and DCI Darke missing. Kept me on the edge of my seat, speculating who, what and how. With the main character out of commission, the rest of the team really came together to try and uncover the mysteries surrounding Matilda's disappearance and with that I have to acknowledge that Wood did a fantastic job in not having an actual main character focused in this book, but rather the whole cast come into play. I was delighted to have Sian back with the team as well.

As usual, we have a stellar cliffhanger ending that grips and leaves us yanking out wondering how long we have to wait for the next book.

Thank you Netgalley and One More Chaper, HarperCollins UK for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Michael Wood writes some of the best books I've ever read, and this one was no exception. Brilliant characters, a killer plot, and moments that made me hold my breath. I loved it.