This crime thriller is not for the faint-hearted: Midsummer Murders it is not! Those hoping for a cosy Agatha Christie-esque murder mystery will be sadly disappointed. This is a thriller for grown-ups, with twists and turns a-plenty, lots of blood and gore, as we find ourselves in the hands of a writer who has plotted with precision what at times seems bleak and bloodthirsty, but with a satisfying ending, with plenty of room for a follow-up. Yes please!

I hadn't read any of the previous books in the series and this one had me feeling as though I was an outsider. It was like I'd been invited to a party where everyone else knew each other and I knew no one. I thought the plot was over-complicated and a bit unrealistic. However, having said all that, the book was easy to read and I liked it. I suspect those who've read previous books in the series will enjoy it more.

I don’t really know what to say about this book. I’ve never read any David Mark books before but the synopsis was interesting and I love a detective/police procedural/ psychological thriller so I gave it a go.

I nearly gave up. I nearly gave up many, many times.

If you’d told me this was an early draft and the editor hadn’t got to work yet, I would probably have believed you.

There was, I am certain, a good story in there. It was cleverly plotted and there were some excellent, unexpected reveals but it was so contrived in places - deliberate obscurity to avoid us identifying the perpetrators - as to make it almost impossible to follow.

Thank you to NetGalley for letting me read Flesh & Blood which is my first David Mark book and although it took me a few chapters to get into the story, as I didn't gel with the main character at first, as the story unfolded she grew on me and I needed to keep going so I knew how it ended

It took me a while to get into this book. The plot is complicated and although this is an established series (book 11) , it is the first one I have read so it took me a while to get to know the characters. The crimes are bloody and violent and different voices tell the story which added an extra layer of complication to the plot. That all sounds negative, but actually the plot started to come together and make more sense as the book progressed and the book read well as a stand alone.
The location is Humberside, an area close to my own home town so I was able to picture the scenes. I presume there is history between the two main detectives but beyond a deep friendship, that is irrelevant to the plot. Most loose ends are tied up, but not all . I didn't particularly enjoy the first part of the book, but now I have finished, I did like it as a whole, worth perservering with.
Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

A detective is enjoying a well deserved holiday with his family away from his usual patch when he becomes embroiled in a gruesome case including the horrific murder of a doppelgänger of himself.
Some of the descriptions in this book are sublime and there are some real pockets of brilliance. The gore element is pitched just right for me, enough shock factor but now to the point of having to peek between your fingers or hide behind the sofa. The characters are pretty strong and there are good themes of retributions and past secrets. Secrets as ever come back to bite the holder and those that are close, causing major peril and suspense.
I overall loved the writing style but I lost my way a few times and drifted off a bit from being compelled by the storyline. Definitely an author I’ll try again though.

Trish Pharoe is entertaining her Icelandic lover Thor Ingolfssson for a few days. He is tall, well built and with red hair. He is the twin image of Aector McAvoy! Detective Superintendent Pharoe's car alarm goes off. Her lover goes to investigate and is attacked by a man with an axe and left in a critical condition.
Aector meanwhile is on a gipsy caravan type holiday with his family in the Eden Valley near the Lake district, very much a change from Hull!
After a reshuffle at work, Trish had been offered the top job but turned it down to stay with her team. That position went to George Earl who is no friend of Trish. Trish had recently arrested a mass murderer - Reuben Hollow.He killed men who had abused their partners, so it wasn't a popular arrest.
Detective Inspector McAvoy's team still refer to him as Sarge. Tom Spink makes an appearance, he was Trish's old boss and mentor. Trish goes awol and is soon in danger.
As usual well written, a gothic type novel. The recent books involve someone threatening Aector, Roisin or their children. This one is about Trish's problems. I'd be happy to see it become a routine police procedural, but I guess the author has other ideas. Recommended.

I enjoyed the authors descriptive writing style, particularly in the early chapters but I'm in the same camp as those saying that it becomes too gruesome to read at times to the point I didn't continue which is a shame as I love murder/thrillers.

I have to admit I hadn’t heard of David Mark’s Aector McAvoy series until Mark was on the mystery panel for the LJ Day of Dialog. Flesh and Blood is the eleventh police procedural in a series set in Hull, England. Several of the books were nominated for Barry Awards. I did feel a little lost reading this one. I felt as if I needed more background on the team. In this case, it wasn’t easy to come into the series with the eleventh book.

Detective Inspector Aector McAvoy is on holiday with his wife and family when he hears he’s been attacked and left for dead back in Hull. Actually, his boss’ lover is a police officer from Iceland, Thor Ingolffson, who resembles McAvoy, and the officers who reported to the crime scene thought it was McAvoy at first. But, it doesn’t help the investigation that DS Trish Pharaoh, McAvoy’s boss, slips out to avoid the media and the higher-ups who will limit her involvement in the case.

Pharaoh is right to worry about her bosses. George Earl, Head of CID, is trying to take her down. In fact, he’s had her under surveillance.

There’s a serial killer in the book, a man Pharaoh put in prison, and suspicion for the attack falls on him. But, it’s all part of a muddled plot with too many suspicious characters, and too many crooked cops.

As I said, I felt lost at times. If I was going to read Mark’s series, I would suggest readers start with The Dark Winter, the first in the series, and a Barry Award nominee for Best First Novel. Meet McAvoy and the team. Learn the surroundings. That’s appropriate reading behavior for a police procedural series.

So although this is from a series by the same author I didn't find that I needed to know the history of the characters involved as there was sufficient background information provided throughout.
This is a very dark thriller with an unknown perpetrator of violence towards various persons associated with the main character Detective Superintendent Trish Pharaoh and a prior investigation. There are many threads to this story however they are not in any way confusing and thankfully there are several twists as it reaches the conclusion. A very gripping thriller which is worth reading even if, like me, you're not familiar with past stories.

Mark has packed a lot into this latest in a long running series. Someone is after DS Trish Pharoah and is attacking people close to her, among them an Icelandic police officer she's been having a relationship with, He looks so much like DS Aector McAvoy that when he's killed outside her apartment, questions go up. The villain has been active and it's up to McAvoy to make the links that will identify him (and you'll hear from him). This is rather gruesome in spots but it's a twisty tour. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Fine as a standalone.

Previous knowledge of the books in the series would be helpful if you pick this one up. I’ve read most of them and I was still lost at times. Took a little while to get going but then the strands started coming together and the book got really interesting.

David Mark has become one of my favourite writers of crime thrillers. I have read and enjoyed six books in the DS Aector McAvoy series and some of his outstanding stand-alones. I regret I did not enjoy Flesh and Blood. It seemed different in tone and mood from the previous books. It contained sensational passages with dark, gruesome descriptions within a complex, twisted and tangled plot. It was a complicated story of secrets, revenge and retribution, psychological and physical suffering, deceit, and manipulation. This was not a police procedural but an examination of ways that long-held pain, trauma, and rage can have future consequences. McAvoy is questioning his worth as a policeman, a husband and father and is concerned that he may not be a good man. I could barely recognize Trish Pharoah, who had many secrets withheld from others and not even revealed to McAvoy. Her friendship and work relationship with McAvoy is in doubt.

McAvoy is enjoying a well-deserved vacation with his family. They have travelled by caravan to a campsite in the wilderness. He receives word that he has been brutally killed. Trish was having an affair with an Icelander, who was McAvoy's double. The man suffered severe injuries outside Trish's home. He was at first mistaken for McAvoy due to their similar appearance. Was an unknown assailant targeting McAvoy, and why? This affair was the least of undisclosed and mysterious events from her past. Many culprits could be hoping to expose Trish, ruin her career, and destroy her life. There are more deaths. McAvoy and Trish undergo torture in their separate locations, and the descriptions are nerve-wracking and intense.

This book was a shocking departure from previous books. I hope the next one will return to the more typical police procedures, with Trish Pharoah and Aector McAvoy recovering from their ordeals and returning to working together. Thanks to NetGalley and Severn House for the ARC in return for an honest review. The date of publication is June 6.

Flesh and Blood David Mark
4 stars
A DS McAvoy special
I have only read the first book in this series but this was fine as a stand-alone although I think it would have been more enjoyable to know more about the background of the two main protagonists, DS Aector McAvoy and DS Trish Pharaoh. There is obviously a lot of history between these two characters and this book in particular fills us in on DS Pharaoh’s chequered life.
DS McAvoy is enjoying a well-earned holiday in a remote part of The Lake District with his wife Roisin and their two children, when he discovers that he has been attacked with an axe and left for dead outside DS Pharaoh’s house. The victim is, in fact, an Icelandic detective who is the image of DS McAvoy and Pharaoh’s lover. It is obvious that Trish has been in love with McAvoy over many years but why would the killer want him dead.
The main suspect is Reuben Hollow who is in HMP Warcop serving six life sentences for murder, having been caught by DS McAvoy. However he is besotted with Trish and it would seem unlikely that he would want to upset Trish by murdering her best friend.
As the story progresses we find out more about Trish and her terrible life with her abusive husband before he died. Her four daughters have all been affected in different ways and Trish feels she is on her own trying to deal with the aftermath of her husband’s death.
Various suspects are investigated by DS McAvoy and there are many red herrings before we find out the truth.
I enjoyed this book but felt it would have been better had I read the earlier ones in the series to better understand the dynamics between the main characters.

Karen Deborah
Net Galley

Flesh and Blood, a dark, gritty police procedural, begins with a horrific scene. A woman is in bed with her lover when a car alarm disturbs them. He dresses hurriedly, runs out to confront the would-be thief and is tased and hacked to near death with an ax. The woman is DI Trish Pharoah and her lover, an Icelandic policeman, is a double to DI Aector McAvoy. So who was the intended victim? And why? There are many answers here, all involving inner secrets, some hidden pasts and some not so hidden. The mystery is told in different voices, alternating between past and present.

David Mark is a skillful writer, his characters are realistic but the plot is complicated. I did not know that this is the eleventh in a series. That made it difficult for me, a first time reader, to understand background. Thank you to reviewer David P. For providing a helpful heads up for new readers. 4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Severn House and David Mark for this ARC.

This was a pretty gruesome book and I loved it! I wish I had read some others in this series as I feel like I was struggling a bit with remembering all the characters. If I had read the other 10 books I'm sure I'd be up to speed on who everyone was! But that didn't hinder my enjoyment, still a great book which was written really well.

There was one twist I didn't see coming. But on the whole the story was a little predictable, and I would have liked it even more if the villain hadn't been revealed so early on. I would read one of his books again, the gore was amazing!

This was the first David Mark book I have read and I wasn’t disappointed. A very dark and at times gruesome crime novel so just the kind I enjoy occasionally and I found the connections between the characters very interesting and certainly makes me want to go back to the start of the series and read the rest in order.

The book was actually 4.5 stars for me and only let down by the number of editing errors I found through the book

Book 11/12 in the Aector McAvoy series by the supremely talented David Mark is possibly one of the most macabre and darkest in the series yet, I’m a reader of the full series and this just feels different from the rest. Is David Mark trying something new?

It feels like a book that you really need to have read the rest, to appreciate the significance of Trish Pharoah and her relationship with Aector.

It’s grim, gruesome, somewhat slow moving and as ever, it’s beautifully written. It’s by no means my favourite. I’m not sure how many books are left for poor suffering Aector, it feels like he needs a rest.

David Mark is a unique writer with a similarly unique protagonist, both he’ and Aector are very different from the rest of the crowded crime thriller market which makes me return again and again.

Intense, gritty, darkly powerful writing, it’s not for the feint of heart but it is very good.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Severn House Publishers for an advance copy of Flesh and Blood, the eleventh novel to feature DI Aector McAvoy of Humberside Police.

Aector is on holiday with his family when he learns that he has been attacked and left for dead. It’s not him, but he is shocked when he realises who it is and who else is involved. DSupt Trish Pharaoh and her secrets are at the heart of it.

I thoroughly enjoyed Flesh and Blood, which is a well told tale of revenge and manipulation with a few twists to keep it interesting. Seriously, it doesn’t need the twists to be interesting because the plot is suitably complex to keep the reader turning the pages, but it is also extremely violent, more so than usual, and I found myself squirming at times, not just at the physical but at the psychological cruelty that accompanies it.

The novel is told from various points of view and that makes it a choppy read, but it also makes it intriguing. Where do all the characters fit in? Why is Trish Pharaoh being targeted? Who is behind it all? The answers lie in her past and someone’s appropriation of it for their own ends. It’s bewildering at first, not just for the reader, but for Aector as well, stuck as he is away from the action in Derbyshire. It’s well done.

This is not a police procedural like the previous novels. Aector and Trish are more the hunted than the hunters, so it’s not always a pleasant read if you’re like me and identify with the characters. I had to put the book down a few times when the tension and stress got to me, which I take as a sign of good writing that I got so invested. This investment was slightly dented, however, by the end of the novel. Everything is explained, but not everything is resolved. I chuckled at one resolution, gnashed my teeth at another and dropped my jaw at Trish’s perspicacity and many secrets.

Flesh and Blood is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

Far too gruesome and violent although I did persist to the end, almost didn't; the characters felt completely unreal. I know it's a novel, villains are nasty and police have a hard time but this lot goes well beyond imagination for me. It was well-written and there's plenty of detail, more than enough twists and a very over the top set of characters; the quality of writing gives it the two stars. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an advance copy.