Literally never get a bad book out of Nick Louth, I haven't read any other Talentire books but I've read all his "body books" - this one was great, gripping from the start and interesting all the way through. Unskimmable.

The Last Ride is the second book in the DI Jan Talantire series, following up the brilliant “Two Deaths of Ruth Lyle” with another meticulously plotted mystery. I beta read this for the author back in April, then got the final ARC version from NetGalley - it’s deeply satisfying to both find my name in the credits and see the changes that I and the other betas had suggested put in place. This works fine as a standalone and there are no spoilers for the previous book either.

Devon & Cornwall detective Jan Talantire finds herself first on scene at a horrific car crash, where a group of teenage joyriders have lost control of a stolen Mercedes on a remote stretch of road along Bodmin moor. Then Jade, a friend of the accident victims, is reported missing by her worried mother and Jan cannot see how she could’ve walked away unhurt and just disappeared - or did she?

One of my favourite things about this author’s crime fiction is that the Why is usually more important than the Who - the crimes committed are for reasons that make sense at the reveal, rather than just featuring crazy serial killers. I enjoyed this even more the second time round, knowing who the guilty party was and seeing how clever the misdirection is. I really like Jan and her team, and there is an intriguing subplot about Jan’s past relationship with her predatory Commanding Officer which is set to play out over the next couple of books. I have a high bar for thrillers but this gets an easy 5 stars from me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Canelo for the advance review copy. The Last Ride is published on November 7th.

I really really enjoyed this
Police crime books are my favourite and DI Jan and her team have just joined my all time favourites
The crime was completely crazy with so many different routes of inquires trying to find all the pieces while working under a man who I wouldn’t want to share space with
Loved the team and can’t wait to see more of them
I’ve downloaded the first book so am already getting started can’t believe I missed it
Fab crime thriller brilliant character a well written crime with twists and red herrings

What happened to the missing victim? On a midsummer’s night, a stolen car packed with teenagers crashes at high speed on the southern edge of Bodmin Moor in Cornwall. DI Jan Talantire arrives at the scene to find the victims of the crash!
Good book! This book had suspense, intrigue, action, murder, mystery, a great who done it and a few twists and turns. The story was interesting! I definitely recommend reading this book! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!