Follow the Leader is the 2nd book in the DS Allie Shenton series and I really enjoyed this police procedural. There is a serial killer loose, but how is he choosing his victims and why. The reader gets the back story of the killer, and we know he is out for revenge, but the police are not privy to the same information. Each body is found with a magnetic letter, an E and a V on the first two victims. They know there will be more, so they need to follow the clues to figure this one out.

Wow, this book grabbed me right from the start and kept me gripped to the end. Serial killers are not necessarily my cup of tea, but this story was well written, moved at a great pace, and kept me reading late into the night to find out what was next. Often when you read a book with a serial killer, there is a terrible background situation that causes the killer to go off the rails, and this one shares that story through flashbacks. I felt terrible for him, but still don't condone how he wanted to get his revenge. A great story with great characters.

Terrifying, brilliantly written and breathtaking.

A well plotted and suspense filled story that keeps you guessing until the cataclysmic ending.

Highly recommended and well worth the 5 stars I believe that this author deserves.

For fans of this genre it’s a MUST READ.

A fabulous read.
I would highly recommend to family and friends.

Many thanks to the publisher for my ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

A string of seemingly random murders shocks a little English town. Fridge Letters connect the victims. They also went to the same school, but that was over 25 years ago. Sure, that can not be the solution?

Follow the Leader is the second DS Allie Shenton book, but was my introduction to the series. I felt I could easily join in on this point, and had no problem following the different police officers around. The killer is known from the start but this doesn't mean there is no interesting chase. The pace was rather quick right from the start with a high body count. It was an easy and entertaining read but I missed something that made it stand out among all small-English-town-detectives. I mean, looking at all the books, it is terribly unsafe to go anywhere near small English towns since the murder rates are astonishing.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

A man’s body is found on a canal towpath. In his pocket, a magnetic letter in the shape of an E.
Days later, a second victim is found, this time with the letter V tucked into her clothing.
As the body count rises, the eerie, childlike clues point to a pattern that sends DS Allie Shenton and her colleagues into full alert.
The race is on. Allie and the team must work quickly to determine where the killer will strike next. The rules are simple but deadly—to catch the killer, they must follow the leader.

*3.5 stars*

From the get-go that there really isn't any "mystery" or "suspense" as far as the perpetrator goes - we know early one what is happening there. This book is more of a police procedural and how they catch up with the killer, rather than finding out who he/she is.

However, the story-telling is very good. I was hooked into the story from very early on, and I found that the author has a very clever knack to keep us engaged as readers. We don't get bogged down in too much detail - either wordy jingo of the police or boring descriptions of the landscape etc. Just straight story-telling - and that gets a big vote from me.

The characters are pretty good - Allie is the obvious standout. Lots going on in her story and it is going to be interesting to see how her career pans out over time. The others were a little one-dimensional for me but they did their jobs well enough.

Will I read more of these books? For sure. I am not sure how far this series will go but I will look forward to them...


Paul
ARH