Deadly Dance

4.5 Stars

DI David Vogel has his hands full being first called to investigate the death of a young female teenager. Although Vogel knows this is just a child, it's nothing out of the ordinary ..so he thinks. The girl was supposed to be seeing a school friend, but she was dressed more for a date. Who was she really meeting?

The evidence ..or lack of ... leads him to suspect three different protagonists. But who are they ...and is any one of them capable of cold blooded murder?

This is a dark, compelling crime thriller / psychological thriller. The excellent story line includes three suspects. The reader learns who they are though alternating chapters. Saul, Leo, and Al all have their secrets ...and their secret lives.

This is the first in an intriguing new series featuring Bristol detective, DI David Vogel. Looks like this will be a most interesting and compelling series.

Many thanks to the author / Severn House / Netgalley for the digital copy of DEADLY DANCE. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Very good book, lots of twists and turns. Look forward to read more from this author.

3 and 1 / 2 stars

Fourteen-year old Melanie “Mel” Cooke is murdered and left behind some bins at the back of a store after being reported as missing by her mother. DI David Vogel is on the case. He has a daughter the same age as Mel who is named Rosamunde.

This book is interspersed with vignettes from three other points of view. They are a pedophile, a gay man who isn’t out of the closet and a lonely man who remakes himself online to meet a wife. Saul, Leo and Al are all troubled souls who have their problems. These stories add an interesting aside to the main story and the reader at first doesn’t know their significance. But these stories become very important later in the story.

There are several potential suspects in the Mel Cooke murder case. There is her father, her step-father and other persons of interest. Both Mel’s mother and her step-mother suffer from “nerves.” Interesting to say the least.

Together with DS John Willis and DC Dawn Saslow Vogel and his team follow the clues. They interview possible witnesses, family members and people at the school which Mel attended.

DS Willis zeroes in on Mel’s father and he is arrested for murder. After a shocking mix-up at the lab, the father is released.

Through persistence and a very clever mind, DI Vogel hits upon a theory that seems so outrageous it has to be untrue. But it is true.

When something awful happens to DC Dawn Saslow DI Vogel has his answer.

This book is well written and plotted. The way the story was constructed was very interesting. The tension started out immediately with the murder of Melanie Cooke and continued throughout the story until it ended with a huge bang. Aside from a few typos, I had no problem easily reading the book. As someone with a masters in clinical psychology, I had a few problems with the last 30% or so of the book. Not that I didn’t believe the given theories, but it’s not been my experience that it happens the way it was described. This is my first Hilary Bonner novel, but it won’t be my last! I immediately went to Amazon to look at her other books

I want to thank NetGalley and Severn House Publishers for forwarding to me a copy of this great book to read.

Great book. Brilliant plot and main characters. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. Very enjoyable.