A Place Of Reckoning by J. F. Burgess
Three women. Two bodies. One deadly secret.
Pottery tycoon Charles Lancaster knows who kidnapped his wife.
He’s sure it was the brutally dangerous ex bare-knuckle fighter, Patrick Dunne. Patrick promised to avenge his son who died in a tragic accident in one of Charles’ factories. It’s an open and shut case...
…until a headless body turns up in a remote Peak District pool, its back tattooed with a cryptic Tarot card. As Detective Inspector Tom Blake and FBI profiler Lucy Stryker dig into the mystery, they unearth long-buried secrets about an historic conspiracy and a clandestine cult. But with a sadistic killer on the loose, and everyone hiding things, it’s not just the victim’s life that hangs in the balance. Will anyone get out alive?
Because when the powerful are pointing the finger, you’d better watch your back…
I grew up in Stoke-on-Trent and spent many years doing less than ideal jobs in and around the Potteries five towns, before finally taking the plunge and quitting work to follow my creative side. As a keen horse-racing fan, I started off in 2007 self-publishing betting how-to manuals. This is my main business, but my real passion is for crime fiction, both reading and writing.
Inspired by authors such as Mel Sherratt, Peter James, Val McDermid, James Oswald, Kate Ellis, Martina Cole and Ian Rankin, and in need of a new challenge, I decided to try my hand at writing crime fiction.
After months of hard slog and sheer determination, I finished my first novel: The Killer Shadow Thieves. This is the first in a planned series of gritty crime fiction books set in Stoke on Trent, involving charismatic DI Tom Blake and his larger-than-life sidekick DS Jon Murphy.
The follow-up, The Deadly Legacy, is a cult serial killer thriller, with a 200-year-old secret at the heart of a plot full of unexpected twists, which push the relationships of a rich pottery family into life-threatening conflicts.
I write tense, gripping, crime fiction mysteries with a twist – or urban crossbreed, as I call it. My thrillers take you deep inside the criminal mind.
I live with my wife and family in Stoke-on-Trent, England. You can find out more about me at...
www.jfburgess.co.uk, or on Twitter at @burgess1012.
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Review
I really enjoyed this book - it was chilling, kept you guessing, nail biting tension and a very believable story. The pacing in the book was excellent, you really did want to continue reading to find out the answers! It was a very compelling read. This is the second book in this series, the previous one being The Killer Shadow Thieves, but this definitely can be read as a stand-alone.
The book opens with Charles reporting his wife missing. She took the dogs for a walk and never came back. Annabelle was kidnapped during this walk and soon family tensions are exposed. I really enjoyed the two storylines throughout the book. Who was the headless woman in the park and how did it relate to the kidnapping of Annabelle?
I really liked the characters, especially that of Olivia. I felt that the portrayal of a blind woman and her fear of being alone was particularly well done! I also really liked the burgeoning relationship between Blake and Stryker. Although, the profiler/detective narrative has been done before in many books, this one still seemed fresh and believable. I think it helped that Stryker still had some innocence about her even though she was a seasoned profiler. Plus, it was joyful reading about their pub date.
I do feel a bit conflicted about Patrick Dunne’s origins. One does have to be careful when portraying a group in society like the travelling community. Having stories like these I feel compounds the image that travellers are criminals. However, it did fit the story - having a tight family where there were nefarious activities taking place. I did like how the police didn’t seem to have negative attitudes towards the community apart from knowing that they would back up against Patrick. If that is the only niggle I have about the book though it means it’s a good read!
I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend this to others. I will certainly be looking out for the next book in the series! Hurry up and write it!
