Taken to the Hills by S J Richards
Abductions and murder are not what ex-DCI Luke Sackville expected when he left the police after tragedy struck his family.
Luke’s return to the workplace was meant to be a soft landing but when a woman vanishes after being accused of taking bribes, he is assigned a disparate team and tasked with tracking her down.
Their search becomes more urgent when her disappearance is linked to the death of a second woman. When a third goes missing the hunt becomes a race against time. Luke’s return to work presents him with the most challenging case of his career as the murder victims mount.
Murder and intrigue are peppered with humour in this fast-paced crime thriller set in and around the beautiful city of Bath in the southwest of England.
Taken to the Hills is the first in the Luke Sackville crime series. If you like a team you can root for then you’ll love this page-turner. Perfect for fans of JD Kirk, LJ Ross, JM Dalgleish and David J Gatward.
Review
‘Taken to the Hills’ is an engaging and engrossing thriller that is packed full of action! This is the start of a brand new series from S J Richards and I found it to be a great beginning. I will definitely be looking out for the upcoming releases in the series as I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one. It was like a poloce procedural but just with no police if that makes sense!
Abductions and murders was not what ex-DCI Luke Sackville was expecting when he took up a job in the private sector after the death of his wife. Luke has taken a job as ‘Head of Ethics’ of a firm which provides outsourcing for government contracts. But he didn't think he was going to jump into the deep end right off the bat as a young woman has gone missing and its his job to track her down. It doesn't help that his team have no experience in this type of work but it is a race against time as the murder of a young woman is linked back to his firm. Luke has a horrible case to deal with and hopefully he will find the murder in time!
Now do you see what I mean about it having the feel of a police procedural! It's has all the hallmarks of this type of book due none of its advantages! I mean by that access to CCTV outside the firm, tracing of phones etc. This gives it an old-fashioned feel of a classic whodunit as there isn't as much reliance on technology. It's more about the clues and rational thinking.
The book has a great cast of characters, all well formed and perfectly balanced to give a great team. They might not have much detection nuances to begin with but I think they got there in the end! The stand out for me was Josh - he was just Gucci! But Luke was a great protagonist and I am looking forward to seeing how his character develops! The book was well-paced, the first half a bit slower as we were introduced to all the characters and backstory. But this is always the case in the first book in a series I find. It ramped up the tension and action in the later half and the narrative was well thought out and plotted.
Let me know if you pick this one up!
