Black Summer by M. W. Craven
Black Summer by M. W. Craven
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Black Summer by M.W. Craven is the second in the Washington Poe books. I didn’t know about this series until I saw it on @netgalley and I am so glad that I did. I review all books neutrally and when they are as great as this I will freely leave 5* reviews on all my channels. I have actually found a new favourite author!
I would recommend reading the first book ‘The Puppet Show’ before this one as there are plot points that continue into ‘Black Summer’, however, you can read this as a stand alone if needed.
Black Summer begins with being introduced to Poe and his colleagues, his boss in the National Crime Agency Flynn and tech nerd Tilly Bradshaw.
He is called back up to Cumbria, which is where he lives, thinking it’s to do with his last case (covered in his previous book ‘The Puppet Show) but finds out it is regarding an old case where Michael Keaton, a celebrity chef who holds three Michelin stars, was convicted in a no body murder of his 18 year old daughter, Elizabeth. However, the daughter has just walked into a local library six years later saying she has escaped her captor.
I thought this weird setup of looking at a case from a different perspective was an excellent premise for a police procedural novel. Trying to prove that Poe was right in the first place and that Keaton did indeed kill his daughter. Of course, it wouldn’t be easy as there are scientific hurdles and an actual daughter to overcome but he gets there with the help of his colleagues.
I love the relationships that are starting to form between the characters but especially the juxtaposition of Poe and Tilly. It’s the combination of straight talking, evidence and feeling based Poe against Tilly’s data based and mathematical character. Experience versus innocence. However, they both have cores of steel and although they are awesome characters on their own when they come together they are unstoppable.
Tilly is a unique character, finished university when she was 16, doesn’t understand the real world, has a mother who incessantly coddles her from society and is completely unfiltered when it comes to saying what she thinks. It’s never inferred that she is on the spectrum but she certainly has some of the traits. I absolutely love Tilly Bradshaw!
Washington Poe feels like a character that still has a lot of background to unravel, especially when it comes to his family and childhood. He doesn’t have a lot of friends and they really are only Tilly and Flynn. This isolation is self enforced though and is reflected in his place of abode - it takes a two mile walk to get there as it can’t be accessed by car. However, you can feel him starting to thaw in ‘Black Summer’ and even begins to entertain romantic thoughts!
Poe and Tilly’s relationship forms an integral part of this series and I am honestly looking forward to the next instalment just to see how this progresses.
M. W. Craven is going to be one of those writers who becomes an icon in the UK crime fiction scene. His books are superbly plotted, his characters of Poe and Tilly are very clearly defined as the good guys and his themes show a large dollop of empathy. He understands that people are manipulated but that doesn’t ultimately make them ‘evil’, namely the doctor in this book and the killer from the previous book ‘The Puppet Show’. His plots are complicated but still feel realistic and are thought provoking and addictive. It’s rare to get a book this good!
