The Killing Kind by Jane Casey
Richard and Judy Book Club 2022
| The Killing Kind by Jane Casey | |
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| Category: Crime | |
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Reviewer: Sue Magee
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| Summary: a stand-alone whodunnit from the author of the Maeve Kerrigan series - and it's a real treat. Highly recommended. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 480/10h40m | Date: May 2021 |
| Publisher: Harper Collins | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-0008404925 | |
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Difficult clients were nothing new to barrister Ingrid Lewis but John Webster came as something of a surprise. After all, it was her cross-examination of the 'victim' which saved him from a lengthy prison sentence. He'd been accused of stalking the woman but it didn't take long to establish that - if anything - it was the other way around. Soon Ingrid never seemed to be free of John Webster and then she came to see him as a threat and was forced to remember that the police officer at his trial had told her that this was the best chance they'd had to put Webster away for a long time: he was a very dangerous man.
In 2019 Ingrid was at a trial with another female barrister, Belinda Grey. Grey was in a hurry: it happens when you have the demands of family life and a busy job with unpredictable hours. To make matter worse it was raining and Grey had no umbrella - so Ingrid gave her her own rather distinctive brolly. A few minutes later Grey was killed by a lorry as she crossed Ludgate Hill: Ingrid couldn't escape the thought that it could have been her - it might even be that it should have been her. This came just as she thought that she'd finally escaped the clutches of John Webster: her relationship with her fiance had foundered, her home had been destroyed and it wasn't the first death.
When Webster meets her, he attempts to persuade her that she's in danger but not from him and that he can save her. The one person who seems to believe what she says about the situation she's in is DC Adam Nash and even he is having to do much of what he does in his own time. Could it be that he has more than a professional interest in her? He is attractive but she's still in love with her ex-fiance, Mark Orpen.
I came to Jane Casey by way of her Maeve Kerrigan series and I'll confess that The Killing Kind caught my eye because I was hoping for news of the next book in the Kerrigan series. It's not Kerrigan herself who attracts me to the books but Casey's style: she has the same sort of clarity of expression as the late, great Ruth Rendell and - if anything - an even better ability when it comes to plotting so I wasn't at all disappointed when I discovered that this is a stand-alone novel.
And it is a cracker - I really couldn't fault it. I swung through thinking that I knew how it was going to work out, to realising that I had no idea at all, to finally being shocked by the denouement, which was superb. The characterisation is excellent: I liked Ingrid but didn't warm to her. She's a woman under great stress and who's very wary of people she meets and Casey captures this brilliantly.
When it comes to a suggestion for your next book, it's a difficult call. You have the feeling that any book you read after this one is going to be something of a disappointment but I'll stick my neck out and say that you might enjoy Cara Hunter's DI Adam Fawley series.
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