Blood Torment (DCI Andy Gilchrist) by T F Muir
| Blood Torment (DCI Andy Gilchrist) by T F Muir | |
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| Category: Crime | |
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Reviewer: Sue Magee
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| Summary: When a two-year-old child is abducted from her home in the middle of the night Andy Gilchrist is faced with the crime and the problem of political interference. A very satisfying read. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 384 | Date: May 2016 |
| Publisher: Constable | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-8-1472121165 | |
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Two-year-old Katie Davis was abducted from her mother's home some time in the early hours of the morning. There's something wrong though and DCI Andy Gilchrist suspects that Andrea Davis might have abducted - possibly even murdered - her own child. Then it starts to get political when Gilchrist discovers that Davis' father is Dougal Davis, the former MSP who was forced to resign his seat when he was accused of physically abusing his third wife. Even disgraced politicians have some clout and there's the added complication of the fact that Davis's first wife went to school Gilchrist's ultimate boss. Just to make matters even worse Gilchrist finds that he could be working with DI Tosh MacIntosh - a man for whom he has no respect. But could there be an answer to the abduction in the form of Sammie Bell, a convicted paedophile who had moved back to his home town just a few weeks ago?
I'm on a roll with police procedurals at the moment: it's only a couple of weeks since I discovered Stephen Booth and I have his back catalogue to explore at my leisure. Feeling confident, I picked up Blood Torment, knowing nothing of T F Muir, but ready to take the chance on another author with a back series which might be worth reading - and I've found another winner. Gilchrist is very much part of a team (rather than the rogue cop who goes off and solves cases all on his own despite his superiors' best attempts to impede him) and I liked the relationship between him and DS Jessie Janes, who'll make you cringe with some of the things she says, but usually because you hope that you'd have had the guts to say them yourself, but know you wouldn't.
It's a darned good story too and the plot has more layers than an onion. Gilchrist's stationed in St Andrews, which might sound nice, but has the same sort of problems as everywhere else and rich and poor living cheek by jowl. Nothing's quite as simple as it might look on the surface and the Davis family certainly has more than its fair share of secrets they'd prefer to stay that way. There's a lot of unravelling to do and there are times when Gilchrist wonders if he's losing his touch - or if his job might be in danger. It's a very satisfying solution though - and it ticks all the boxes.
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy of the book to the Bookbag. As well as reading the book I listened to an audio download (which I bought myself), narrated by David Monteath. He has a good range of voices and I found the listening to be easy but compelling - I'd gladly listen to more from him.
If this book appealed we can recommend Secrets of Death (Cooper and Fry) by Stephen Booth.
T F Muir's DCI Andy Gilchrist Novels in Chronological Order
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