The Blurb
Three bodies, one suspect. That suspect is you…
When the unidentified corpse of an apparent suicide victim is found hanging above a complex pattern of forty photographs of children, Detective Inspector Jonah Pennance of the Met’s specialist Sapphire Unit is brought in to investigate.
A post-mortem reveals the suicide was murder, and Pennance realises he knows the man. But as the body count rises, all the signs point to a care home in Kent – a place that Pennance is all too familiar with.
The problem is the only person connecting the victims is Pennance – and he has a solid motive for wanting them dead… Can Pennance prove his innocence?
Perfect for fans of Ian Rankin, Stuart MacBride, and Peter James Blood Sentence is the first book in the explosive series featuring Detective Inspector Jonah Pennance.
Blood Sentence was published by Gladius Press on 28th February 2022.
Buy Links
Amazon UK
Amazon US
My Review
First of all, I just want to say how delighted I am that Keith Nixon is back! He never really went away, of course, he's just been beavering away in the background but I'm so pleased he's back with something new for us. I won't list the previous books of his I've read and reviewed as there are eight of them but if you put his name in the search bar they'll all come up.
So, to Blood Sentence. A new series and thus a new protagonist - DI Jonah Pennance, a member of a team which investigates the exploitation and abuse of children, the stuff of nightmares. A phone call from Wales drags him away from his brand new case - a man has been found dead in a car registered to Jonah Pennance. And so it begins...
Jonah Pennance is an easy man to like but I'm looking forward to getting to know him better in future books. He seems quite a straightforward, straight up kind of guy, but when we meet him he is still mourning the death of his sister six months earlier, although they weren't close. He is no nonsense, and has a good relationship with his colleagues and superiors. There's been a wee bit of history with partner Simone but they're through that now and have a comfortable relationship. I think, though, there's a wee bit of 'Will they, won't they?'. Pennance's life hasn't always been straightforward though and during the course of this book he has to confront some painful memories.
The storyline features illegal drug testing on vulnerable people but somehow there is also a link to Pennance's past. Nixon teases the two threads throughout the book until a very surprising and ultimately very sad conclusion. Oh, and there is a jealous wife in the mix too! There's a lot going on, and the story moves around the country so we get to visit London, Anglesey, Colwyn Bay, Thanet, Hastings and St Leonard's. And in our visit to Thanet it was great to see some familiar faces from Keith's Solomon Gray series (Pennance himself appeared in Dig Two Graves). But it never feels too busy, as the author has weaved it all together perfectly. The pharmaceutical elements to the story seem authentic and well researched and there is also an historical abuse of power discussed - obviously fiction but I fear it mirrors many real situations.
In Blood Sentence, Keith Nixon has given us a taut, suspenseful thriller that's full of intrigue. But it's full of heart too and great characters. A fabulous start to a new series and I can't wait to see what's next for DI Jonah Pennance and his team.
The Author
Keith Nixon is the best-selling author of sixteen novels and one million words in print, including the Margate based Solomon Gray series of over 250,000 copies in circulation and reached no.1 on Amazon in the UK, US, Canada and Australia.
Keith lived near the gritty seaside town of Margate, where many of his novels are based, for 17 years before relocating to the edge of the Peak District with his family where he lives today. Keith works in a senior sales role within a high-tech industry and has regularly travelled all over the globe.
His novels are published by Gladius Press and Bastei Lubbe (German).
Author Social Media Links
Website
Thank you so much for taking part in the tour today and sharing your review x
ReplyDelete