The Blurb
THE DARKNESS FROM HIS PAST WILL FINALLY COME TO LIGHT
The death of DS Tyler’s father irrevocably changed his life. As a child, he believed Richard had killed himself but, as the years have passed, Tyler has grown convinced he was murdered.
When a cold case lands on Tyler’s desk, there’s nothing immediately notable about it, apart from the link it has to his father. Richard was investigating the same case shortly before he died.
Finally, Tyler has a tangible link to the past, one that could give him the answers he has been looking for. And while there are dangerous people who will do anything to keep him quiet, he knows he has to keep digging.
Because you’d risk anything for your family – even your life.
My Review
I'm really enjoying this series and if you click through you can read my thoughts on the first two books, Firewatching and Nighthawking. Cold Reckoning finds DS Adam Tyler and colleagues in very wintery, cold conditions with an even colder case to solve. How, if at all, does it link back to the death of Adam's father? There's a current case to trouble the police too, and Tyler's boss, and godmother, has suddenly disappeared. Meanwhile, 13 year old Edith, who is bullied at school and caring for her sick mother at home, finds solace walking in the countryside near her home, even in the cold weather, until the morning she sees the man with the scary eyes...
There is plenty going on in this book and Adam and his colleagues are certainly challenged, none of them really knowing who they can trust. A new boss has arrived with the absence of DCI Diane Jordan, and that, together with rumours of corruption, has unsettled everyone.
I'll come back to the action in a moment, but what I love in these books are the people, the interactions, the relationships. Adam Tyler is not an easy man to like (or love, it would seem) - he's quite closed, can be quite blunt and abrupt, doesn't really have relaxed relationships with his colleagues - in short, he's not easy to get close to. But I've enjoyed his changing relationship with Jim Doggett as they look into the circumstances surrounding Adam's father's death, and also in this book we see more of Adam's complicated relationship with his brother Jude. But I think my favourite character is probably DC Amina (Mina) Rabbani. She has really blossomed across the three books and this one, I feel we really see her coming into her own. She's much more confident, and able to respond assertively to her predominantly male colleagues. She's really grown as a police officer and Adam sees that in her and is much more willing to trust her and her instincts. And the story is all the richer for it.
The storyline is satisfyingly complex, as Adam and Mina investigate a cold case, literally, and Doggett has an interesting current case to deal with. Adam and Jude are trying to build bridges but the past keeps getting in the way. And there's the missing DCI. Slowly things start coming together and interesting links and 'coincidences' come to light. And there is some really interesting information from Adam's nemesis McKenna. It's a lot to tie together but Thomas does it beautifully. And even though this mainly focuses on a cold case, the tension really increases in the run up to the denouement. Cold Reckoning is another strong book in this great series, and I'm looking forward to the release of Sleeping Dogs later this month.
The Author
Russ Thomas was born in Essex, raised in Berkshire and now lives in Sheffield. After a few 'proper' jobs (among them: pot-washer, optician's receptionist, supermarket warehouse operative, call-centre telephonist, and storage salesman) he discovered the joys of bookselling, where he could talk to people about books all day. Now a full-time writer, he also teaches creative writing classes and mentors new authors.
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