Crime was always a genre that I remember my mum reading a lot of. At a younger age, it didn't interest me very much but over the past couple of years this genre has become far more appealing to me.
I think it has something to do with the thrill of the chase.
Trying to solve a puzzle alongside the detectives working on the case.
And this was certainly how I felt when I read Julia Vaughan's latest novel Daisy Chain, as we followed a rather thrilling cold case.
In 2009 the body of five-year-old Daisy Prospero was found in Shropshire woodland. Her killer has never been caught.
Ten years on, Detective Chief Inspector Kath Fortune and her new Cold Case team are on the hunt to find the truth.
With psychic Lane Petreus and tech expert Byron on board, the team must call on all their resources to close the case.
Alongside the new investigation into his daughter's murder, Todd Prospero has his own mystery to solve. Who is the woman he finds in his garden in the middle of the night on the brink of death?
A chain of secrets and lies lead the team to uncover connections that no-one could have imagined.
Can the killer be brought to justice?
This is a book that for me felt unique.
In part because of the fact that they weren't working on a crime that had happened in present day, the fact that it was a cold case made it even more intense.
But it also felt one of a kind because of the use of psychic - which although not the norm - that didn't feel out of place, in fact it added an extra layer to the story.
Our main protagonist is Detective Chief Inspector Kath Fortune. I liked her a lot. She has a no nonsense approach to work and her home life (something we got a look at too). There was a real determination from her right from the start.
Everything begins when Kath is offered a new job, to start her own team to solve cold cases, a challenge that she relishes. Her first case is one close to her heart as it's a case she previously worked on and is now determined to solve.
Stakes are immediately high.
What really set this book a part from others within this genre is that the author gave focus to the other members of Kath's team. You could tell that they all valued each other's opinions and that they did in fact need one another to crack the case.
Each and every one of their personalities was showcased, and this for me gave the story more depth, more meaning.
With every passing chapter, the tension builds, and as lies become truths it is apparent just how much the police missed the first time round. I'll admit to wondering just how some of the avenues hadn't already been explored but with the use of modern technology certain parts of the investigation that were once missed were successfully highlighted.
The perpetrator is actually revealed quite early on in the story.
A bold move by the author as sometimes this can take away a bit of the excitement.
In this novel it worked well, I wanted to know just how this murderer had remained hidden for so long and just what their motives were to commit such an horrendous act of violence in the first place.
I was left open mouthed by the end because the big reveal isn't something I expected or anticipated, just goes to show that those we trust the most can actually be the ones that hold onto the biggest secrets.
Daisy Chain is a dark and at times disturbing crime novel, with a fast and turbulent pace I was captivated from start to finish.
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