In M W Craven’s The Puppet Show, disgraced cop Washington Poe is dragged into the investigation of a serial killer known as The Immolation Man when his name is discovered carved into a victim’s chest. Poe is soon digging below the glittery veneer of local high society to reveal its dark secrets.
The Puppet Show is just great. A gripping, breathless, twisting and turning crime thriller that is gritty but never grim, despite its dark subject matter. The Puppet Show‘s characters are all really well-drawn and the interactions between them are marvellous. There is a lot of warmth and humour in The Puppet Show, too and I look forward to the next book in the series. Highly recommended.
In Black Summer and The Curator, Poe and Bradshaw are back again. It’s been a very long time since I read two novels by the same author one after the other, but Black Summer was such a joy that I immediately moved onto The Curator. Both books are a skilful blend of whipcrack-thriller and police procedural that had me racing through them but what really puts meat on their bones-sorry Tilly! – is the characters and how they interact with each other. The cast of all three books are like a surrogate family of misfits and are all well-drawn, realistic and likeable, even when they can sometimes be annoying. There is darkness in these books for sure, but there is also a lot of humour and warmth. Extra points for a cracking villain in Black Summer– too! Highly recommended.
Poe and Tilly are back again in Dead Ground, and this time they become embroiled in the murky world of the secret service. Some great new characters are introduced, the story twists and turns like a corkscrew and it is, of course, highly recommened.