ramblingmads

What if one moment – one split second – changed everything? 

When a firearms officer shoots a suspect dead and wounds another, who later dies in hospital, the official line is that the sun was in her eyes. Her body cam failed.

Known only as Officer X, her anonymity is meant to protect her – until a judge releases her name and a media storm erupts. Detective Superintendent Jack Dylan and DI Charley Mann are called in to determine whether it was a justifiable use of force – or something darker. And when it’s revealed that Officer X knew the victim, and her brother died of a drug overdose linked to the same woman, the case becomes charged with personal and political tension.

As pressure mounts, a vulnerable witness dies and a lost phone surfaces with a photograph and a message that could unravel everything – and reveal the truth about what happened that day.

Split Second brings Dylan and Mann together for the first time, in an investigation that will test their instincts, their loyalties and the limits of justice itself, as both detectives must decide how far they’ll go – and what they’re willing to sacrifice – to uncover the truth.

Former Head of CID Bob Bridgestock is now an international best-selling author, along with his wife Carol, who also worked for West Yorkshire Police. The couple, who write under the pen name of R.C. Bridgestock, were voted the eight best crime writers of all me by WHSmith Readers.

The writing duo created the character DI Jack Dylan, a detective from Harrowfield, with nine books in the Dylan series. In 2020, they launched a new series featuring a strong Yorkshire female, Detective Inspector Charley Mann. The couple were the storyline consultants/police procedural on BAFTA winning BBC1 police drama Happy Valley, Scott & Bailey and The Beast Must Die, as well as other police dramas.

My thoughts: I can’t imagine having to make the split second decision the story revolves around, knowing you might be about to end someone’s life, but the officer in this case does make that decision and then everything changes.

The decision is made to charge the officer with murder – because she has a link to one of the deceased pair of criminals, and it looks a bit convenient that she was the one who took the shot. But things are a lot more complicated than that.

As the case progresses, as the barristers present their versions of events, hoping to sway the jury, we spend time with Officer X, her nerves and her fears. It’s intense and the confines of the dock add to the feeling of pressure building. Juries can be hard to predict and if one barrister is more persuasive than the other, that could be all it takes.

There’s a couple of killer twists and a few things not followed up by either the police or the lawyers that leave unanswered questions and a nagging suspicion of something else going on. It’s very clever and subtle. 

I really enjoyed this, it’s got excellent plotting, paced out beautifully, and interesting characters, I wanted to know more about so many of them. A really good read. 

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

Detective Abigail Morton of Kent Police is in a race against time to catch a killer before he finds his perfect victim. Because when he finds her, she will die.

She must have red hair, green eyes, and pale skin. Just like Lizzy Oaken. Lizzyʼs drink is spiked. She wakes up in a locked basement. Trapped by a man who knows exactly what he wants from her. He cuts a lock of her hair as a trophy. But for some reason sheʼs not quite right. And Lizzy survives.

Detective Abigail is Lizzyʼs source handler. Her last informant turned up in A&E, badly beaten, too frightened to talk any more. Now sheʼs relying on Lizzy. Because the attacker is still out there. Still searching. And the next woman might be the perfect victim.

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Charlie Gallagher was a serving UK police officer for thirteen years. During that time he had many roles — starting as a front-line response officer, he became a member of a specialist tactical team and finally a detective investigating serious offences. Charlie left to concentrate on writing full time.

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My thoughts: DC Abigail Morton has a tendency to take risks, not check in with her colleagues and put herself in harm’s way. Which she does once again in pursuit of whoever is kidnapping young women, knocking them out, assaulting them and then threatening to send out degrading photos taken during the time they were unconscious. But as awful as it is, sometimes these women end up dead.

The victims have all been students at the university, and there seems to be a link with parties taking place in abandoned, condemned buildings. But Abigail’s informant claims not to know anything.

There’s also a connection to a case from fifteen years ago, could it be the same man, released from prison and living in another county? 

As Abigail continues to run her own investigation, leaving her partner and the wider team out of the loop, she doesn’t realise that she’s being watched, her somewhat foolish attempt to solve the case all by herself, shadowed by people who will keep her safe.

She has good instincts, but is impulsive and her partner, the good natured, cake loving Vince is at the end of his tether. Abigail needs to get better at her communication skills or risk losing her job. Thankfully not this time, and the team might be just in time to save a life.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of the book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.