Category: reviews

“The Genius Killer” is, at its core, a confrontation of powerful characters. A psychological battle between DCI Theodore “Tex” Deacon and the purest psychopath he has encountered, Karl Jackson. Local journalist Debbie Pilkington rides shotgun with the Lake District DCI. Their lives intertwine as the hunt begins. The novel is set in the mountains of Cumbria/Lancashire.

Tex Deacon is a legendary hunter of serial killers, but, following the death of his wife, he’s hit a kind of “detective’s block”. Deacon is close to a breakdown. The Chief Constable, Barbara Bracewell, dilutes his duties. She wants Deacon to host a new venture, “The Sir Robert Peel Lecture”, and then to follow that up by helping with the cadet training programme. Deacon’s subject at the lecture is murder, and it’s titled, “How to Catch a Killer”. Deacon’s a humble local hero, and the lecture hall is packed.

At the lecture, Deacon encounters local chemistry teacher, and serial killer, Karl Jackson. The incognito Jackson asks a question from the floor, and the relationship begins. Deacon needs help though. He’s been instructed to step back from hard core police duties, and, of course, he has his “detective’s block”. A young journalist, Deborah Pilkington, wants to do Deacon’s life story for the local paper, as part of a series on “Great Lancastrians”. Deacon persuades Debbie to help him. Deacon can now work covertly. He draws on Debbie’s strong journalistic capabilities, and couples them with his own natural, but currently hampered talents.

Mark has been a journalist and broadcaster for over 30 years. Working almost exclusively in sport. Mark was employed for 15 years by SKY Sports, and 11 years by the BBC. Elsewhere he worked, on significant national contracts, for ITV, Eurosport and Premier Sport.Mark has been been involved in BAFTA and Sony award winning, and nominated, documentaries and programmes. Mark worked on these productions as a writer/reporter.  For the last 10 years Mark has focused on rugby commentary with SKY, as well as Premier Sport and Eirsport. Mark was working on the Six Nations Rugby when all sport stopped due to the pandemic, so he decided to write his first novel.

My thoughts: Karl Jackson thinks he’s a genius, he’s pretty sure he’ll never get caught, even when several of his victims are members of his own family. He doesn’t watch enough crime shows, only interested in the killers, you should pay more attention to how they get caught.

DCI “Tex” Deacon and journalist Debbie Pilkington put the pieces together, and with a little help from a surprising source, finally gather enough evidence to go to Deacon’s boss and get a warrant for the so-called genius’ arrest.

Written with a dark sense of humour and by a writer who clearly has studied the TV and literary classics (I spotted some lovely little references, including a “Mother of God” for all the Line of Duty fans out there), the characters are all intelligent but only one of them is using his brains for murder. And that last twist, ooh, nice. Highly enjoyable and clever writing. I hope there’s more in a similar vein to come.

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

A baffling mystery sets an FBI agent on a dangerous path… Park rangers are puzzled when a child is found wandering alone in the a forest near Seattle. middle of Stranger still, he speaks a peculiar language that sounds a little like German, and is dressed in clothes people wore in the Middle Ages.

With no one having reported him missing, FBI Special Agent Will McCord assembles a dedicated unit to investigate the case, placing Detective Ilona Farris at its head. Their relationship is edgy. They used to be an item. But McCord knows Farris is the best person for the job. Especially when more children turn up in similar circumstances. Farris isn’t convinced that she is in fact the right person. Memories of a traumatic incident in her own childhood begin to emerge, and threaten to cloud her judgement. Can she bury her demons and solve the mystery of these children, seemingly lost in time?

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Born in Sydney, Australia, Iain worked for many years in print media production for newspapers, magazines, and direct marketing agencies, and as a writer for small business websites. He has written fiction from a young age. Somewhere in his framed copy of his first published story, a ‘5house, there is still a minute fiction’ tale in Woman’s Day. Since then, he has never looked back, having short stories published in various magazines worldwide, and now his suspenseful thrillers and mysteries . Commenting on what influenced his writing journey, he describes a moment that has stayed with him.

On his first day in his first job, as a teenage messenger boy, he left the office via a back exit into a narrow alleyway where he saw the body of a man crumpled on the ground. He had just jumped out of a window from the neighbouring building. The paramedics were already approaching. When Iain returned an hour or so later, the body and the surrounding activity were gone, there was just a chalk outline on the ground where the body had been. Ever since he has wondered who that man was, what led him to suicide, and what his future might have been had he lived. Decades later, that chalk outline is often on the writer’s mind when telling the stories of his characters’ lives. Authors who have inspired Iain include Daphne Du Maurier, Ken Follett, Michael Crichton, Tess Gerritsen, Michael Robotham, and Harlen Coben. He lives on the New South Wales coast with his wife.

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My thoughts: I really enjoyed this creepy and clever thriller. A lost child who appears dressed and speaking like he’s from medieval Germany in the middle of an American forest sparks the FBI’s interest. He’s clearly traumatised but they can’t work out what’s going on. He says he’s from Hamelin and followed a piper. The Pied Piper, but that was several hundred years ago, and is considered fiction. So where did he come from?

When more children appear with the same story, the investigators are intrigued and worried. Ilona also has her own private investigation, but could they be connected?

The mysterious figure of the Piper is spotted and the children disappear again. The tension builds and the team suspect each other. Will and Ilona’s past relationship adds to the tension and as she is put into danger by her personal case, could all be lost or will this all turn out to be more complicated and twenty-first century in origin than they thought?

Very clever, full of twists and turns, with characters that charm (I loved Zach and Zoe) and the folktale links were right up my alley thematically. I hope this becomes a series, each case more ingenious and fiendish than the last. There’s a lot of potential here.

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