Stalkers by Paul Finch.

Stalkers by Paul Finch. 

Avon, February 2013.

Review by Helen Jackson.

Time’s up. You’re Next.

“All he had to do was name the woman he wanted. It was that easy. They would do all the hard work.”
Detective Sergeant Mark ‘Heck’ Heckenberg is investigating the disappearance of 38 different women. Each one was happy and successful until they vanished without a trace.
Desperate to find her missing sister, Lauren Wraxford seeks out Heck’s help. Together they enter a seedy underworld of gangsters and organised crime.
But when they hear rumours about the so-called ‘Nice Guys Club’ they hit a brick wall. They’re the gang that no one will talk about. Because the Nice Guys can arrange anything you want. Provided you pay the price…
Dark, terrifying and unforgettable.’

If there’s anything I love as much as, or possibly more than a good romance, it’s a good crime/thriller novel. I’d seen this advertised on the tube (I think) and kind of knew from the first time I saw the poster that I was going to read it.
Little did I know how much I was going to love it.
The novel gripped me from page 1, where there was a very, very small look into what was going to happen to someone. Small enough to grab my interest.
In the beginning of the novel we see Heck being a very slightly off white police, not quite doing what his superiors would like him to be doing, but not that far away. Then he gets taken off the case of the disappearance of 38 women, but he can’t let it drop, not when he’s finally got a lead. He goes off on his own to try to solve the case, which is where he runs into Lauren.
She shouldn’t be there, he doesn’t want her there, but through a few twists he has her there, and as a reader that likes the MC, I’m glad she was.
It’s quite a gory novel, but nothing that put me off, I’ve read a lot worse anyway (Craig Robertson’s Random anyone?).
I literally couldn’t put it down, I had to pick it up at every opportunity. Sometimes I found myself disbelieving that something was happening, but I think the bit just before the end is brilliant. I was disappointed in the very very end, it didn’t satisfy my want for a clean ending, but I’m hoping that’s to get the reader interested in his next novel. I didn’t need that hook, his next novel is Sacrifice, out in July, and I for one cannot wait.

by

Laura

I’m Laura. I started Novel Kicks in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.