Synopsis
The man was 100 yards from his moment of destiny. He was oblivious to it, of course. Murderers don’t necessarily realise they are killers until a few seconds before it happens. Murderers are sometimes just like you and me. He would never have dreamed that such a thing might happen. Ridiculous. If anyone had told him that today was the day he would turn into a killer, he would have looked at them quizzically; questioning their sanity, instead of his own. The murder investigation into the death of a young girl at Nottingham’s Goose Fair throws up several suspects, close to home and further away. The stream of inquiries spirals into a climax, and suddenly another young life hangs in the balance. Detective Inspector Stark and his team prepare to do anything to stop further bloodshed. They are willing to use any means necessary, whether it be fair means or foul.
My Review
I discovered how great Keith’s books are, when I was asked to participate in a blog tour for ‘Addressed To Kill’ a while ago. When I was invited to take part in the blog tour for ‘Fair Means Or Foul’, I knew that I had to say ‘yes’. Well, ‘Fair Means Or Foul’ is another cracking read from Keith and I thoroughly enjoyed every single minute of it but more about that in a bit.
I loved meeting Detective Inspector Stark for the second time. He comes across as being a man, who commands respect and loyalty from his team. He is thorough, determined, stubborn and he has a fantastic analytical brain. When he is allocated a case, he throws himself into it and he will do whatever it takes to solve the crime, even if he gets into a pickle or two. Stark takes no rubbish from anybody and he certainly doesn’t mince his words.
It didn’t take me long at all to get into ‘Fair Means Or Foul’. In fact by the time I got to the end of the first page, I knew that I would have difficulty putting this book to one side for any length of time. My Kindle wasn’t exactly glued to my hand but it might as well have been because it travelled everywhere with me. I was intrigued by the crime and I had my own suspicions as to how the story was going to pan out, so of course I had to keep reading to see if I was correct or I had the wrong end of the stick. The pages turned increasingly quickly as my desperation to find out how the story concluded grew and grew. I seemed to race through the book and then all too quickly I had to say farewell to Detective Inspector Stark and his team.
‘Fair Means Or Foul’ is extremely well written. The fact that the author is a former policeman himself lends the book even more authenticity. The crimes are described in great detail with all the technical speak too. Some of the details of the injuries might be too graphic for some but not for me, as my parents were both nurses and so I am used to graphic nature of some injuries and treatments. Keith has a writing style that grabs your attention and draws you into the story. Once Keith has your attention ,he will not let you have it back until the moment you read the last word on the last page. For me, the sign of a good book, is when I find myself becoming too involved in the story and talk to the characters as if they could hear me. ‘Fair Means Or Foul’ is just such a book. Had I been able to jump inside the pages of the book to give certain characters a slap with a wet fish, then I would have done. I loved the fact that this book was set in Nottingham, which is somewhere I am familiar with, having studied in the city for three years.
In short, I thoroughly enjoyed ‘Fair Means Or Foul’ and I will certainly be recommending it to other readers. I will certainly be reading more of Keith’s work in the future. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.
gingerbookgeek 