‘Fear On The Island’ by Stewart Giles

Synopsis

It’s mid-summer on the island of Guernsey and Detective Liam O’Reilly is winding down for the day.
He’s enjoying a quiet drink with his daughter when a man in bike leathers walks inside the pub. O’Reilly doesn’t even register him until he hears the gunshot. The man has taken out a gun and shot the barman twice in the face. O’Reilly takes hold of his daughter and throws her to the floor.
“Not everything is as it seems.” Says the gunman as he leaves the people inside the pub with something to think about before he calmly walks out of the pub.

Then another man is shot dead in broad daylight. A figure in leathers tells the witnesses the same thing:”Not everything is as it seems.”

O’Reilly and his team have no idea what is going on. Even the experienced Irish detective really doesn’t have a clue what this is all about.

When the gunman takes a third victim the people on the island start to panic. Fear is rife and confidence in the police is at an all-time low.
O’Reilly knows it’s only a matter of time before this madman strikes again, but he’s running out of ideas. With his team working around the clock and running on empty, he knows time is running out before the most confusing killer he’s ever come across strikes again.

My Review

I have been a fan of Stewart’s work for a few years now.  I haven’t quite caught up with everything that he has written to date, because believe you me he writes a lot and I have trouble keeping up but I am getting there slowly but surely.  I particularly love the series featuring DS Jason Smith (my Australian cousin) and also the relatively new series featuring Detective Liam O’Reilly.  ‘Fear On The Island’ is the third book in the series and it is another corker of a read, which I thoroughly enjoyed but more about that in a bit.

I love the character of Detective Liam O’Reilly.  He is a detective who has transferred to Guernsey from Ireland.  O’Reilly can be a grumpy pain in the arse and that’s probably why I like him so much.  O’Reilly lives on Guernsey with his daughter Assumpta, who happens to be a journalist.  As we all know the police don’t trust the media and the media doesn’t always trust the police.  You might think that having such different roles would bring father and daughter into conflict but it doesn’t really as Assumpta seems to be a journalist of integrity and she respects boundaries.  Liam is a career detective of several years experience.  Liam does have a tendency to rub people up the wrong way, including a certain Detective Constable on his own team.  Liam doesn’t always play by the rules but he certainly gets results and puts his heart and soul into his cases.

It took me no time at all to get into this story.  In fact the synopsis was enough to grab my attention and I just knew that I had to read ‘Fear On The Island’ as soon as I possibly could.  To say that reading Stewart’s books becomes addictive is like me saying I like chocolate- ie: a massive understatement.  I started to read the book and before I knew it, I had read over 50 % of the book.  I was that wrapped up in the story that I lost all track of time and I lost track of just how quickly the pages were turning.  I couldn’t turn the pages quick enough and then all too quickly I reached the end of the book and I had to say goodbye to Assumpta and Liam. 

‘Fear On The Island’ is superbly written but then I wouldn’t expect anything else from Stewart Giles.  He has a way of grabbing your attention and drawing you into what proves to be a compelling read.  For me, the story started with a bang (quite literally), hit the ground running and maintained a fast pace throughout.  Reading one of Stewart’s books is a bit like being on a scary and unpredictable rollercoaster ride with several twists and turns along the way.  I found this to be a gripping read, which kept me guessing and kept me on the edge of my seat throughout.

In short, I thoroughly enjoyed reading ‘ Fear On The Island’ and I would recommend it to other readers.  I will certainly be reading more of Stewart’s work in the future.  The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.