‘Guilt’ by Michelle Kidd

Synopsis

Is a killer born…. or created?

A missing child.
A killer on the loose.
A past that refuses to die.

When a six-year-old boy disappears from a local fair, every parent’s worst nightmare is about to come true.
And for Detective Inspector Nicki Hardcastle, twenty-two years after her own nightmare began, the past she thought was buried starts catching up with her – and fast.
Leading the hunt for the missing child, Nicki soon finds the chase takes on a personal twist, with her own memories haunting her every move.
With time set against them, and a killer following his own chilling agenda, can Nicki and her team stop history from repeating itself?

Only time will tell.
But it’s time they don’t have.

My Review

It’s only fairly recently that I discovered how flipping fantastic Michelle’s books are.  I haven’t quite caught up with everything that she has written but I am getting there.  When I heard that Michelle was due to release the first book (‘Guilt’), in a new series I knew that I had to read it as soon as I was able to.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading ‘Guilt’ but more about that in a bit.

I loved the character of Detective Inspector Nicki Hardcastle and I warmed to her from fairly early on.  Nicki hasn’t exactly had the easiest of lives up to now as her brother vanished without a trace and Nicki feels responsible for his disappearance.  It’s no surprise that these feelings of guilt have stayed with her throughout her career.  I did wonder if she had perhaps joined the police to try and atone for what she perceives to be her failing in safeguarding her brother or she wanted to see if she could use her job as a means of gathering evidence regarding his disappearance.  Nicki is a police officer who is very compassionate, very determined and very supportive.

It took me no time at all to get into ‘Guilt’.  In fact by the time I got to the end of the synopsis, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to put the book down for any length of time.  I was right too because once I picked this book up, it didn’t leave my hands until the moment I read the very last word on the very last page.  My Kindle wasn’t exactly glued to my hand but it might as well have been because it travelled everywhere with me.  I couldn’t bear to miss a single second of the story.  For me, ‘Guilt’ is the true definition of an unputdownable, page turner of a read.  I found ‘Guilt’ to be an intriguing story, which kept me guessing and which kept me on the edge of my seat throughout.

‘Guilt’ is superbly written but then I have come to expect nothing less from Michelle Kidd.  Michelle certainly knows how to grab the reader’s attention and draw them into what proves to be one hell of a read and then some.  For me, the story hit the ground running and maintained a fast pace throughout.  You can certainly say that ‘Guilt’ is not your cozy mystery type of read and some of the details are perhaps rather gruesome but it certainly didn’t put me off the story.  Reading ‘Guilt’ felt like being on one hell of a fast paced, scary and unpredictable rollercoaster ride with several twists and turns along the way.  This book had drama, tension, shocks and surprises galore.

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