Synopsis
Nobody can get into the mind of an erratic killer—except an unpredictable detective.
When a young man is found lying on a station platform with a hole in his head, DI Kate Young is called in to investigate the grisly murder. But the killing is no one-off. As bodies start to pile up, she is faced with what might be an impossible task—to hunt down a ruthless killer on a seemingly random rampage.
Meanwhile, Kate has her own demons to battle as she struggles to come to terms with her husband’s death. And she is hell-bent on exposing corruption within the force and bringing Superintendent John Dickson to justice. But with the trail of deception running deeper—and closer to home—than she could ever have imagined, she no longer knows who she can trust.
With her grip on reality slipping, Kate realises that maybe she and the killer are not so different after all. But time is running out and Kate is low on options. Can she catch the killer before she loses everything?
My Review
I have been a die hard fan of Carol’s work for a while. It doesn’t matter whether Carol writes a romance novel or a gritty crime novel, as soon as I see Carol’s name on a book that I haven’t read then I grab a copy as I know whatever Carol writes is bound to be amazing. ‘A Life For A Life’ is the third book in the series featuring Detective Inspector Kate Young and it’s another cracker of a read, which I thoroughly enjoyed but more about that in a bit.
What can I say about Detective Inspector Kate Young? I really like this character and warmed to her from the start. She hasn’t had the easiest of times because her husband was killed and she has been mourning his loss. She has sort of channelled her grief in that it drives her on to track down his killer and at the same time expose police corruption and that’s without her day to day police work. I feared for Kate’s mental health as she seems to be on the edge more than ever in ‘A Life For A Life’ and I think that it wouldn’t take too much to tip her over the edge. Kate has a lot to juggle with her latest investigation, her personal life and her work life. I kept everything crossed that Kate wouldn’t tip over the edge and that she would succeed in her mission to find her husband’s killer. What happens? Well for the answer to that question and so much more you are just going to have to read the book for yourselves to find out as I am not going to tell you.
I was drawn to this book by the fact that I saw Carol’s name on the cover of a book that I hadn’t read. The synopsis grabbed me by the throat and as soon as I started reading the story itself that was it. I knew that it was pointless planning to do anything else, other than reading, for the rest of the day apart from reading because I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to put the book down. The book wasn’t exactly glue to my hands but it might as well have been because it travelled everywhere with me. I just couldn’t bear to miss a single second of the story. This was one of those books that really got under my skin in the sense that it was always on my mind- if I wasn’t reading the book then I was thinking about it. Well you get the picture. I became so wrapped up in the story that I lost all track of time and just how quickly I was getting through the story. All too quickly I reached the end of the book and I had to say goodbye to Kate. I found ‘A Life For A Life’ to be a tense, gripping and dramatic read, which kept me guessing and which kept me on the edge of my seat.
‘A Life For A Life’ is superbly written but then I have come to expect nothing less from Carol. Carol has a writing style that is easy to get used to and easy to get along with. For me the story hits the ground running and maintains a fast pace throughout. Carol clearly cares about her characters and this shines through in the very vivid way in which she describes them. She makes them sound so realistic that they seem just as real as you and I. Reading ‘A Life For A Life’ felt like being on a scary and unpredictable rollercoaster ride with several twists and turns along the way. Just when you think that you can take a moment to have a breather, gather your thoughts and reclaim your stomach then off the action goes again. I thought that the first two books in the DI Kate Young series were good but for me, this is the best book in the series. Carol is one of those authors who keep raising the bar with each new book that she releases.
In short, I absolutely loved reading ‘A Life For A Life’ and I would definitely recommend this book to other readers. ‘A Life For A Life’ has to be one of my top reads for 2022 and Carol Wyer is one of my ‘must read’ authors. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.
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