PRR - Cold Killing by Luke Delaney

Cold Killing by Luke Delaney
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time Taken to Read - 2 days

Publisher - HarperCollins

Blurb From Goodreads

Terrifyingly authentic, London-set debut crime novel with a psychological edge, by an ex-Met detective. Perfect for fans of Mark Billingham, Peter James and Stuart MacBride.

DI Sean Corrigan is not like other detectives. The terrible abuse he suffered in childhood hasn't stopped him enjoying family life with his wife and two daughters, or pursuing an impressive career with South London's Murder Investigation Unit. But it has left him with an uncanny ability to identify the darkness in others - a darkness he recognises still exists deep within his own psyche and battles to keep buried there. Now Sean's on the trail of the most dangerous killer he's ever encountered. The perpetrator has no recognisable MO, leaves no forensic evidence and his victims have nothing in common. But Sean knows they were all murdered by the same man. Now all he has to do is find the evidence, convince his bosses and stop the killing ...before his adversary gets too close to home..



My Review

This book had a fabulous marketing around it. Before I received the book from the publishers a wee envelope arrived with 3 crime scene photos and a small sheet of paper with the crime scene web address. Of course who could resist that so off I went to the website and had a snoop around. About a wee later the book arrived and I had to read it straight away.

This debut novel introduces us to DI Sean Corrigan, a police officer unlike any other. He can look at a crime scene and get into the killers head, viewing what he did and even at some points thinking how he thinks. The murder is brutal and Sean is sure he knows how the killer is, confirmed when they question him and Sean identifies the darkness under the smooth surface. A game of cat and mouse begins and another body turns up, the killer is goading and mocking the police and Sean needs to be 2 steps ahead if he is going to catch him.

I couldn't put this book down to start with, we begin the first chapter with the killer talking us through how he views the world in front of him. No one is safe, not even his family and he takes us through his latest murderous activity. The next chapter introduces us to DI Sean Corrigan and his response to the murder scene and the story kicks off from there. The chapters flick from our detective to our killer and flips between the two. The chapter lengths going from being a few pages long to fairly lengthy, not a big deal but for me worthy of note.

I must say I loved how Sean got into the crime scene, it reminded me of enter the dragon with Edward Norton although with an actual explanation for how he does it and I do love all areas covered. There are quite a few twists and turns throughout the book, which until the end, confused me as I wasn't sure who was the killer and had a few of my own suspects. I must admit this frustrated me however I know this is a good thing for a lot of readers, I am just impatient and like to know everything which is why I struggled to put this book down. It keeps you engaged throughout and it took me a while to catch on although I did before the big finale. Overall a really good read with just a few snags that brought it down a wee bit for me but this will be a bit hit with most readers. I will definitely keep an eye out for this author again and thank you so much to HarperCollins for giving me a copy and introducing me to a new author, 3/5 for me. Cold Killing is available to buy now from any good retailer for £6.99 Hardback or £5.00 on the kindle.

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