Evil Games by Angela Marsons

Evil Games by Angela Marsons
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 435

Publisher - Bonnier Zaffre

Source - Book shop

Blurb from Goodreads

When a rapist is found mutilated in a brutal attack, Detective Kim Stone and her team are called in to bring a swift resolution. But, as more vengeful killings come to light, it soon becomes clear that there is someone far more sinister at work. With the investigation quickly gathering momentum, Kim finds herself exposed to great danger and in the sights of a lethal individual undertaking their own twisted experiment. Up against a sociopath who seems to know her every weakness, each move she makes could be deadly. As the body count starts to mount, Kim will have to dig deep to stop the killing. And this time—it's personal.


My Review

Detective Kim Stone is back and this time she has a killer who will put her through her paces and address things Kim would rather be kept firmly closed in a box! When a rapist is found murdered it seems a relatively straight forward case but something isn't sitting right with Stone. Add to this she has two little girls who have been sexually abused by their father and she is adamant he should pay. When another murder happens and both have a loose common link Kim is pushed to bring justice and keep her team focused. But what do you do when you suspect someone and no one else is buying your theory?

Oh you guuuuuuuuuys! This is book two in a series and whilst I really liked book one I loved book two. A "bad guy" who you find out very quickly their identity and why they are doing what they are doing, smart, position of power and absolutely ruthless, a typical sociopath with their own agenda. Stone is a pretty fabulous character, goes with her gut and gets peoples character relatively quickly, she is smart. closed off and very work focused. We know she has a past, we know she deals with it in her own way and to some people that makes for the ultimate challenge.

This is very much a cat and mouse game, good and evil, police versus bad guy. It has action from the very start, it covers some subjects that some readers will find hard going, sexual abuse, child pornography (it does not go into any kind of graphic detail but it does cover it), emotional manipulations and harm of very vulnerable individuals.

I think what makes this so compelling is you hear of cases on the news, you know professionals and services are involved in anyone experiencing a trauma and if someone in a position of trust abuses that it is terrifying. This book absolutely highlights the darker sides of some humans but in Stone we have a fantastic strong character. She is flawed, she has a past but she is so focused on her job and an absolute advocate of upholding the law, righteousness and justice I just love her. There is also a scene in the book that shows a tender side to her that just made me love it/her even more. I am a sucker for things like that and sorry to be vague but I don't do spoilers and as soon as you read it you will know what part I am referring to. In book one we also got a wee bit of an intro into Kim's past, we get more insight into that and why she is the way she is, I do like when books refer back to or link into stuff from the previous book.

Grabbed from the first pages and more than once I was just going to have one more chapter then would read something, gasp, sit bolt upright, adjust the pillow because I knew I wasn't putting the book down anytime soon. In actual fact I was up until 5am finishing this book as I couldn't end it at that chapter. Sometimes you read something and once you get to the end of that scene you can close off for the night, I would get to the end and HAVE to get right into the next, I NEEDED to know. 5/5 for me this time, one of my best reads this year, I have the next two books on my tbrm, I will be buying the rest of the series, I absolutely love this series, Marson's is fast becoming on of my new fav authors!

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