Category: Daniel Cole

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Mimic by Daniel Cole – Audiobook – Blog Tour Review.

About The Book

The stand-alone thriller from best-selling author of Ragdoll – soon to be a major TV series.

In life, she was his muse…. In death she’ll be his masterpiece….

1989: DS Benjamin Chambers and DC Adam Winter are on the trail of a twisted serial killer with a passion for recreating the world’s greatest works of art through the bodies of his victims. But after Chambers almost loses his life, the case goes cold – their killer lying dormant, his collection unfinished. 

1996: Jordan Marshall has excelled within the Metropolitan Police Service, fuelled by a loss that defined her teenage years. Obsessed, she manages to obtain new evidence, convincing both Chambers and Winter to revisit the case. However, their resurrected investigation brings about a fresh reign of terror, the team treading a fine line between police officers and vigilantes in their pursuit of a monster far more dangerous and intelligent than any of them had anticipated..

My Review

With thanks to the publisher for the audiobook received. Listening to audiobooks is a relatively new thing for me so I jumped at the opportunity to listen to the new novel by this author. His Ragdoll series was one that I enjoyed a lot.

A dual time framed novel, the first part concerns a series of deaths. Chambers and Winters are convinced that they are linked but with lack of help from their superior officer, a somewhat unconvincing confession and finally a tragic accident the investigation is dropped.

Jump forward seven years and a young female officer, Marshall, who had known one of the victims, wants Chambers to look at the case again and find the killer. Despite misgivings and breaking a promise to his wonderful wife Eve he agrees. 

Life hasn’t been kind to any of them. All three have suffered during the seven years and I really hope that there are no members of our police who are like this trio. Not because I didn’t like them but because they have all been damaged by what happened. To the extent that I worried for their safety and sanity. Marshall was very much an open book, you knew immediately how she coped and some of the trauma she experienced. Winters was more reticent, in some ways I felt he suffered more than Chambers. 

But despite their issues they had a friendship that went beyond the job. Chambers was very much the father figure and managed to help both of them. In particular Marshall who he quite easily could have had removed from the investigation. Instead he showed encouragement and a belief in her abilities. 

Whilst the case was an interesting one, that sent me to the internet a few times to learn more it was the relationship dynamic they grabbed me. This felt like an honest example of a team. Working on their strengths and supporting their weaknesses. And there was also some dark humour, mainly caused by frustration.

This novel is described as a standalone but I feel that there could definitely be a follow up. There is certainly potential. 

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Endgame by Daniel Cole – Blog Tour Review.

About The Book

A locked room. A dead body. A secret that went to the grave.

When retired police officer Finlay Shaw is found dead in a locked room, everyone thinks it’s suicide. But disgraced detective William ‘Wolf’ Fawkes isn’t so sure. 

Together with his former partner Detective Emily Baxter and private detective Edmunds, Wolf’s team begin to dig into Shaw’s early days on the beat. Was Shaw as innocent as he seemed? Or is there more to his past than he’d ever let on?

But not everyone wants Wolf back – and as his investigation draws him ever deeper into police corruption, it will not only be his career on the line – but the lives of those he holds closest as well…

My Review

With thanks to the publisher for the copy received. Endgame is the final book in the trilogy that features among others Wolf, Baxter and Edmunds. Baxter has been my favourite character throughout. I love her temperament, her ability to make things much worse than they are and her humour. It is a series that I strongly recommend that you read in order. Whilst different stories, they are linked and this novel brings many answers. They are also very entertaining.

This is less gory than the other two books, but no less funny. It is a slightly different story, with focus on two of the main characters early on in their careers and how the events that happened then had consequences in the modern day. I was a little shocked by what was revealed.

What the author does well is making sure that all the characters have a voice. Joe and Maggie in particular I enjoyed reading about. A standout moment for Joe was when he was showing off his skills without knowing the identity of one of his audience.

A great finale, and I’m looking forward to future books by this author.

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Ragdoll by Daniel Cole – Review

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About the Book

A body is discovered with the dismembered parts of six victims stitched together, nicknamed by the press as the ‘Ragdoll’. Assigned to the shocking case are Detective William ‘Wolf’ Fawkes, recently reinstated to the London Met, and his former partner Detective Emily Baxter.
The ‘Ragdoll Killer’ taunts the police by releasing a list of names to the media, and the dates on which he intends to murder them. With six people to save, can Fawkes and Baxter catch a killer when the world is watching their every move?

My Review

I have been reading a lot of publicity mentions, followed by reviews praising Ragdoll over the last few months but I managed to save my copy to read until nearer publication.
After a high-profile court case goes against Wolf and his team his life changes dramatically. His marriage is over and he has been demoted at work after being forced to take a long leave of absence. But he is regarded as a celebrity cult figure by the media and the public, when a later event proved that the verdict of the court was the wrong one. The ‘ragdoll’ is a body that has been assembled from various other body parts. All the team need to identify the victims and try and prevent further people dying. They are not entirely successful in this matter.
Some of the murders in the book are the strangest and most brutal that I have come across and I read a lot of crime fiction. If they had all been bizarre I think it would have been too much but the balance was right. There was a lot of humour. Not just a little smile, this book had me laughing out loud a few times. Mostly at the expense of Wolf.
Wolf had to be one of the most mixed up detectives that I have come across but he wasn’t the only member of the team that had their issues. Baxter’s problems were the most believable but Edmunds was the one I had the most sympathy for. He never stood  a chance. The only one who seemed grounded was Finley. The media team were as usual, horrendous. Its nearly always a side of a novel that I struggle with and the ones that feature in this novel are the worst you can get.
An unexpected ending, that left me wanting a sequel. There has to be a future for Wolf and Baxter.

With thanks to the publisher for the copy via NetGalley.

Daniel Cole will be one of the authors participating in First Monday Crime in March. Details can be found here