book reviews , different studio guests each week. Join us every Thursday between 12 and 1pm on Radio Scilly 107.9fm or log on to radioscilly.com.

Missed any programmes? See below for list of guests, books and other details discussed.

Friday 17 October 2014

Simon Hall - The Shadows of Justice

review written by Brian Lowen & read on the bookshow 2014 



 Simon Hall is the BBC reporter who is often on Spotlight and he writes a very good story.

This is his sixth book and I think they just keep getting better.

Each book features Dan Groves (obviously based on Simon Hall himself) and his unusual and probably extremely unlikely involvement with Detective Chief Inspector Adam Breen of the Plymouth Police Force in helping to solve various crimes.

Dan works for Wessex Tonight, a TV programme based on Spotlight, and all the stories are set in the Plymouth area.

So once you can get over this strange liaison, the stories are actually very good. This one concerns a young little rich girl who is kidnapped while out on the streets late at night helping the homeless by giving out bowls of soup. There are several suspects and Dan is brought in to help with the investigation on the understanding that he will get an exclusive for his nightly programme. His boss at the TV centre, Lizzie, is a demanding witch, never satisfied with Dan’s reports and always wanting more.
If Dan’s story is ‘not bad’ then that is praise indeed! 

Dan lives on his own with a large Alsatian dog called Rutherford and the love interest is provided by his on/off girlfriend Claire, also a detective with the Plymouth Police. The romance is off at the moment because she is suspicious of Dan’s involvement with Katrina, a beautiful blond detective, a specialist on kidnappings who has been seconded onto the team.

I cannot give too many details of the story as that would spoil it for the readers, but just when you think the case is solved, it is not, and the story carries on with many more twists to the tale.

Good descriptions, with good characters who you feel involved with. Thoroughly enjoyable and I look forward to his next one.

No comments: