This started off a little slow for me, somewhere between quarter and halfway I was thinking I might give up and skip to the end to find the resolution and move on. But it's like the book knew my intentions because it suddenly became very interesting and I could barely put it down. I figured out one of the twists and then the author gave us a few more. I'm looking forward to the next one, and wished I had started with book one but I didn't realize it was a series. ( )

An absolute page turner! I haven't read the first two in this series but I don't think it impacted my ability to enjoy this book - or maybe just a tiny, little bit. I was immediately engrossed in the story line and was easily able to become comfortable with the characters. I did figure out the mystery, but I don't think it's because is wasn't well done, I think it was because, like the characters in the book I followed the clues the author provided and detected it on my own. I'm not sure everyone reading this will do that. Maybe I am wrong?

The author did a great job with the main character and I was able to get enough sense of his troubled background to understand his character, but maybe I didn't get enough of his history with his nemesis to completely understand their relationship. But again, I knew it was seriously rocky and it was enough to get me through.

I am leaving off that last star though because I just didn't get enough sense of place. Being American I needed just a sentence or two along the way to place me more grounded in the geography of the area. I'm pretty sure they were in London - ? But as they moved around I needed a bit of guidance. Were they in the heart of? Going north of? On the outskirts of?

I also, very enjoyably, found the author to have a lot of odd turns of phrase. Like 'showing people your underarm' and 'screwing up the newspaper'.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this advanced copy and provide my honest opinion. ( )

The Sleepwalker – A trip into the darker side of Manchester

Joseph Knox has once again written an excellent thriller in which he brings back the darkest stain on Manchester’s Police force, Detective Aidan Waits. This is a book that is a must for every crime thriller reader, that is gritty with a smell of corruption never far away.

Aidan Waits and his partner Sutty are having to maintain the night shift at St Mary’s hospital where a particular nasty murderer is in their protective custody. People want Martin Wicks dead, for confessing to killing a family, even though he is dying, but that will not stop people. Superintendent Parrs for once actually knows where Waits and his partner are, and what they are doing.

When someone actually manages to kill the armed guard and set fire to Wicks and Sutty is put out of action. Superintendent Parrs now has his scapegoat in play and Waits knows it will be him. When Parrs challenges him to run a parallel investigation, but he will have to have Naomi Black watching over him. Parrs also knows that some one has put a price on Waits’ head and knows that if they do not kick him out, he will get killed any way.

As the investigation begins to make waves little does he know how close to death that he is, for him and his estranged sister. He knows that he is being threatened by a manipulative psychopath, he needs to put his trust in Naomi Black, but he just cannot do that. Before he realises the full extent of what is going on, it could be too late, for his sister as well as himself.

Will Waits and Black be able to solve the murder, even though there are plenty of people trying to stop them, and that is just in the police.

Joseph Knox has managed to write a gritty and sometimes a lot closer to the truth thriller, that mainly takes place within the City centre of Manchester. But he is also quite kind to the reader when using St Mary’s Hospital, there was one which was maternity, but the a & e at Manchester Royal Infirmary on a weekend night is far worse!

This is a dark and seedy crime thriller and at times sails very close to the wind, proving how much of a talent Joseph Knox is. ( )