M. K. Hill

One Bad Thing is the first book I have read by M.K. Hill but based on the exciting ride I've just had I'll definitely read his books in the future.

We've all done things we regret but Hannah Godley's one bad thing is about to come back and haunt her, right on the cusp of her new role as TV agony aunt on a popular daytime show. A woman calls her radio show and vows revenge for her brother's death. Hannah is left reeling and attempts to contact the woman to find out just what she has planned. As you can imagine, she's on a knife-edge.

This is one of those books I didn't want to put down and when I did, I couldn't wait to pick it up again. It's fast-paced and gripping, and I really liked the plotline of a woman known as the Queen of Hearts being hounded for a mistake in her past. I didn't completely take to Hannah but I did feel sorry for her as everything started to fall apart in her previously well-ordered life. I didn't know which character to trust as things start to happen to Hannah and totally freak her out.

The writing is really good quality and the story went along at a great speed. I enjoyed the process of putting it all together as I read and trying to work out if the outcome was going to be what I thought or not (it pretty much was!). I really enjoyed this excellent psychological thriller. Secrets and lies from the past and present intermingle to provide a truly thrilling story and I recommend it for people who like a twisty and exhilarating read.… (mehr)

The Woman in the Wood – A Good Police Procedural Thriller

This is the second book in the Sasha Dawson series, and once again MK Hill has written an engrossing story, that draws you in from the start. Dawson is the sort of detective inspector who has the respect and trust of her colleagues, and more importantly, the reader. Her character, while complicated, does not play to the usual stereo types of woman competing against all the odds to succeed, she is not even a defective detective.

Called to a murder scene at an Essex railway station, they discover the parts of Andrew ‘Deano’ Dean, the victim. Ordinarily it would have been dismissed as a suicide, but the distraught train driver saw him fighting with someone before he was killed. Once an autopsy has been completed, it becomes a lot clearer that this is murder and not suicide.

When they dig deeper into Deano they discover that he had been interviewed along with some friends about the disappearance of a girl in Wales. Amongst those who were interviewed was TV reality star Danny ‘Abs’ Cruikshank whose career had gone downhill since that investigation and was trying to work his way back to television.

Dawson who leads a team of officers, some of whom may watch too much reality tv, have this murder to investigate as well as the disappearance of a number of young women from around Essex. Two different crimes, but the team would investigate them both to the best of their abilities.

This book gives an interesting insight to the world which reality stars inhabit, how they have to keep reinventing themselves, and can never allow the truth to get out. How they will do anything to stay in the publics view, even if it puts themselves in danger, take too many risks anything just to be loved by the public.

This is a relatively pacey procedural thriller, with carefully scattered clues to who the killer is, and while there is no big twist at the end, there are a few surprises along the way.

An excellent read, not to taxing on the mind, but highly enjoyable.… (mehr)

The Bad Place – A great way to start a new series

There is some fantastic crime writing about today and M.K. Hill is adding to the cannon with this fantastic thriller while introducing a new detective to the crime thriller world. What makes this so good is that Hill’s writing is so good, that it makes it a pure pleasure to read, and before you know it you are halfway through the book.

Twenty years ago, six children were taken but only five came back, but it takes the abduction of three children today to find out the truth from back then. The place where the original six where held hostage became known as The Bad Place, and annually the surviving victims meet to have a vigil and a meal together.

When a young girl is kidnapped in front of one of the victims, DI Sasha Dawson of Essex Police are put in charge of the case. Ironic in that twenty years Dawson who had been a week into her career as a Police Officer when the original case broke and had been at The Bad Place. Dawson is sure that the key to finding Sammi the kidnapped girl is finding out the truth about the night, the kids had escaped and one of their number had been killed.

While trying to run a major case, Dawson’s own family is in melt down, her husband seems to be depressed and not speaking to her or their children. Her mother decides to leave her father and move in with them. To top it all her mother is accused of bullying and her husband punches the next door neighbour, which is streamed online.

As the case twenty years earlier starts to clash with her current case and another child goes missing, Dawson knows she has to solve this once and for all. Recognising that it is a race against time her and the team around her leave no stone unturned and no question unanswered.

This really is a fantastic book, with a great new hero, who shows that she is human. It will be great to see how Sasha Dawson will develop in the future, and the cases come before her in Essex.… (mehr)