Twists & Turns

Not predictable. The characters are not thoroughly fleshed out, but relatable. The setting is pervasiveness and a vital part of the ongoing story. ( )

A year after Helen Brook, a friend of DI Nikki Galena, was involved in a serious accident, Helen starts getting flashbacks to a man confessing to murder. But will Helen get anyone to take her seriously. Then events accelerate.
I have enjoyed every book in this series, love the characters and the plots are always good, and this one was up to standard.
A NetGalley Book ( )

A fantastic read from start to finish. ( )

DI Nikki Galena's friend, Helen Brooks, thinks she's being followed.

Helen was badly hurt in a building collapse a year ago, including some brain damage, and she's got some odd memories that don't seem supported by evidence. For instance, she thinks there was a man also in that collapsed basement with her, on the other side of a wall, who talked to her for a while before Nikki and Sergeant Joseph Easter, by chance the two officers closest to the scene, arrived. Yet no one else was in the building, nor was any evidence found that there had been.

So is she really being followed? Or is she still feeling the effects of the trauma and brain damage?

Helen's boyfriend, Andrew Gregory, is certain it's the latter. Nikki isn't sure he's right--but she's definitely not sure he's wrong. And every piece of evidence that seems to support Helen's story is quickly exploded--for instance, a scruffy young man who is seen hanging out near her flat, when picked up, turns out to be the unapproved boyfriend of a young woman in a neighboring house. Dad doesn't approve, so they have to sneak around.

Meanwhile, Nikki and Joseph are sure their old nemesis Cox is back in the area, but he's as elusive as ever. And there's a tension in the rougher part of town, that might be related to the Leonard family, whose patriarch, and unlikely friend of Nikki's, is dying. As much as she wants to help Helen, she's both very busy, and not at all sure how to help, or what kind of help Helen really needs.

Of course, everything changes when Helen is found dead.

This is a gripping, absorbing story, and Nikki, Joseph, their colleagues and friends, are all interesting people worth getting to know better. This is a series where the characters keep growing, becoming richer and more interesting as their experiences change them.

Recommended.

I bought this audiobook. ( )

Helen Brook, friend of DI Nikki Galena, is trapped in a basement after a horrific traffic pile-up leads to the collapse of several buildings. She survives but is convinced that there was a man in there with her, and that he confessed to a murder, thinking that she too would die. Her friends are unsure whether this is a hallucination or a traumatic flashback, but now she is sure she is being stalked.

Meanwhile Galena’s deputy and friend, DS Joseph Easter, is in contact with an informant about criminal gangs on a local estate. It seems trouble is brewing…

This is the fifth book in the DI Nikki Galena series but the first one I’ve read. It both worked as a standalone and got me interested in the backstories of the characters.

It has all the key ingredients of a good police procedural – a strong ensemble cast, a vivid sense of place, a good plot and complex, flawed characters with tangled histories and relationships.

I really enjoyed the story and it kept me guessing. While the main mystery was nicely resolved the gang subplot cleverly provides both an ending and a dramatic jumping-off point for the next book.
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I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. ( )