A Promise To The Dead by Victoria Jenkins (#4 – King & Lane)

A Promise To The Dead by Victoria Jenkins

 Publishing: January 21, 2019

 

 

Previous Book in the Series: #3 – Nobodys Child

 

A Promise To The Dead by Victoria Jenkins is the 4th in the Detectives King and Lane series.

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Bookouture, and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Series Background:  (Warning – May contain spoilers from previous books)
DI Alex King and her protégé DC Chloe Lane have become close friends, while working some horrendous crime scenes. Both have been dealing with personal issues, but together, and apart, they are working through them. Other members of the team include DC Dan Mason, a solid and reliable detective, and DC Jake Sullivan who has been annoying his boss lately with his careless comments and arrogant attitude.

My Synopsis:
Kieran Robinson has been missing for days. His mom is already grieving, his sister is angry, and his father hasn’t even bothered to return from work. Something is off.

Matthew Lewis, his car found on a mountain road, and the body of his girlfriend in the back seat. She was shot. He is missing,

The body of a young man is found during a building renovation, they find he was buried 30 or 40 years ago. He had been strangled, and his ring finger is missing.

The team is working on the cases of all of these young men. It is surprising when they start to find links, or maybe they are just reaching.

Jake, as normal, is getting himself in trouble with Alex, but this time may be his last.

Meanwhile, Alex is seriously considering a career change.

 
My Opinions:
I found this to be a very slow moving book…until I hit about 50%. Then it really picked up, and got interesting. (But that is a long time to wait).

The story is told by a few different characters, but mostly by Alex. There was also an unknown narrator who spoke through letters. That added another mystery to the plot. The plot was good, as was the writing.

I do think that some of the back-stories of the main characters should have been fleshed out. The author apparently thinks our memories are better than they are. For example, she repeatedly mentions the scars on Alex’s face, but not how she got them. I don’t remember. All that was needed was a line saying what happened. The same with what had happened to Chloe, although I remember some of that. I can’t imagine what a first-time reader would think…not everyone reads all the books in a series….and many of us read  a lot of other books in between.

Anyway, other than the above “misses”, the book was okay. I will read more in this series….if the author decides to continue.

 

Read: January, 2019

 

 

About the Author:  Victoria Jenkins lives in South Wales with her husband and daughter.  She loves scrabble and cake decorating.

 

 

I have also reviewed this book on GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2647866469

 

 

 

 

Nobody’s Child by Victoria Jenkins (#3 King & Lane)

 Nobody’s Child by Victoria Jenkins

 Publishing: June 19, 2018 by Bookouture

 

Previous Book in the Series: #2 – The First One to Die

 

Nobody’s Child  (originally titled Counting the Dead) by Victoria Jenkins is the 3rd in the Detectives King & Lane series.

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Bookouture, and of course the author, for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Series Background:
DI Alex King and her protégé DC Chloe Lane have become close friends, while working some horrendous crime scenes. Both have been dealing with personal issues, but together, and apart, they are working through them.

My Synopsis:
It starts with a homeless man found burning in an abandoned hospital, but he will not be the last vulnerable person to be attacked. There may be an arsonist on the loose. King and Lane will have to sift through a myriad of horrors before coming up with a very unlikely perpetrator.

Meanwhile, King is again dealing with her own issues, and making life miserable for those around her. She is being threatened, and she is pretty sure who is responsible. But she will have to have courage to stand up to him, and what if she’s wrong?

My Opinions:
Jenkins tackled some hard issues in this one, and did not shy away from anything. There were a lot of individual stories going on, with possible connections to each other. Even with the number of characters and situations, if you paid attention, everything flowed smoothly.

I’m not sure I bought into Alex’s “problems”, and her actions. That storyline felt forced, and it just didn’t ring true to me.

I am still looking forward to the next one!

Read: May 2018

Favorite Quote from Nobody’s Child:

“Each time she thought she had seen it all, someone else proved that evil knew no boundaries.”

 

 

About the Author:  Victoria Jenkins lives in South Wales with her husband.  (I still have to find out more)

The First One to Die by Victoria Jenkins (#2 King & Lane)

 The First One to Die by Victoria Jenkins

 Published: November 2017

 

The First One to Die by Victoria Jenkins is the 2nd in the Detectives King and Lane Series.

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Bookouture, and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Second, it is really good!

When Kiera North falls to her death at a student house party, everyone except Detective Alex King thinks it was an accident.  But something doesn’t feel right.  As Alex and Chloe delve further into the lives of these students, it seems that all of Kiera’s roommates are hiding something.  It also looks like someone is out to get them.  Is one of their secrets enough to get them all killed?

While investigating Kiera’s death, the detectives are also investigating the drug overdose of a young girl who is now in a coma.  A new drug which combines Ecstasy and a high dose of caffeine has been making the rounds with serious consequences.  The dealers have to be found soon.

On a personal level, Chloe is still living in Alex’s spare room, but she is starting to leave her past behind.  It may soon be time for her to spread her wings.  Alex, on the other hand, has been watching her mother die for the last year, and although she thinks she is handling things well, she is not.

Well, Victoria Jenkins has done it again.  I love her writing style.  It is very smooth, well-paced, and gripping.  The second in this series is even better than the first, as her characters have so much depth, that their lives just pull you in and you want to know more.  The twists in this book were awesome, and I didn’t figure it all out til very close to the end.  The pair of detectives Jenkins created is working well, as she has them building on each other’s strengths . Their friendship and support is growing, creating a very stable relationship. 

On a side note, my Mom had Dementia, and although the circumstances were different (we got along just fine), Jenkins wrote about Alex and her emotions dealing with her mother’s disease really well.  It is a really rough time, and Jenkins nailed it.  That whole storyline rang very true.

Can’t wait for the next one!

 

Read: December 2017

 

Favorite Quotes from The First One to Die:
“The cruelty of time, thought Alex. The world kept spinning, clocks kept ticking: time didn’t stop for anyone’s tragedy.”

“It is so easy to blend in and go unnoticed. Hate can be kept well hidden: if you want it to, it can remain without colour, taste, sound.”

“Don’t let anyone or anything keep you from doing what’s best for you.”

“No one could possibly understand what it meant to watch a person alter so drastically in front of them, to see them change and deteriorate until eventually there was just a hollow shell that no longer remotely resembled the person who had once been in its place.”

 

 

About the Author:  Victoria Jenkins lives in South Wales with her husband.  (I still have to find out more)

The Girls in the Water by Victoria Jenkins (#1 King & Lane)

The Girls in the Water by Victoria Jenkins

 Published: 2017

 

 

The Girls in the Water by Victoria Jenkins is the 1st in the King and Lane Detective series. 

First, let me thank Netgalley, the publisher Bookouture, and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Detective Inspector Alex King is called in when the body of a young woman is found floating at the edge of a park pond.  She had been tortured.  A few days later, another girl goes missing.  King and her protégé Chloe Lane must find the link that ties the girls together. 

Unfortunately, Chloe has her own problems.  It may be time to come clean with Alex, and share the real reason she became a policewoman.  She has her own case she wants to solve.  However, now may not be the best time to lay out her secrets.  She realizes she is distracted and should be focused on the current case, but how can she set aside something so close to her heart, especially now that she knows there is someone else out there that has an answer she desperately needs.

When a second body is found, and Alex dashes Chloe’s hopes of re-opening an old case, Chloe takes matters into her own hands.  She may end up being a victim herself.

I really enjoyed this book.  It is a very easy read, with enough suspense and twists to keep things moving.  The characters are quite engaging, and although I sort of wanted to smack Chloe and tell her to grow up, at one point I wanted to do the same to Alex. Jenkins created two strong female characters that will eventually make good partners.  They will have to learn to trust each other.   As they both fill a need that is missing in the other, it could be an interesting journey.

For a debut novel, this author shows real talent. If this is any indication of the next book in the series….I’m looking forward to reading more.

 

Read: September 2017

 

Favorite Quotes from The Girls in The Water:

“She might have a weak stomach, but Alex refused to walk away from someone in need, and quite often the dead needed her help more than the living.”

“They all professed to honesty, but the real truth was that they all kept their darkest secrets hidden, buried in their own heads. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t need the support group.”

 

 

About the Author:  Victoria Jenkins lives in South Wales.  (I have to find out more)