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The head of Scotland’s most powerful crime family is brutally murdered, his body dumped inside an ancient grave in a remote cemetery. hectare (315-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north-east of Icklingham in Suffolk. Having said all that, the story itself is well plotted, though a little over the top at times, and the two central characters are engaging and intriguing, the main character’s sidekick more than the protagonist himself, to be honest. There are ample twists and turns, clever use of misdirection and an unravelling of secrets, mysteries and drama and suspense aplenty as you realise that many people can not be trusted. A sincere thanks to Netgalley, HQ Digital and the author for an advance copy in exchange of an honest review.
The tale features police corruption, organised criminal gangs, disturbing violence and retribution, with it all culminating in a rollicking good read. Dialogue is often pretty clunky, with people telling each other things they already know or talking in a way which doesn’t ring true. DS Max Craigie and DC Janie Calder of the Serious Crimes Team at Gartcosh are instructed by boss DI Ross Fraser to carefully tread in a close enquiry.
MY THOUGHTS: Neil Lancaster is one of those authors who grab me from the get go, and don't let me go until I close the cover on the very last page. I had plenty of work to do on that and a deadline to meet, but I just couldn’t shake the image of this grave. I also like the actual police type investigation stuff to happen on-page such as crime scene descriptions and investigations etc. This is corruption that involves the Hardie family, and certainly impacts the increasing body count in the investigation. Intriguing is most definitely the operative word, with the creepy setting adding a kind of tension to the chapter, a foreboding or sense of apprehension that only grows the more we read, one which we soon learn is highly justified.
However, when the crime boss disappears and his family (also hard core villains) ask the police for help, the grave is opened. The settings are fantastic, I love the coast beyond Inverness, the Black Isle and as for the dolphins as Chanonry Point, be still my beating heart! Neil Lancaster served as a military policeman for six years and then joined the Met where he was a covert policing specialist. DS Max Craigie and DC Janie Calder of Serious and Organised Crime (SOC) Scotland are tasked with tracking the elder Hardie down.Without that mildly squiffy revelation of the graveyard in the wilds of Caithness, it wouldn’t exist. Angus king always does a fantastic job and I actively look for books he narrates, which is how I found this!
We are introduced to former military man Max who toured Afghanistan and has, like so many other soldiers, been left suffering from PTSD, and his years in the army seep into his dreams causing vivid and terrifying nightmares. As Craigie investigates and asks questions of the deaths that follow, he finds himself stymied and caught up in a scary level of police corruption that appears to run deep in the police force. What we also get is a strong storyline around a centuries old feud between two families with a hint of police corruption.L. Taylor 'The most authentic voice in thriller writing' Tony Parsons 'A genuinely thrilling adventure' Scottish Sun 'A page turner you won't want to miss' Denzil Meyrick Don't miss the first stunning thriller in the new DS Max Craigie Scottish Crime series! Old, isolated and abandoned, they discover a grave with a strange headstone inscription: This Grave Never to be Opened. Detectives Max Craigie and Janie Calder arrive at the scene, a small town where everyone has secrets to hide. So I got in the car and drove almost three hours north to the Ballachly burial ground, close to Latheron and in the middle of the Munsary Peatlands. It soon becomes apparent that the Hardies are getting inside information to find their prey so quickly.
Max is told to leave it alone but he doesn’t want more innocents to die so, with Janie’s help, he sets about trying to warn the others. Max isn’t alone in trying to get to the truth of this very deadly case, joined by a young DC, Janie Calder, a woman dismissed as somewhat of a misfit by colleagues, but someone who proves to be one of Max’s greatest ally, and someone more than equipped to save his hide. Only, his family didn't hear from him again after he'd said that he'd found the grave - the one which said that it shouldn't be opened - and his three sons began to worry. There are innocent victims in the book, but that added fuel to the already raging fire in Max’s belly and made me all the more invested in seeing justice being done.But blood feuds never stop there and it's not long before innocent people are swept into the conflict. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site.
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