#Review Let The Dead Speak by @JaneCaseyAuthor @HarperCollinsUK

‘A House Full of Secrets

A Life Full of Lies’

Let The Dead Speak is the latest in the Maeve Kerrigan Series from Irish Crime writer Jane Casey. Unbelievably, this is Jane Casey’s seventh in the series, yet it was a first for me!!

Published on 9th March by Harper Collins UK, I can honestly say that this was a pure page turner that kept me completely immersed as I swiftly ‘swiped’ each page at speed. I would just like to thank Harper Collins for allowing me the opportunity to voluntarily read an advance copy of Let The Dead Speak.

Please read on for my full thoughts…

Book Blurb:

A murder without a body
Eighteen-year-old Chloe Emery returns to her West London home one day to find the house covered in blood and Kate, her mother, gone. There may not be a body, but everything else points to murder.

A girl too scared to talk
Maeve Kerrigan is young, ambitious and determined to prove she’s up to her new role as detective sergeant. She suspects Chloe is holding something back, but best friend Bethany Norris won’t let Maeve get close. What exactly is Bethany protecting Chloe from?

A detective with everything to prove
As the team dig deeper into the residents of Valerian Road, no one is above suspicion. All Maeve needs is one person to talk, but that’s not going to happen. Because even in a case of murder, some secrets are too terrible to share

Chloe Emery arrives out of the station on her way home with the rain pouring down.

‘The rain poured off the awning, splashing onto the pavement in front of her. It coursed into the gutters where filthy water was already swirling, dark and gritty, freighted with rubbish and twigs and dead leaves.‘

Immediately, as a reader you can feel the sense of impending doom. The atmosphere is dark and consuming from the get-go.

Chloe is eighteen years old. Returning home earlier than expected from her father’s house she discovers, on entry to her own home, that all is not right. The house resembles something out of a nightmare with blood everywhere and no trace of her mother anywhere.

Chloe’s parents split up many years previously, with her Dad, Brian, now settled elsewhere with a new family. Chloe has lived a very sheltered life with just her mother, Kate, for company. Chloe is immediately removed from the scene, as the police arrive to investigate what tragedy befell Kate Emery. But with no body and no trace of a murder weapon, the police are confounded in their search for the truth.

DS Maeve Kerrigan arrives on the scene. With the assistance of her colleague DI Josh Derwent, they search for clues in the house. But this is most certainly not a straight forward case.

Through hearsay and follow up investigations they soon discover that Chloe had lead quite a challenging life. In and out of psychologists from a very young age, Chloe seemed to have the mental of age of a much younger child. Without the natural ability to process information and with a father who appears a little estranged from her, Chloe is temporarily left in the care of her neighbours, the Norris family.

Oliver, his wife Eleanor and their fifteen-year old daughter Bethany live a very religious life with very strict rules to abide by. They are very heavily involved in a local church and they strongly adhere to the teachings of this community on a daily basis. Morgan, Oliver’s brother, is also living in the house, albeit temporarily.

Bethany and Chloe have been friends for years, with the age difference never really being an issue. There are a lot of complex issues dealt with here and it’s not long before Maeve Kerrigan realises that the key to unlocking what befell Kate Emery may lie with Chloe and Bethany.

As secrets are revealed and truths uncovered, Maeve and her colleagues are exposed to the twisted and crazed side of humanity.

I had no history of Maeve Kerrigan coming into this book and, while I’m sure it helps with a few of the backstories, it really did not affect my overall impression of Let The Dead Speak.

This is a wonderful example of a fast-paced, heart-pounding, page-turning novel. It is pure crime fiction with many twists and turns that keep the reader completely enthralled to the end.

Multiple layers with an extremely riveting plot-line, Jane Casey has written a gripping novel that I thoroughly enjoyed and would highly recommend to all looking for a captivating read.

Purchase Link ~ Let The Dead Speak

Bio (Courtesy of Penguin)

“All my criminal elements have some basis in reality, no matter how awful they may be. Nothing is completely farfetched.” Jane Casey

Crime is a family affair for Jane Casey. Married to a criminal barrister, she has a unique insight into the brutal underbelly of urban life, from the smell of a police cell to the darkest motives of a serial killer.

This gritty realism has made her books international bestsellers and critical successes; while D.C. Maeve Kerrigan has quickly become one of the most popular characters in crime fiction.

Her novel The Stranger You Know won the Mary Higgins Clark Award and she has also been shortlisted for the Irish Crime Novel of the Year Award four times as well as the CWA Dagger in the Library Award.

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