Book Description –
A vulnerable young woman, fresh out of the care system, is trying to discover the truth behind the sudden death of her best friend.
The charred body of a policeman – currently the subject of an internal investigation – is found in the burnt-out-shell of his car on the Southend seafront.
To DS Frank Pearson and DC Catherine Russell of the Essex Police Major Investigation Team, the two events seem unconnected. But as they dig deeper into their colleague’s murder, dark secrets begin to emerge.
Can Pearson and Russell solve both cases, before more lives are destroyed?
My Thoughts – When I read the book description for Burned and Broken I was really eager to get stuck in. The opening scenes are quite dramatic which I loved. From the get go the hairs on the back of my neck were on end, that’s always a good sign.
Through out the book we are introduced to quite a few characters and two deaths which seem to be unconnected. The story tends to jump back and forth, giving us different characters point of view and to be totally honest, to start with I found it quite confusing but as the story went on I soon got used to it and quite enjoyed how it gives you more of an insight into each character.
Like many crime novels there is a working partnership and in Burned and Broken we have DS Frank Pearson and DC Cat Russell. Both are likable characters, both have reasons to be unhappy and although we find out a little about them I felt like it wasn’t enough to really gel with them yet. Thankfully we get a little preview at the end of the book of what’s to come next.
The plot I found to be quite realistic, gruesome in parts but very intriguing. Mark Hardie knows how to draw the reader in, it’s in no way straight forward and really gets you thinking and with some clever twists I didn’t have a clue how the story was going to pan out.
Burned and Broken is Mark Hardies debut novel and I’m looking forward to reading more from this author. A very promising start to a new series.
*My thanks go to Clara at Little, Brown UK for the chance to read this book*
About the author ~ Mark Hardie
Mark Hardie was born in 1960 in Bow, East London. He began writing fulltime after completely losing his eyesight in 2002. He has completed a creative writing course and an advanced creative writing course at the Open University, both with distinction.
Mark lives with his wife Debbie in Southend-on-Sea.
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