“Examining crime scenes was never supposed to get personal.” Roger Conniston is up against an ex-bare-knuckle fighter called Hades who is planning the most audacious robbery in England’s history. Hades has planned it in meticulous detail, from the explosive diversions that will shock the nation, to the selection of his team and the weapons they’ll use.Roger must decide whether to continue working … decide whether to continue working with the police and put faith in the flawed investigative skills of DCI Chamberlain, or cut the ties and venture out alone to stop Hades and secure everything he cares about.
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This second book in The Dead Trilogy about S0C0 Roger Conniston’s continuing adventures and heartaches by Andrew Barrett was raw, emotional, gritty, dark, and action-packed, as it took the reader on one hell of an emotional roller coaster ride. I’m not sure how much more pain and suffering one character could be put through, while still trying to maintain enough sanity to do his job as a police detective. Let me just say up front, that a lot of people died in this second book, some very tragically and described in gory details. The story almost punches the reader in the gut as the tragic elements unfold. This is definitely a story that maintains its grip on the reader from the first pages through to the last words. I have already added book 3 to my TBR file. This is a voluntary review of this book from Story Origin.
After having read book one a “Long Time Death” the second one gets you to understand Roger Conniston a bit better. Not only is he struggling with his new job position he can’t let go of trying to proof Inspector Weston is dealing with weapons. The story gets more twisted as we go along involving the local mobsters. Irish freedom fighters and Russian mafia. An explosive mix in more ways then one. A lot of characters in this book so you have to pay attention who is who. The subject matter is a bit on the dark side but very realistic. The more you read about Roger the more he grows on you.
Roger Conniston, CSI investigator is threaten to alter data from crime scenes or his wife will die. His wife Yvonne is kidnapped by Hades’s gang to get Roger to do as they want. Roger complies on the surface. When the police will not hunt for Yvonne, he goes on his own. This novel is a long story that does keep your interest.
A mob boss gangster sort of person known as Hades acquired some guns a while back with the help of his police officer brother Weston they took the guns from an Irish group and now the Irish want their guns back. To help them to get their guns back the Irish kidnap Hades daughter.
Hades loves his daughter more than anything and vows to do everything in his power to get his daughter back. Hades then proceeds to kidnap SOCO officer Roger Conniston’s wife Yvonne. I guess Hades thinks that kidnapping Roger’s wife that it will make the police work harder on finding his daughter before it is too late.
Even though Roger and Yvonne have had their differences in the past with Roger cheating on her; they are now trying to make their marriage work. When Yvonne is kidnapped I guess it all hits home with him and he realizes just how much his wife actually means to him and he sets out to do whatever it takes to get back the love of his life.
The action is non-stop in Stealing Elgar with so many murders and the kidnappings. Stealing Elgar has it all like murder, mystery, suspense, kidnapping, action it is intense and so very intriguing and all the crimes are vividly written.
We get all the evidence and the clues which shows us whodunit from the get go but we get to see how the police work their case and how they come by their evidence and how they prove whodunit. Stealing Elgar and all the scenes are so very descriptively written to where you have no problem seeing it all play out in your head like a movie. Oh and speaking of movies I think Stealing Elgar would make a great motion picture.
Stealing Elgar is one book that I recommend to anyone who loves a good crime novel but I do suggest that you read the first book A Long Time Dead in The Dead Trilogy before reading Stealing Elgar in order to get the whole picture and not to miss out on anything. Now I can’t wait to dive into the next and last book No More Tears in The Dead Trilogy.
Stealing Elgar, the second novel about SOCO Roger Conniston is a well-written thriller. Filled with intriguing characters, interlocking plots, and an unexpected ending, this novel is well worth the read. Well done, Andrew Barrett. I received a copy of this book for an honest review.
Stealing Elgar is Book 2 in The Dead Trilogy series of SOCO Roger Conniston stories by the inimitable Andrew Barrett, who really knows his stuff when it comes to the expert/inside knowledge required to create such wonderful characters on both sides of the law – he’s lived the same or similar events throughout his ‘other’ career as a police officer dealing in just such cases.
A suitably villainously-named master-crook, Hades, is Conniston’s antagonist in the conflict, involving both the newly promoted SOCO and his emotionally-estranged wife, Yvonne.
This time it’s personal and despite the distance between them, Conniston is still devastated when Yvonne is kidnapped, to ensure his complicity in Hades’ success in his next heist.
After all, as he’d been seemingly forgiven for his own recent affair with his therapist, he is hardly in the position to complain – and now it may be too late!
A tautly written crime thriller that will compel you to read the other two SOCO Roger Conniston stories, Stealing Elgar is definitely NOT to be missed – get your copy today!