The dark web can satisfy any taste, but two detectives might just pull the plug… dark web. The traumatized woman is only the latest victim in a decade-long string of disturbing—and intensely personal—thefts.
To take down a black market, they’ll go undercover. But just when justice seems within reach, an unexpected event sends their sting operation spiraling out of control. Their only chance at catching the culprits lies with a local reporter… and a scandal that could ruin them all.
Dark Service is the fourth novel in the Detective Jack Rutherford and Amanda Lacey suspense series. If you like a modern-day suspense and exploring technology’s dark side, then you’ll love this.
The complete series:
1 The Controller
2 Hot to Kill
3 The Hunted
4 Dark Service
5 One Last Hit
DC Jack Rutherford (solo)
6 Hey You, Pretty Face
more
Yet again Linda Coles has written another hard to put down read. The twists and turns alone make turning the page a must and keep reading. Such a bazaar theft. Unreported by sheer fear. But what makes this theft different from many? The dark web is out there and so many many illegal thefts take place by hired hands and the like. So many things people want to buy and need that cant normally be obtained just by asking or purchasing. This is a crazy theft, but rest asure Det. Amanda Lacey is at the top of her game and will find the perp whom seems to think of the item stolen as a chershed memory of some sorts from back in childhood from a nannie. Not sure if that made since without giving away spoilers. But I totally recommend this read!!! You wont be disappointed. Recieved as an ARC and I voluntarily leave my review. Look forward to the next in series, yet cant come quick enough.
This book or story line gave me chicken skin or in other words it creeped me out.
I like to read books that I learn something from—believe me I will not forget this one.
Linda Coles, ‘Dark Service’, a detective Amanda Lacey series.
As a Hidden Gem ARC reader I received this book for free. And promised an honest review. Here it is.
English isn’t my first language. Sorry for errors.
Rating: 3 stars (of 5).
In general: A chaotic story about an original crime.
The book starts with several chapters about Taylor Palmer (26) who worked for a year in New York and travels by plane back to London to meet her parents and to start looking for another job. On the plane she meets Terrance Dubonnet (about 70 years old). He has since his youth a fetish for female hair.
Both, Taylor and Terrance, are described in detail in the first, ca 20 chapters of the book, but are hardly mentioned in the rest of the story.
Their meeting results in a crime, the first told in the novel. Tis part is followed by a few more detailed descriptions of fetish crimes.
All those crimes are organized by the same organisation which deals – for a lot of money – in fullfilling the needs of clients with(sometimes) bizarre fetishes.
I had a few doubts about the seriousness of the crimes. Yes, loosing your hair against your wish is privacy violation. But a serious crime? The hair will grow again. Sometimes I had a feeling of ‘much ado about nothing’.
The main characters are:
– Detective Sergeant Amanda Lacey (early 40-ies).
Living in Croydon, near London. Her fiancée is Ruth, an IT technician,
sometimes – in her free time – a hacker.
– Detective Constable Jack Rutherford. An older man, widower and Amanda’s assistent.
There are many other characters in the book. Among whom: Griffin Stokes (25).
A sport journalist and in his free time a ‘self-confessed nerd’, very interested in the dark web. His girlfriend is Vera (Vee) Dobbs (25). Still living with her parents but saving hard to get her own flat. Also working in the IT sector. The development of their relationship (described in quite a few chapters) is well told and is nice reading, but is hardly of relevance for understanding the plot. Vee is only used for info about the dark web (Amanda knew others – Ruth – who could have given her that info) and Griffin is the journalist who publises the leaks of Amanda’s investigation. Did the author need so many chapters for people with such a little role in the investigation?
Then the main character, Amanda. She’s introduced for the first time in the book in ch. 25 (after 24% of the book). At first – for me – it wasn’t clear if she was a private investigator or a cop, for she seemed able to choose her own cases. But she appears to be a police officer. DI (Detective Inspector?) Laurence Dupin, her boss, is introduced in the book when I’d read 89% of it. That’s a bit late.
So it goes on and on. A lot of (mostly) interesting characters, described in detail but never mentioned again in the progress of the story. A bit disappointing for this reader.
R.Huiszoon.