From the breakthrough international bestselling author of The Girl in the Ice, a breathtaking, page-turning novel about a disgraced female detective’s fight for redemption. And survival… and publicly vilified for the shocking circumstances surrounding the cannibal murder case, Kate could only watch as her career ended in scandal.
Fifteen years after those catastrophic events, Kate is still haunted by the unquiet ghosts of her troubled past. Now a lecturer at a small coastal English university, she finally has a chance to face them. A copycat killer has taken up the Nine Elms mantle, continuing the ghastly work of his idol.
Enlisting her brilliant research assistant, Tristan Harper, Kate draws on her prodigious and long-neglected skills as an investigator to catch a new monster. Success promises redemption, but there’s much more on the line: Kate was the original killer’s intended fifth victim…and his successor means to finish the job.
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Bryndza is my type of author and Nine Elms is my type of book. Twisty, dark, and layered with a protagonist you root for from page one, this is a superb start to what promises to be another stand out series.
Nine Elms by Robert Bryndza
A Kate Marshall Thriller #1
Brilliant! This book is not a quick read but it flew by as every word carried the weight of this story. From the beginning through till the end this book had me on tenterhooks waiting to see what would happen next. Enthralling read and an excellent introduction to what, going by this book, will be a series I will not want to miss one book of.
What I liked:
* Kate: flawed, smart, tenacious, willing to do what it takes – I like her, felt sorry for her at points and truly admired her, too.
* Tristan: her assistant is a young man with a future – though untried I found him open, caring, wise, young and endearing – I want to know more about him
* Jake: Kate’s son – he is not formed yet and as the series goes on I can see any number of things happening in his life
* The other people like Kate’s parents and neighbor – can see them taking part in future books
* That Kate is not a young thing
* That this is not really a cozy mystery or a police procedural as Kate is not on the police force but it is a murder mystery of a cold case that ties into current murders, too.
* The idea put forth that Kate and Tristan might have a side business as private investigators – wonder if they will leave academia or stay in it – will they get licenses or are they even needed in England?
What I did not like:
* The four sicko psychos that were mentioned in this story – I detested them and wished a horrible fate for them.
* Kate’s AA affiliation – it seems that every PI, police person, solver of cases seems to end up with an alcohol problem and though that may be true I would kind of like to see someone that does not have a dependency problem
* The reminder that there is so much evil in the world – that humans have so little regard for the lives of others.
Did I enjoy this book? Yes
Would I read more in this series? As soon as possible, please
Thank you to NetGalley and Tomas & Mercer for the ARC – This is my honest review.
5 Stars
Okay, so I think I’ll take books featuring cannibalistic killers off my list from now on. There was a little too much vivid imagery for me. That being said, I did enjoy this book. I thought the story moved at a good pace, with enough action scenes to keep the plot on track but not so many that I felt like I had no time to catch my breath. Kate was a solid main character and I loved her. She felt real and I though her relationships and interactions with the other significant characters were realistic. There were a few surprises throughout the book, not just in the story itself, but in some of the chapter POVs, with characters that I was not expecting at all which added so many layers to an already detailed story.
If I could give NINE ELMS by Robert Bryndza six stars, I would. Oh, my blessed word! A white knuckle, blood pumping page-turner from the onset, the gripping storyline held me captive to the very last page.
The plot was unbelievable. Kate is totally unlikable.
Evidently, in England, anyone can get involved in a police investigation. Even if you are just an assistant to an ex-cop, welcome to the crime scenes.
Not a one rating though, cause I did finish it.
WOOHOO! Another Bryndza book I couldn’t refuse. Only this time a new detective and a new series published by Thomas & Mercer.
Peter Conway is never far from Kate’s mind. During the aftermath of the most heinous crimes imaginable, she fumbles with a new life while at the same time regretting the day she stopped being Detective Constable Kate Marshall. Nine Elms Lane has changed since the 1990s with new developments going up and things aren’t the same any more. With a career in law enforcement lost to reputation and now living in Thurlow Bay on the south coast of England, she is a lecturer in Criminology at Ashdean University. Starting with the course “Criminal Icons,” Kate describes her relationship with Met Police Detective Peter Conway and the victims whose lives he took. There must be nothing worse than thinking about a murderer who has haunted her entire career. But when she receives an email from Malcolm Murray about their daughter Caitlyn who went missing in 1990 and may have been dating a police officer, all hell breaks loose.
As Nine Elms unfolds with a cutthroat ferocity, Conway receives a letter in prison and it’s this that made me shiver. I suspected the sender was someone in awe of the crime and it’s perpetrator, but I didn’t expect the crimes to be so horrendous. It reminded me of Alcatraz where prisoner Frank Morris led a minimalist existence inside, it surprised me how he was able to conjure up such a well-hatched, meticulous escape plan. With Bryndza’s descriptive prose, it’s easy to visualize Conway’s conditions, his routine and his jailers.
You’ll get a kick out of the Kate’s research assistant, Tristin, a young man with which every reader will resonate. Snowy white socks and an enquiring mind, reminiscent of a young Inspector Lewis. But when DCI Varia Campbell and DI John Mercy reveal a past misdemeanour, I liked Tristin a little more. Bryndza is skilled at drilling down to the smallest of foibles, which in turn brings an extra dimension to his characters.
I was convinced that Kate’s relationship with Peter Conway and his desire to see Jake would somehow play out in prison. That he would find a way to lure them there. But the backdrop of CM Logistics and an eerily staged scene from the past was a twist I never saw coming.
This is an ultra-satisfying, seat-of-your-pants police procedural and although I read it in three days — interrupted only by work — it was easy to pick up where I’d left off. The details of the case and the characters stayed in my mind and so did the surrounding story. The book is miraculously tied together in a violent and remarkably satisfying denouement.
Nine Elms is a sharp example of its genre. The pages turn, the violence is brutal, and for all police procedural and crime aficionados, fasten your safety belts because this is one hell of a twisty ride.