Perfect for fans of Ann Cleeves and Elly Griffiths, a gripping, atmospheric debut that transports readers to the Channel Island of Guernsey, immersing them in the hunt for a killer whose secrets are rooted in the insular community’s own dark past.I’m not afraid of the darkness…Only what it hides.Finding a drowned woman’s body on the beach is the last thing journalist Jennifer Dorey’s fragile … journalist Jennifer Dorey’s fragile psyche needs. She left London for her island home of Guernsey, England, in the aftermath of a traumatic incident that shook her to her core. Now, as a local newspaper reporter, it’s Jennifer’s job to prove the woman’s death…but she uncovers something far bigger and more sinister than she ever could have imagined.
Jennifer enlists the help of DCI Michael Gilbert to investigate a pattern of similar deaths over the last fifty years. Though he’s looking forward to a comfortable—and imminent—retirement, Gilbert joins the journalist on a dark trail of island myths and folklore that leads to the door of a Nazi soldier’s illegitimate son. But as Jennifer gets closer to learning the killer’s identity—and his painstaking plans for mayhem—she falls ever deeper into his grasp.
Sinister deeds unravel in the darkness in The Devil’s Claw, Lara Dearman’s exhilarating debut novel.
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I did enjoy this book. I would recommend this book. It was one I could not put down. I am going to look for the rest of the series.
Why This Book
I’ve built a good relationship with the publisher, Crooked Lane, who offered Lara Dearman’s book, The Devil’s Claw, the first in her Jennifer Dorey mystery series, as a thank you for all the other books I’ve chosen, read, and reviewed from them. I’m closing out all my commitments this month to publishers before I tackle some open ARCs, hence why this book wound up as my first choice in February.
Plot, Characters & Setting
Jennifer Dorey, a 30ish news reporter in contemporary times, returned from London to her hometown in Guernsey, a large island near France in the English Channel, after an attack over an article she had been writing on a scam over human trafficking services. When she arrives, she has memories of another attack when she was younger and the mysterious death of her father; however, that’s nothing compared to when she discovers a body on a beach near a cliff. Working with the local detective, Michael, they discover a series of murders that occurred throughout the last 50 years all with the markings of the Devil’s Claw. Jen and Michael investigate the past crimes, learning about improper police work, Nazi supporters, and a penchant for young blonde girls who hurt themselves. Everything collides when she stumbles upon the killer and is trapped in his/her menacing grip.
Approach & Style
I read a hardback version of this ~325 page novel in five hours over three days. It is broken into 45 chapters, each relatively short around 8 pages, and told in third person POV. Chapters alternate perspective from the killer, Michael, Jen and a few other supporting characters. The characters revisit history multiple times, so you have to focus on what’s current and what’s historical, but it’s fairly easy to stay aware. It’s written from a UK style with some details specific to police procedures and news reporting local to the area. It read well, but at times felt a bit too formal and stiff. It wasn’t enough to cause any issues, but it could have been relaxed a tad more so build a better reader / story connection. I’m not sure if it was the writing or the personality of Jen; time will tell when we see book two.
Key Thoughts
I enjoyed the debut book in this series. It has a slow build, keeps you guessing and offers multiple suspects. There are several side stories that eventually interweave in the plot, and it includes a few supporting characters who will likely continue into future books in the series. No one stood out other than the primary two, but with focus, I’m sure the depth will provide characters we crave reading about in the future. I love the connection between the private citizens and the owner of the newspaper. I was glad to see the partnership between the police and the news outlet. It felt real in both senses of what they did and they didn’t allow.
The plot was strong in terms of execution, red herrings, guesswork and inter-dependencies between all the characters and time periods. The ultimate reason for the murders isn’t as clear as I would have liked it to be; that said, it is good and keeps you turning the pages. You may just have some open questions in the end as I did, in terms of the Nazi connections, the reason the killer chose the victims (s)he chose, and how much the Devil’s Claw really had to do with it all. Nothing that threw me off, but I wanted it tied together more tightly.
Summary
Dearman weaves an eerie story with a fantastic background setting. Guernsey was a new locale for me, but one that peaks a lot of interest. I’m curious to find out how much of what was in the book is truth versus fiction. Kudos to her for creating a new series with lots of possibilities.
Great original setting for a thriller, with a brilliant, empowered female protagonist.
The Devil’s Claw (Jennifer Dorey Mystery #1) by author Lara Dearman is a suspenseful thriller which throws the reader a few twists. As Jennifer Dorey works as a reported for the Guernsey News in the town of St. Peter Port. She thought she had been followed as she drove into work by a stranger on a motor bike. Later that morning she opens an email with an offensive word typed across the front. Was someone watching her? There are secrets in her past which cause chilling sleepless nights., but she does not want to talk about the things that happened.
Later in the evening she meets her mother down in the town to watch the fireworks light up the autumn sky. There would be a contest to judge the children’s entries of the best guy Guy Fawkes straw effigy before the bonfire. Unnatural screaming starts and Jenny runs to find the source of distress and finds a woman sobbing at the edge of the beach. Jenny shines her torch down as the woman is saying, “I just fell right over her” and see the dead body of a young woman!
DCI Michael Gilbert checks the beautiful woman’s body and takes pictures for his investigation. He sees deep cuts down the inside of her arm. Had she been partying and fallen off a boat into the water? Was it a suicide?
Then the story goes back to some events of 1959. The dysfunctional family of an unwed mother raising the illegitimate baby of a Nazi. The boy is now old enough to know he is different and not accepted in the village. His grandfather was very strange and had killed himself. As he grows to adulthood his resentments begin to manifest in odd ways.
This story has several layers of mystery and will keep the reader trying to connect them together to figure out who and why someone has murdered several young women. Jenny has flashbacks to her night of terror as she works to find answers to the meaning of the cuts on the bodies.
I did enjoy this book. I would recommend this book. It was one I could not put down. I am going to look for the rest of the series.
Why This Book
I’ve built a good relationship with the publisher, Crooked Lane, who offered Lara Dearman’s book, The Devil’s Claw, the first in her Jennifer Dorey mystery series, as a thank you for all the other books I’ve chosen, read, and reviewed from them. I’m closing out all my commitments this month to publishers before I tackle some open ARCs, hence why this book wound up as my first choice in February.
Plot, Characters & Setting
Jennifer Dorey, a 30ish news reporter in contemporary times, returned from London to her hometown in Guernsey, a large island near France in the English Channel, after an attack over an article she had been writing on a scam over human trafficking services. When she arrives, she has memories of another attack when she was younger and the mysterious death of her father; however, that’s nothing compared to when she discovers a body on a beach near a cliff. Working with the local detective, Michael, they discover a series of murders that occurred throughout the last 50 years all with the markings of the Devil’s Claw. Jen and Michael investigate the past crimes, learning about improper police work, Nazi supporters, and a penchant for young blonde girls who hurt themselves. Everything collides when she stumbles upon the killer and is trapped in his/her menacing grip.
Approach & Style
I read a hardback version of this ~325 page novel in five hours over three days. It is broken into 45 chapters, each relatively short around 8 pages, and told in third person POV. Chapters alternate perspective from the killer, Michael, Jen and a few other supporting characters. The characters revisit history multiple times, so you have to focus on what’s current and what’s historical, but it’s fairly easy to stay aware. It’s written from a UK style with some details specific to police procedures and news reporting local to the area. It read well, but at times felt a bit too formal and stiff. It wasn’t enough to cause any issues, but it could have been relaxed a tad more so build a better reader / story connection. I’m not sure if it was the writing or the personality of Jen; time will tell when we see book two.
Key Thoughts
I enjoyed the debut book in this series. It has a slow build, keeps you guessing and offers multiple suspects. There are several side stories that eventually interweave in the plot, and it includes a few supporting characters who will likely continue into future books in the series. No one stood out other than the primary two, but with focus, I’m sure the depth will provide characters we crave reading about in the future. I love the connection between the private citizens and the owner of the newspaper. I was glad to see the partnership between the police and the news outlet. It felt real in both senses of what they did and they didn’t allow.
The plot was strong in terms of execution, red herrings, guesswork and inter-dependencies between all the characters and time periods. The ultimate reason for the murders isn’t as clear as I would have liked it to be; that said, it is good and keeps you turning the pages. You may just have some open questions in the end as I did, in terms of the Nazi connections, the reason the killer chose the victims (s)he chose, and how much the Devil’s Claw really had to do with it all. Nothing that threw me off, but I wanted it tied together more tightly.
Summary
Dearman weaves an eerie story with a fantastic background setting. Guernsey was a new locale for me, but one that peaks a lot of interest. I’m curious to find out how much of what was in the book is truth versus fiction. Kudos to her for creating a new series with lots of possibilities.
Great original setting for a thriller, with a brilliant, empowered female protagonist.
The Devil’s Claw (Jennifer Dorey Mystery #1) by author Lara Dearman is a suspenseful thriller which throws the reader a few twists. As Jennifer Dorey works as a reported for the Guernsey News in the town of St. Peter Port. She thought she had been followed as she drove into work by a stranger on a motor bike. Later that morning she opens an email with an offensive word typed across the front. Was someone watching her? There are secrets in her past which cause chilling sleepless nights., but she does not want to talk about the things that happened.
Later in the evening she meets her mother down in the town to watch the fireworks light up the autumn sky. There would be a contest to judge the children’s entries of the best guy Guy Fawkes straw effigy before the bonfire. Unnatural screaming starts and Jenny runs to find the source of distress and finds a woman sobbing at the edge of the beach. Jenny shines her torch down as the woman is saying, “I just fell right over her” and see the dead body of a young woman!
DCI Michael Gilbert checks the beautiful woman’s body and takes pictures for his investigation. He sees deep cuts down the inside of her arm. Had she been partying and fallen off a boat into the water? Was it a suicide?
Then the story goes back to some events of 1959. The dysfunctional family of an unwed mother raising the illegitimate baby of a Nazi. The boy is now old enough to know he is different and not accepted in the village. His grandfather was very strange and had killed himself. As he grows to adulthood his resentments begin to manifest in odd ways.
This story has several layers of mystery and will keep the reader trying to connect them together to figure out who and why someone has murdered several young women. Jenny has flashbacks to her night of terror as she works to find answers to the meaning of the cuts on the bodies.
I did enjoy this book. I would recommend this book. It was one I could not put down. I am going to look for the rest of the series.
Why This Book
I’ve built a good relationship with the publisher, Crooked Lane, who offered Lara Dearman’s book, The Devil’s Claw, the first in her Jennifer Dorey mystery series, as a thank you for all the other books I’ve chosen, read, and reviewed from them. I’m closing out all my commitments this month to publishers before I tackle some open ARCs, hence why this book wound up as my first choice in February.
Plot, Characters & Setting
Jennifer Dorey, a 30ish news reporter in contemporary times, returned from London to her hometown in Guernsey, a large island near France in the English Channel, after an attack over an article she had been writing on a scam over human trafficking services. When she arrives, she has memories of another attack when she was younger and the mysterious death of her father; however, that’s nothing compared to when she discovers a body on a beach near a cliff. Working with the local detective, Michael, they discover a series of murders that occurred throughout the last 50 years all with the markings of the Devil’s Claw. Jen and Michael investigate the past crimes, learning about improper police work, Nazi supporters, and a penchant for young blonde girls who hurt themselves. Everything collides when she stumbles upon the killer and is trapped in his/her menacing grip.
Approach & Style
I read a hardback version of this ~325 page novel in five hours over three days. It is broken into 45 chapters, each relatively short around 8 pages, and told in third person POV. Chapters alternate perspective from the killer, Michael, Jen and a few other supporting characters. The characters revisit history multiple times, so you have to focus on what’s current and what’s historical, but it’s fairly easy to stay aware. It’s written from a UK style with some details specific to police procedures and news reporting local to the area. It read well, but at times felt a bit too formal and stiff. It wasn’t enough to cause any issues, but it could have been relaxed a tad more so build a better reader / story connection. I’m not sure if it was the writing or the personality of Jen; time will tell when we see book two.
Key Thoughts
I enjoyed the debut book in this series. It has a slow build, keeps you guessing and offers multiple suspects. There are several side stories that eventually interweave in the plot, and it includes a few supporting characters who will likely continue into future books in the series. No one stood out other than the primary two, but with focus, I’m sure the depth will provide characters we crave reading about in the future. I love the connection between the private citizens and the owner of the newspaper. I was glad to see the partnership between the police and the news outlet. It felt real in both senses of what they did and they didn’t allow.
The plot was strong in terms of execution, red herrings, guesswork and inter-dependencies between all the characters and time periods. The ultimate reason for the murders isn’t as clear as I would have liked it to be; that said, it is good and keeps you turning the pages. You may just have some open questions in the end as I did, in terms of the Nazi connections, the reason the killer chose the victims (s)he chose, and how much the Devil’s Claw really had to do with it all. Nothing that threw me off, but I wanted it tied together more tightly.
Summary
Dearman weaves an eerie story with a fantastic background setting. Guernsey was a new locale for me, but one that peaks a lot of interest. I’m curious to find out how much of what was in the book is truth versus fiction. Kudos to her for creating a new series with lots of possibilities.
Great original setting for a thriller, with a brilliant, empowered female protagonist.
The Devil’s Claw (Jennifer Dorey Mystery #1) by author Lara Dearman is a suspenseful thriller which throws the reader a few twists. As Jennifer Dorey works as a reported for the Guernsey News in the town of St. Peter Port. She thought she had been followed as she drove into work by a stranger on a motor bike. Later that morning she opens an email with an offensive word typed across the front. Was someone watching her? There are secrets in her past which cause chilling sleepless nights., but she does not want to talk about the things that happened.
Later in the evening she meets her mother down in the town to watch the fireworks light up the autumn sky. There would be a contest to judge the children’s entries of the best guy Guy Fawkes straw effigy before the bonfire. Unnatural screaming starts and Jenny runs to find the source of distress and finds a woman sobbing at the edge of the beach. Jenny shines her torch down as the woman is saying, “I just fell right over her” and see the dead body of a young woman!
DCI Michael Gilbert checks the beautiful woman’s body and takes pictures for his investigation. He sees deep cuts down the inside of her arm. Had she been partying and fallen off a boat into the water? Was it a suicide?
Then the story goes back to some events of 1959. The dysfunctional family of an unwed mother raising the illegitimate baby of a Nazi. The boy is now old enough to know he is different and not accepted in the village. His grandfather was very strange and had killed himself. As he grows to adulthood his resentments begin to manifest in odd ways.
This story has several layers of mystery and will keep the reader trying to connect them together to figure out who and why someone has murdered several young women. Jenny has flashbacks to her night of terror as she works to find answers to the meaning of the cuts on the bodies.