Despite her life-long fascination with the infamous Jack the Ripper, young London policewoman Lacey Flint has never worked a murder case or seen a corpse up close. Until now...
As she arrives at her car one evening, Lacey is horrified to find a woman slumped over the door. She has been brutally stabbed, and dies in Lacey's arms.
Thrown headlong into her first murder hunt, Lacey will stop at nothing to find this savage killer.
But when Lacey receives a familiar letter, written in blood, pre-fixed Dear Boss and hand-delivered, it is clear that a Ripper copycat is at large. And one who is fixated on Lacey herself.
Can this inexperienced detective outwit a killer whose role model has never been found?
I read S.J. Bolton's last book Sacrifice for The Great Transworld Crime Caper and loved it so I jumped at the chance to review her latest one.Now You See Me follows Lacey Flint who is first on the scene at a viscous murder. Feeling as though she could have done more, Lacey throws herself into the investigation. She had no idea just how much she would become involved, she receives a letter pre-fixed Dear Boss and realises that they have a Jack the Ripper copycat on their hands.
Dana Tullock is heading up the investigation and takes Lacey under her wing. The pressure is on Dana as the bodies start piling up and the finger is pointed at police incompetency. DI Mark Joesbury is helping with the investigation , the tension between him and Lacey is palpable and when it becomes clear that Lacey is a target, it only intensifies.
The police believe that the killer is copying the pattern of Jack the Ripper but then events happen out of sequence or have the wrong hallmarks. How are they meant to draw comparisons between the present and a Victorian serial killer whose identity has never been revealed?
S.J. Bolton does not hold back in her descriptions of the murder victims and this makes for gritty and extremely realistic reading. You could feel how terrified these victims were, just like those murdered by Jack the Ripper.
There is a delicious twist at the end of the book that I didn't see coming at all and I love it when that happens. I can't recommend this book enough, Now You See Me has murder, suspense, sexual tension, drama, blood and guts. I really enjoyed the Jack the Ripper element as it had clearly been well researched and executed
Now You See Me kept me up late into the night and I can't wait for S.J. Bolton's next offering.
Many thanks to the lovely people at Transworld for sending me a copy of the book to review, it is out now.
6 comments:
Is this the first in a series or standalone? I see so many intersting sounding crime novels and then find they're the latest in a long series and I hate reading out of order!
Ellie- I would say it is a standalone, the police officer Dana Tulloch was in Sacrifice but it has no bearing on the story, you could definitely read it as a one off although I would recommend Sacrifice too!
I loved Now You See Me. It's the first S.J. Bolton book that I've read and I can't wait to get my hands on the rest of her books :)
I like a Ripper-esque theme and this one sounds good.
Thanks Dot for the great review.
Nikki-ann- the only other one I have read is Sacrifice but that was also really good!
Monica- You're welcome, I thought this one was very well researched.
I loved this book too - I have read three of them now. I'm so glad I discovered this author :)
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