BLOG TOUR: Two Evils by Mark Sennen

I am on the final stop on the blog tour today for Two Evils by Mark Sennen. It is the sixth book in the DI Savage series, it is the first that I have read but I am now determined to catch up with the others.

A missing boy. A brutal killer. D.I. Charlotte Savage is ready.
DI Charlotte Savage has been warned to lay low. After a string of high profile cases, her infamous reputation precedes her.
But when a vulnerable child goes missing, for Savage, it's too close to home. She's not the kind of detective who can sit back and watch events unfold.
Then a second child is snatched- echoing a terrifying incident that happened over two decades before. Its soon becomes apparent that there is a more chilling motive behind the disappearances.
History looks set to repeat itself. It's down to Savage to seek out the cold blooded killer. Before it's third time unlucky. Before it's too late. 

(Publisher: Avon, 387 pages)

D.I. Charlotte Savage is supposed to be keeping a low profile but when not one, but two young children go missing, nothing will stop her from getting involved in the case. As she pieces the evidence together it is clear that present day events mirror those from over twenty years ago. Savage needs to stop whoever is behind them  but she knows that she does not have much time.
Two Evils was gripping from the get go, as I said this is the first book I have read from the series so they can obviously be read as stand alone books. I didn't feel as though I knew Charlotte Savage very well and I hope to rectify that by reading the previous books as I think it would have added another dimension to the story for me.
Chilling is probably the best word for this book. Mark Sennen has created a truly terrifying murderer and he reveals more and more as the book develops. The author goes back and forth between the past and the present to build a detailed picture of a very disturbed mind. The actions taken by the murderer make for uneasy reading; there are scenes of torture and the gruesome details are not brushed over.
I thought it was extremely clever how the author presents the murderer as having complete control at some points whilst doubting that he is doing the right thing at other points. For me this made him even scarier as you wonder what he will do next and just how far he will go as his behaviour becomes even more unpredictable.
Two Evils has a particularly relentless pace, at times I felt like I was struggling to keep up with the new evidence and suspects. It is so well tied together and even though there are many twists and turns, the finale of the book is well crafted.
Mark Sennen is a new author to me but one that I would highly recommend. DI Charlotte Savage is a complex and interesting character and I am so pleased to have found another series of books in this genre that are so well written.

Many thanks to Helena from Harper Collins for inviting me to be part of the blog tour.