A gruesome yet fantastic crime thriller!
I received this advanced copy from HQ Stories on Netgalley.
The Jigsaw Man by Nadine Matheson
400 Pages
Published 18th February
Description
There’s a serial killer on the loose.
When bodies start washing up along the banks of the River Thames, DI Henley fears it is the work of Peter Olivier, the notorious Jigsaw Killer. But it can’t be him; Olivier is already behind bars, and Henley was the one who put him there.
The race is on before more bodies are found.
She’d hoped she’d never have to see his face again, but Henley knows Olivier might be the best chance they have at stopping the copycat killer. But when Olivier learns of the new murders, helping Henley is the last thing on his mind . . .
Will it take a killer to catch the killer?
Now all bets are off, and the race is on to catch the killer before the body count rises. But who will get there first – Henley, or the Jigsaw Killer?
Review
I absolutely love a crime fiction / police procedural book and this ticked all of those boxes!
Firstly this had a brilliant and diverse range of characters which was highlighted throughout, especially with DI Henley being a black female Inspector. She’s a woman not to be messed with though despite battling her own personal demons.
This is essentially a story of serial killer vs serial killer so you can expect plenty of gruesome descriptions which might not be for the fainthearted. I personally didn’t mind these parts and thought it added to the intensity of it all and the desperate need to find and stop whoever was doing this.
The police procedure parts were fantastic and really encompassed that feeling that you were right there in the Serial Crimes Unit with them. However my favourite sections of the book were the prison interviews with the Jigsaw Killer, Peter Olivier. They were intense and had a ‘Mindhunter’ vibe about them. The author captured Olivier’s personality so well and every time he spoke it made me nervous.
Whilst this is a debut novel it certainly didn’t feel like it. We get glimpses of the background stories for some of the characters which at times felt like things we should have known from a previous book. I definitely hope there are more books to come featuring DI Henley so we can explore her character a lot more.
Overall this was a really great crime thriller full of equally great characters!
