Blood Lines (D.I. Kim Stone Book Five) by Angela Marsons

How do you catch a killer who leaves no trace?

A victim killed with a single, precise stab to the heart appears at first glance to be a robbery gone wrong. A caring, upstanding social worker lost to a senseless act of violence. But for Detective Kim Stone, something doesn’t add up.

When a local drug addict is found murdered with an identical wound, Kim knows instinctively that she is dealing with the same killer. But with nothing to link the two victims except the cold, calculated nature of their death, this could be her most difficult case yet.

Desperate to catch the twisted individual, Kim’s focus on the case is threatened when she receives a chilling letter from Dr Alex Thorne, the sociopath who Kim put behind bars. And this time, Alex is determined to hit where it hurts most, bringing Kim face-to-face with the woman responsible for the death of Kim’s little brother – her own mother.

As the body count increases, Kim and her team unravel a web of dark secrets, bringing them closer to the killer. But one of their own could be in mortal danger. Only this time, Kim might not be strong enough to save them…

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Blood Lines is book five in the D I Kim Stone series.

I have to confess I hadn’t read any of Angela Marsons’ books and this would have been the first but a friend advised me to read her earlier books in the series, or at least book 2, Evil Games.  So I took her advice and read Evil Games first – another cracking thriller.

Dr Alexandra Thorne (who appeared in Evil Games) is now in prison, put there mainly by the persistence of D I Stone and her team. Alex Thorne is beautiful, enigmatic, charming, but she is also manipulative, controlling and taunting. She is an evil sociopath. She blames Kim Stone for the way her life has turned out and is obsessed with destroying her.

There are several threads in Blood Lines: the arrest of a serial rapist; the deaths of two females, one a middle-aged, well dressed professional woman with a responsible job, found in a car with a single stab wound, the other a 22 year old drug addict and a known shoplifter, found in the woods with a single stab wound…. and more.

Meanwhile the evil Alex Thorne is in prison, manipulating other prisoners and plotting to mess with Kim Stone’s mind. She knows of Kim Stone’s traumatic past and knows all the right buttons to press to push Kim over the edge. Kim has to carry out her duties as a detective as well as deal with terrifying personal issues.

It’s a real thriller of a book. Angela Marsons is a good storyteller. The plot is fairly complex and there are several sub-plots but it isn’t too difficult to follow them as the writing is good. The book is quite fast paced with the right amount of dialogue. I like how some of the threads come together leading to a thrilling and terrifying climax.

I think Blood Lines could stand alone but I’m glad I was advised to read Evil Games as that explains a lot of Dr Alex Thorne’s obsession with destroying Kim Stone. It also helps when you know some of Kim’s background and her personal issues.  I suspect I’ll catch up with the rest of the books in the series soon.

There is so much more to this book. I found it a thrilling, entertaining read and one of those books where chores are set aside and you also keep on reading into the wee small hours (the best kind).

[My thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for providing a digital review copy].