Cold Blood by Robert Bryndza

When a battered suitcase containing the dismembered body of a young man washes up on the shore of the river Thames, Detective Erika Foster is shocked. She’s worked on some terrifying cases but never seen anything like this before. 

As Erika and her team set to work, she makes the link with another victim – the body of a young woman dumped in an identical suitcase two weeks ago. 

Erika quickly realises she’s on the trail of a serial killer who’s already made their next move. Yet just as Erika starts to make headway with the investigation, she is the victim of a brutal attack. 

But nothing will stop Erika. As the body count rises, the twin daughters of her colleague Commander Marsh are abducted, and the stakes are higher than ever before. Can Erika save the lives of two innocent children before it’s too late? She’s running out of time and about to make a disturbing discovery…there’s more than one killer. 

*********

Cold Blood is number 5 in the Detective Erika Foster series and it’s another cracking thriller from Robert Bryndza.

This time a man’s mutilated and dismembered body is found in a suitcase washed up on shore of the River Thames.  There is no identification with the body but Erika manages to link the case to a young woman’s body that had been washed up in an identical suitcase two weeks earlier.  It appears the gruesome murders could be drug related and also that there may be at least two killers involved.

There are lots of things I like about Robert’s crime writing.

I love the way we are straight into a crime scene almost on the first page – no beating about the bush.
I like that we get to know fairly quickly who has ‘done the deed’ and we see events unfold from the perpetrators’ point of view as well as Police investigations. This doesn’t spoil the story; that’s when it becomes a gripping psychological thriller – how Erika and her colleagues work to solve the crime and try to catch the criminals. Robert is a very good storyteller. You also see the killers’ relationship change throughout the book. What starts off as something that might be considered an infatuation quickly develops into something more sinister and manipulative and then something very violent, brutal and shocking.

I like the fact that it’s a series, that characters have a bit of depth and there is some continuity although they may have a principal supporting role in one book and in another a more minor role. Equally important, each book can be read as a stand alone although I would recommend reading them in order. I really like Robert’s writing style and the way the words flow easily.

I’ve read all the Erika Foster books and travelled with her on her ‘journey’. She has definitely moved on from the first book/s. She seems more mature, mellow. She began by fighting against her superiors frequently – not always to Erika’s advantage. If she believes she is right she will argue her case and then do what she feels she has to do. She is still disagreeing with her superiors but I get the feeling she’s a bit less abrasive and argumentative. Even if she’s taken off a case, she’s more than likely to find another way of continuing her investigation.

In the last couple of books I feel she’s been more reflective, wondering what path she should take. She’s now a widow in her 40s (approaching 50) with no children. She’s turned down a promotion because she couldn’t see herself as a pen pusher stuck in an office most of the time.

There are some pretty gruesome bits to this book. The horrific murders, a shocking betrayal by a colleague, a brutal assault on Erika herself, the kidnap of Commander Marsh’s two young daughters, a race against the clock to find the little girls all leading to a shocking climax.

I would definitely recommend this book to those who like crime thrillers.  In fact I recommend all five books in the series so far.  They can all be read as stand alone but are best read from the start of the series.  Here are links to my previous reviews.

The Girl in the Ice
The Night Stalker
Dark Water
Last Breath

[My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Bookouture for providing an advance copy]

Last Breath by Robert Bryndza

When the tortured body of a young woman is found in a dumpster, her eyes swollen shut and her clothes soaked with blood, Detective Erika Foster is one of the first at the crime scene. The trouble is, this time, it’s not her case. 

While she fights to secure her place on the investigation team, Erika can’t help but get involved and quickly finds a link to the unsolved murder of a woman four months earlier. Dumped in a similar location, both women have identical wounds – a fatal incision to their femoral artery. 

Stalking his victims online, the killer is preying on young pretty women using a fake identity. How will Erika catch a murderer who doesn’t seem to exist? 

Then another girl is abducted while waiting for a date. Erika and her team must get to her before she becomes another dead victim, and, come face to face with a terrifyingly sadistic individual.

**********

Last Breath is the fourth Detective Erika Foster novel from Robert Bryndza. I’ve loved every one of them. They just seem to get better and better.

Erika is still not happy in her current post – in the Projects Team. She is not meant for pen-pushing and is desperate to get back to the Murder Investigation Team and do the job she is best at.

The book opens with a body being placed in a large rubbish container and the subsequent discovery of the mutilated body.

Although no longer a part of the Murder Investigation Team, Erika, due to circumstances, manages to be one of the first officers at the scene where she has a run in with Superintendent Sparks. Despite being told to leave in no uncertain terms, being Erika, she goes behind his back and talks to witnesses.

When she later get more information from a witness, she passes it on the the officer in charge but again she is warned to stay out of the investigation. Of course, she continues to make her own enquiries. She comes across a potential link to another case and passes the information on to the DCI in charge of the case but gets no response. To compound her woes it turns out Erika had applied to be transferred back to the Murder Investigation Team but has been turned down.

Her frustration at being locked out of the case is so great that she even considers apologising to Sparks and is prepared to grovel to get back to what she does best – solving murders.

It’s a very good, satisfying thriller that moves along at a good pace. You do get to know “whodunnit” early on. It’s as if you are able to see inside the head of the killer and the lengths he will go to, to avoid being caught. There is a kind of game of cat and mouse between the killer and the Police. He uses fake identities on social media to trap his victims and then later tortures them. The story is sometimes quite dark and violent but it never seems excessive. There is a good balance of action, dialogue and background information. The different threads of the story come together very well. I think also that knowing the identity of the killer early on makes it even more exciting. There are also red herrings and plot twists and the action keeps on coming right to the end.

I like the way that Erika and other characters have developed and changed since the first book. Erika has definitely softened a little and mellowed since the first book but her tenacious and sometimes stubborn streak still appears. Former colleagues are also back in this book. Having said that you could easily read book 4 as a stand alone and still enjoy it. Previous relationships are briefly explained where necessary. Of course if you read all four books in the correct order I think you would get even more enjoyment.

Occasionally you get a series of books where the first one is exciting and brilliant but over time subsequent stories seem less exciting and fresh. I certainly haven’t found that with Robert Bryndza’s books. I think they get better and better. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend his books to people who enjoy a good well plotted crime thriller.

[My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Bookouture for an advance copy of Last Breath]

Note:  When I started to draft a review of Robert’s latest Erika Foster novel (Cold Blood) I realised I hadn’t actually posted a review of Last Breath.  Maybe you can tell I’m a fan of all Robert’s writing.

Dark Water – Robert Bryndza

Beneath the water the body sank rapidly. She would lie still and undisturbed for many years but above her on dry land, the nightmare was just beginning.

When Detective Erika Foster receives a tip-off that key evidence for a major narcotics case was stashed in a disused quarry on the outskirts of London, she orders for it to be searched. From the thick sludge the drugs are recovered, but so is the skeleton of a young child.

The remains are quickly identified as seven-year-old Jessica Collins. The missing girl who made headline news twenty-six years ago.

As Erika tries to piece together new evidence with the old, she must dig deeper and find out more about the fractured Collins family and the original detective, Amanda Baker. A woman plagued by her failure to find Jessica. Erika soon realises this is going to be one of the most complex and demanding cases she has ever taken on.

Is the suspect someone close to home? Someone is keeping secrets. Someone who doesn’t want this case solved. And they’ll do anything to stop Erika from finding the truth.

*********

Robert Bryndza has rapidly become one of my favourite authors.  This is the third book in the Detective Erika Foster series and once again Rob has written a book which captured my interest right from the start.

Erika Foster has recently been transferred (rather under a cloud) from Lewisham to Bromley and is no longer with the Murder investigation unit. She is now assigned to a team that is part of Specialist, Organised and Economic Crime.

During a search of a flooded, disused quarry, searching for a consignment of drugs, the Police divers also come across a bundle of plastic entwined in chains. Inside was a small skeleton, apparently a child. The remains are eventually linked to a 7 year old girl who had gone missing without trace 26 years earlier.

Erika asks to be put in charge of case despite the fact that her unit does not deal in kidnap or murder cases. She has a good track record in solving difficult cases but her boss, Superintendent Yale, doesn’t agree to her request.

She then pleads with her old boss Commander Paul Marsh, and ultimately with the Assistant Commissioner. She is eventually put in charge of the case however she is to run it from Bromley and report directly to Paul Marsh. It soon becomes apparent there is little to go on. The investigation into the child’s disappearance didn’t get very far at the time. No one had witnessed anything. There was one suspect who was arrested and questioned, but released a few days later without charge. The female officer in charge of the missing person investigation was later thrown off the case.

Oh yes, and there appears to be someone who doesn’t want the case solved, but who and why?

I love that there is some continuity in Robert’s Erika Foster books. We meet characters (former colleagues) who appear in earlier books but we are also given a little of their background so that Dark Water can stand alone (it’s very worthwhile reading the series – they are all excellent books).

The plot is good. I love the balance between description and dialogue. I like the way we get to know a little bit more of Erika in each book (although I have to say I think she is mellowing a little!). She is an interesting character, not without her issues. She is a good police officer but sometimes deviates from standard procedures and hasn’t risen up the ranks quite as quickly as you would expect, given her success rate with difficult cases. However I got a sense that things might be starting to improve for Erika in respect of her personal relationships.

There are plenty of twists and turns and attempts to thwart the investigation. Once again great storytelling. Robert Bryndza writes my favourite kind of book – one that keeps me up to the wee small hours, bleary eyed, but desperate to find out what happens next.

I would love to read more books in this series. I hope it’s not too long until the next one is published!

Robert has also written a series of Coco Pinchard books which are funny and very entertaining.  His website can be found here.

The Night Stalker

If the Night Stalker is watching, you’re already dead ….

In the dead of a swelteringly hot summer’s night, Detective Erika Foster is called to a murder scene. The victim, a doctor, is found suffocated in bed. His wrists are bound and his eyes bulging through a clear plastic bag tied tight over his head.

A few days later, another victim is found dead, in exactly the same circumstances. As Erika and her team start digging deeper, they discover a calculated serial killer – stalking their victims before choosing the right moment to strike.

The victims are all single men, with very private lives. Why are their pasts shrouded in secrecy? And what links them to the killer?

As a heat wave descends upon London, Erika will do everything to stop the Night Stalker before the body count rises, even if it means risking her job. But the victims might not be the only ones being watched… Erika’s own life could be on the line.

 

 

This is another cracking crime story from Robert Bryndza.

I loved his first crime novel,  The Girl in the Ice  and was very happy when I got the opportunity to review the second book in the Erika Foster series. It’s another great story with several threads and a couple of red herrings.

DCI Erika Foster is back and has been called to a murder schene. She is good at solving cases (although she often follows her own rules) and is also hoping to be considered for a promotion. It’s not long until there is a second murder and it looks like they may be hunting for a serial killer. The first two victims don’t appear to have much in common except for the method used kill them. Senior officers seem to think it could be related to “gay-bashing” but Erika doesn’t agree. and being a bit of a maverick continues to investigate following her instincts. There is a major upset when her team encroach on an undercover operation that is almost at an end and one of the characters under surveillance is arrested by one of Erika’s colleagues.

When the killer strikes for a third time, Erika learns of the death from a friend who found the victim and phoned Erika before phoning 999. Erika goes to scene but another officer is put in charge and her friend is taken into custody and later charged with the murder. She doesn’t believe her friend committed the crime. Because of her personal involvement with suspect she is ordered not to get involved and is told to take a holiday.

Of course, being Erika, she still manages to continue her investigations on an unofficial basis and ropes in another colleague.

The ‘twist’ in this book is that we  know who the killer is quite early on but the killer’s reasons for the murders are revealed along the way. The killer starts off quite patient and stalks the victims over time, before striking., leaving very little forensic evidence at the crime scenes.

For me, this story was quite different. I found myself in the strange situation that while not liking the serial killer I did have some sympathy for them. That doesn’t usually happen.

Erika seems to be having a hard time in this book. It’s the two year anniversary of her husband’s death and she doesn’t always get along with colleagues.  She’s still at odds with Assistant Commissioner Oakley.  She doesn’t always play the game; if she thinks she’s right, she can’t help but follow her instincts even when she’s told to step back a bit.

I’ve given this book 5 stars. I found it well written and entertaining. I like Robert Bryndza’s writing style (don’t ask me to analyse it!) and I really enjoyed the book.

Is there going to be a third?  Please!

The Night Stalker is due to be published on 2 June 2016 (Bookouture) and can be pre-ordered.

Author’s website:    robertbryndza.com/

The Other Son (Nick Alexander) plus others

I have slight problem with ebooks. Although to be frank the problem is not really the actual e-books, the problem is with me.

I love a bargain.  I get a daily email from BookHippo and Bookbub suggesting books I might like, many of them less than £1.99 or free.

The problem is I 'buy' them but I am usually in the middle of reading something for review, or busy with other things.  I do try and read my new purchases but some get forgotten about especially when you don't actually see a pile of books to be read!



The Not So Secret Emails of Coco Pinchard

One of those was The Not so Secret Emails of Coco Pinchard by Robert Bryndza.  Apparently (and this was a shock to me) I bought it in August 2012!    I also have books 2 and 3 in the series of Coco Pinchard books but haven't read these yet:   Coco Pinchard's Big Fat Tipsy Wedding and Coco Pinchard, the Consequences of Love and  Sex.

It was when I was reviewing a copy of Robert's brilliant debut crime thriller The Girl in the Ice that I read he had previously written romantic comedies.  I recognised the Coco Pinchard title but wasn't sure if I had read it. Apparently I hadn't read it.

I managed to clear my NetGalley shelf and decided to start reading some of the books in my Kindle library.

This was first on my list.  It is bonkers, it's farcical but it is well written and very funny.  I liked all the characters, especially her awful mother-in-law.


Coco should have been enjoying a wonderful life.  Her first novel has been published, her son Rosencrantz has grown up and her husband .... well  he is just starting his mid-life crisis. He gives her an iphone for Christmas - not what she wanted.

When she catches her husband in bed with a younger colleague she dumps him.

Poor Coco, she seems to go from crisis to crisis in a run of bad luck.  Luckily she is able to email her (eccentric) friends using her new iphone and her story is told mostly in the form of emails to them.

At the age of forty something she finds herself single and manages to get herself a love interest but even that is not without its trials. As she starts to pick up the pieces with the help of her friends it looks as if things will work out but even the long road that elusive success is filled with hilarious incidents and you begin to wonder if things will ever go right.  A very entertaining book.



The Other Son

This one hadn't been lurking in my Kindle library for quite so long.  I bought The Other Son by Nick Alexander in early January this year.

It tells the story of Alice and her relationships with the three men in her life - her husband Ken and her grown up sons Tim and Matt.

I felt as if I knew Alice.  She has been married to Ken for a long time and has two grown up sons but she doesn't seem to enjoy a particularly happy or fulfilling life.  Ken is one of these men who have to control everything, not just the finances but also who his wife socialises with.  He is a bully.  One of her sons is successful, married with two sons of his own.  He and his wife place great importance on material wealth.  The other son has always been different.  He has spent time travelling and is now living abroad.  Alice hasn't seen him for a while.

I felt the book touched on several emotions:  anger, frustrations, sadness, happiness, worry, sympathy.

Initially I thought I had much of the story worked out as it seemed quite predictable, but in a good way.  However there are a couple of nice twists.  There is quite a neat ending but it is also open enough to allow the possibility of a further book.

It didn't take me long to read this book (not that it's particularly short).  Once I had started it I got quite engrossed.  This meant I spent most of the day reading instead of cleaning the house.

All the Light We Cannot See

This is another book I bought a few months ago when it was on special offer.  I liked the description and I thought it might be worth reading - it is a prize winner after all - winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2015.

It took a few attempts for me to get started (it was quite a busy time for me).  I would read a couple of chapters then put it aside to read other things.  Two months after buying it, I finally sat down for the third time and started to read it 'properly'.  I'm so glad I came back to it.


All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr is a wonderful book.  It's the story of Werner, a young German orphan destined to become a miner but whose talent for electronics gives him the opportunity to escape that destiny, and Marie-Laure, a young, blind French girl who lives with her father.

This beautifully written story tells of how they, and those around them, are affected by World War 2.  We are told the story from both sides.  Both children have completely different lives and interests and yet there are unexpected connections and coincidences in the story.  They each have their own story but you get a sense of their stories converging.  Will they survive?  Will they meet?  What happens to the people around them and the people left behind?

The book begins in 1944 in St Malo, where we meet the main characters, who are unknown to each other, just as the bombs are about to fall on the town and destroy most of it.


Much of the book spans the war years, and tells the story of how Werner and Marie-Laure each came to be in St Malo but we are also taken to 1934 when Marie-Laure and Werner are aged 6 and 7 respectively.

There are a few flashbacks in the book but these are made quite clear at the beginning of the different sections and it is not difficult to follow the story as it moves backwards and forwards through the war years.

Both children grow up in the course of the book.  Werner has to leave his sister Jutta behind; Marie-Laure and her father have to flee Paris and go to stay with a reclusive uncle in St Malo.  Marie-Laure has to learn to be independent despite her blindness.

The writing is beautifully descriptive in parts but never over the top.

It's a wonderful book and I'm so glad I stuck with it.  Once I got into the story I found it hard to put down.

*****

Well that's three books from the virtual To Be Read pile that have been read.   I bought my first Kindle in 2011 and I have been buying e-books since then.  Glancing through the list of books I have in my library there must be hundreds of unread ones there.  Some will be good, some will be less good and there may even be a few that I will find unreadable (I won't blog about those ones).  The actual Kindle is long gone (worn out maybe?) and I now simply use the Kindle app.

Maybe it is just as well the To Be Read pile is somewhere in the Cloud and out of sight!

The Girl in the Ice - Robert Bryndza

The Girl in the Ice is a brilliant crime thriller. It is definitely one of those I couldn't put down. (I would have liked to have read it all night until I got to the end but I was just too exhausted so I didn't finish it until the next day). I got involved in the story right from the start and it held my attention all the way through.

This really is a “gripping serial killer thriller” as it states on the cover but it's not obvious at the start that there is a serial killer. The body of a young woman with horrendous injuries is found under thick ice. She is identified as the missing daughter of a prominent and influential politician, Lord Douglas-Brown.

DCI Erika Foster has returned to service after an absence following the death of her husband. She expected to be put on administrative duties for a period but instead was put in immediate charge of the murder case because of her experience.

DCI Sparks who was leading the case when it was a missing person is not happy that Erika Foster has been put in charge of the murder case.

The victim's father is putting on the pressure to get results and arrest someone. However the family don't seem to want to answer Erika's awkward questions about their daughter and her lifestyle.

Erika eventually seems to make a breakthrough and finds someone who may have seen the victim talking to a man and woman in a pub near the place where her body was found. The pub was also suspected of placing illegal immigrants in work and being involved in prostitution.

As Erika's enquiries continue it becomes clear that certain information about other similar cases that she has learned of has been withheld but it's not clear why or by whom.

When one of her potential witnesses is found murdered and the other one long disappeared, Erika is suspended. Erika suspects the murders might be linked but her superiors seem to have a different agenda.

Of course, Erika continues to investigate unofficially with the help of some colleagues and when an arrest is made she believes they have arrested the wrong person.

I loved all the sub-plots and red herrings but the writing is so good the plot is easy to follow.

You have a powerful, wealthy family whose daughter has been murdered. The father is an influential politician with many business interests. The mother, originally from Slovakia, runs a society florist business. There is a younger son who is a university student and an older, daughter who seems just a little bit strange at times. There is also a fiancé, an ex-boyfriend, possibly illegal immigrants from Eastern Europe, Senior police officers, the Press.

I liked the characters. I liked the writing style. The story is complex enough to hold the reader's attention but never so complicated that you lose the thread. DCI Erika Foster is strong and feisty character, an experienced police officer, but also vulnerable given the circumstances of her husband's death. She doesn't always stick to the rules. I like her.

I wholeheartedly give this book 5 stars and look forward to the next one in the series.

[I received a review copy of this via NetGalley]


Publication date:  12 February 2016
Author website:    http://robertbryndza.com/the-girl-in-the-ice/