The Trauma Pool by John Kennedy
Pages: 295
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Murder, Police
Published: 22 Sept 2020
Publisher: Sharpe Books
Publisher's Blurb
DI Will Ashcroft saved a boy from drowning in the London Docklands. But the incident still haunts him.
Now Ashcroft is back in the Pennines, where he started out.
There has been a murder – and a twelve-year-old boy is missing.
The deeper Ashcroft delves into the crimes, the clearer it becomes that he cannot solve the cases on his own.
Samira Byrne is a black police officer, battling against prejudice both in and outside the force. Yet she is smart and tenacious – and becomes an ally.
Faced with incompetent superior officers, witnesses who are withholding information, and the suspicious behaviour of the missing boy’s parents, Ashcroft and Byrne must risk everything to unravel secrets the valley has been keeping for over ten years.
Can Ashcroft outrun his past long enough to solve the cases?
Recommended for fans of Ian Rankin, Peter James and Mark Edwards.
Review
Relocated to the Pennines following a traumatic rescue of a
young boy in London’s Docklands, D.I. Will Ashcroft is plunged into both a
murder and a child kidnapping that will test his skills to their limits.
Set in the mid 1980’s amid large scale racism and homophobia
within the community and the local police force, this is a well-researched, and
competently written, thriller.
The characters flaws draw you in and the realism of
Ashcroft’s Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and DC Byrne’s struggle with old
fashioned attitudes towards both women and people of colour, at times, bring
your emotion to the fore.
With the inclusion of several red herrings and plot twists,
this is a novel that’ll keep you hooked well into the early hours of the
morning.
John Kennedy has accurately portrayed the struggles that were encountered by minority groups back in the nineteen eighties as well as the lack of understanding about mental health issues.
D.I. Will Ashcroft returns in The Kill Chain where his expertise is called upon when a killer targets the local rave scene
Buy on Amazon
The Author
John Kennedy was born in Holmfirth and brought up in the Calder Valley in West Yorkshire.
His first brush with the writing world was when a poem of his was runner up in a competition at school and was published.
John has done plenty to earn a crust over the years, including peeling bulbs in Holland and busking round Europe. But about twenty years ago he settled in the North East and took up a lecturing post.
He’s had some sci fi published in anthologies and continues to put out the occasional short story in that genre, because he loves it too and hates the idea that writers must limit themselves to one world.
For his crime fiction, he’s been shortlisted for the Crime Writers Association Debut Dagger and the Exeter prize and longlisted for the Bath Novel prize. The Trauma Pool, published by Sharpe books, is his first novel.
https://www.writerjohnkennedy.com/
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