Man At The Door by Desmond P Ryan Blog Tour

Today is my turn on the blog tour, please check out the other stops as we all offer different content. For my stop I have my review, enjoy!





Blurb Man At The Door, the third in Desmond P. Ryan’s Mike O’Shea Crime Fiction Series, Detective Mike O’Shea solves a homicide, juggles an increasingly complex personal life, and continues to hunt for the cop-killer who has remained at large for the past thirteen years.

It all begins at 6:10 a.m. on a Friday morning when Glen Brebeuf calls demanding answers. He had reported his former lover, Elizabeth MacDonald, missing the previous day and Detective Mike O’Shea finds himself cleaning up the mess some rookie had made of the initial call.

Within hours, Mike takes over the investigation and is on the doorstep of the missing elderly woman’s home, determining that Elizabeth MacDonald—Sibby Mac to her friends—is not missing.

Sibby Mac has been murdered.

Along with Detective Ron Roberts and Detective Sergeant Amanda Black, Mike kicks the investigation into high gear. Very quickly, the ex-lover and a high-profile political figure become prime suspects, but, without a body, would there be enough evidence to charge either of them?

A day spent sifting through rancid garbage at one of the city dumps comes up empty for Mike and Ron, but a foul-smelling steamer trunk reported in another jurisdiction provides the eureka moment they need to proceed.

Meanwhile, Mike is doing double-duty, still investigating what he believes to be a link between the accused he has up in court now and his old partner’s killer.

And then there is his mother. Sensing that her son needs her, Mary-Margaret O’Shea has moved into Mike’s home—and his personal and professional life—pending further notice.

As the pieces of the Sibby Mac investigation start to fall into place, Mike follows up on a hunch and decides to take a detour on his way to work one morning. Using every trick in the book, he ends up saving a life, nearly ending another, and almost getting himself killed in the process.

Whether as a stand-alone or as your next step in the Mike O’Shea Crime Fiction Series, Man At The Door will keep you reading far too late into the night following Detective Mike O’Shea through the twists and turns of a homicide investigation. Once you’re done, take a breath and get reading for Blind Spot, coming out in early 2020!





About The Author

For almost thirty years, Desmond P. Ryan began every day of his working life with either a victim waiting in a hospital emergency room, or a call to a street corner or a blood-soaked room where someone had been left for dead. Murder, assaults on a level that defied humanity, sexual violations intended to demean, shame, and haunt the individuals who were no more than objects to the offenders: all in a day’s work.

It was exhilarating, exhausting, and often heartbreaking.

As a Detective with the Toronto Police Service, Desmond P. Ryan wrote thousands of reports detailing the people, places, and events that led up to the moment he came along. He investigated the crimes and wrote synopses for guilty pleas detailing the circumstances that brought the accused individuals before the Courts. He also wrote a number of files to have individuals deemed either Not Criminally Responsible due to mental incapacity, or Dangerous Offenders to be held in custody indefinitely.

Now, as a retired investigator with three decades of research opportunities under his belt, Desmond P. Ryan writes crime fiction.

Real Detective. Real Crime. Fiction.


The Man at the Door by Desmond P. Ryan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages -

Publisher - Ryan Publishing

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads

It has been a long road for Detective Mike O'Shea who is still recovering from a beating. He is on half duty when a call comes in from an elderly man. He says that his best friend, Elizabeth MacDonald is missing and he presumes she is dead.

Mike is skeptical but agrees to look into the case. When he enters the home, there is no one home and everything looks OK but it isn't. Very small dots of blood are found.

The neighbor who reported the woman missing says he goes to have lunch with her every week but this time he met a man at the door who said he was there to water her plants since she was away. That was always Glen's job and he immediately knew something was wrong.

Mike uncovers a lot of clues in his search. Many of the clues he finds have nothing to do with the crime, it has to do with him and how he will live his life now.



My Review

This is the second book I have read by this author featuring Detective Mike O'Shea, I think I read book one and maybe missed the book inbetween. Anyways a good many years has passed since I left Mike and a lot has transpired. He is back to work after a horrific beating and still suffering from the side effects. Technically on light duties he investigates a "missing person" an older lady called "Sibby" Elizabeth MacDonald but the reported, her friend Glen, believes she is dead. Mike starts digging and soon finds himself in the midst of a proper investigation.

So we have a lot more of the personal side in this book, recovering from long lasting injuries, his wife has left him, he just wants to do his job and now his mother, Margaret, has come to stay to look after him. Not going to lie, his mum Margaret who isn't a main character absolutely steals the show. I LOVED the parts she was in, she is an absolute hoot, she cracks me up and I laughed out loud more than a few times at some of the lines she comes away with.

Glen seems a bit of a dodgy character and something just a bit not right feeling with him, Mike has that impression right off. Like, dislike or loathe all of the characters are well carved and we learn a bit more about Mike, I think I need to get the book I haven't read to fill some of my timeline gaps between the two stories. I tweeted when I was reading and the author says Mike's mum WILL be getting her own wee cozy type serious, I am delighted, she is bloody fabulous often much to Mikes's embaressment. A fun, well paced read with skullduggery, investigation, family, cops personal lives and a bit of well timed humour but the scene stealing mother. I do hope she does get her own series and look forward to whatever lies ahead for these characters, 4/5 for me this time.

View all my reviews

Death Before Coffee by Desmond P Ryan Blog Tour

Today is my turn on the blog tour for Death Before Coffee by Desmond P Ryan, today I share my spot with Susan from Books From Dusk Til Dawn.




The Blurb
By 2:27 on a Thursday afternoon, the one-legged man from Room 8 at 147 Loxitor Avenue has been beaten to death with a lead pipe. Twenty-eight minutes later, Detective Mike O’Shea is testifying in a stuffy courtroom, unaware that, within an hour, he will be standing in an alleyway littered with beer cans and condoms while his new partner—the man who saved his life thirteen years ago—flicks bugs off of a battered corpse with a ballpoint pen. When a rogue undercover copper prematurely hauls in the prime suspect, Mike blows a fuse, resulting in an unlikely rapport developing between him and the lead homicide detective sergeant, a woman known for her stilettos and razor sharp investigative skills. At the end of his seventy-two-hour shift, three men are dead and Mike O’Shea is floating in and out of consciousness in an emergency room hallway, two women by his side. Death Before Coffee, the second book in the Mike O’Shea Crime Fiction Series, weaves a homicide investigation through the life of an inner-city police detective intent on balancing his responsibilities as a son, brother, and newly single father with his sworn oath of duty. When faced with death, Mike is forced to make decisions that stir up old memories, compelling him to confront his demons while fighting the good fight.




Author Bio
For almost thirty years, Desmond P. Ryan began every day of his working life with either a victim waiting in a hospital emergency room, or a call to a street corner or a blood-soaked room where someone had been left for dead. Murder, assaults on a level that defied humanity, sexual violations intended to demean, shame, and haunt the individuals who were no more than objects to the offenders: all in a day's work.

It was exhilarating, exhausting, and often heartbreaking.

As a Detective with the Toronto Police Service, Desmond P. Ryan wrote thousands of reports detailing the people, places, and events that led up to the moment he came along. He investigated the crimes and wrote synopses for guilty pleas detailing the circumstances that brought the accused individuals before the Courts. He also wrote a number of files to have individuals deemed either Not Criminally Responsible due to mental incapacity, or Dangerous Offenders to be held in custody indefinitely.

Now, as a retired investigator with three decades of research opportunities under his belt, Desmond P. Ryan writes crime fiction.

Real Detective. Real Crime. Fiction.

Buy the book HERE
I have a we guest post for my stop today, enjoy xxx
A Day In the Life of Demond P. Ryan

You may think that writers lead romantic lives, filled with intellectual discussions amongst like-minded people over late-morning lattes in cafes all over the world followed by a couple of hours of writing and then numerous pints in pubs in equally exotic and/or cool locations.

Maybe it’s just me, but that’s not how it goes.

Most mornings/all mornings begin with our toddler welcoming the day as only toddlers can: with a scream that is either ear- or nerve-shattering in both volume and intensity.

My wife (said toddler’s mother) is a saint. I may say that a few times throughout this post and, if I don’t, I should.

And, while I am a retired police detective, I am hardly living the life of leisure. I teach criminal and court procedure courses at one of the colleges here in Toronto a couple of days a week and write/eat/life/sleep/be the rest of the time.

All that is to say: I am often stealing time away from any one of my other responsibilities to run up to the glorious office/writing space on the third floor.

Once there, the magic begins.

Writing a series is like visiting old friends. Regardless of where I am in the manuscript, or which book I’m working on, all I have to do is open the file, and there the characters are, their lives unfolding before me. It’s that simple. Sort of.

For each book, I start by writing a (very) brief outline on cue-cards and then shuffle them into place to make everything make sense, adding bits and pieces of thoughts and dialogue to the cards as I go. Once the cards are in place, I weave them together with dialogue first, and then go back over the manuscript and add the narrative. From there, I go over the manuscript another time to fill in the details and make sure everyone’s movements make sense (oddly enough, those Sunday night dinner scenes at Mary Margaret’s are often the most challenging!).

And then I type ‘the end’. For a day or so, I’m usually pretty convinced that I’ve absolutely nailed it. After that, I’m pretty convinced that I’ve just written the crappiest piece of garbage ever and should delete the whole thing.

After another read-through, I send it off to my editor. And wait. She knows I sit and wait, so she is quite vigilant about getting it back to me sooner than later. And then the real work begins.

I spend the next few days/weeks going over all of the comments, making additions and deletions as required, and then send the manuscript back to my editor for another round or two.

In the meantime, I send the unpolished manuscript to my cover artists so that she can get a sense of what the book will be about and start her process.

After numerous emails back and forth with my editor and cover artist, a book is born.

And then it gets published and I put it out to you, hoping you like it because, yes, I do write for you, my reader. Without you, there would be no Mike O’Shea or Julia Vendramini or Ron Roberts or Amanda Black or…beyond the screen on my computer.

So thank you for completing the writing cycle. I hope you enjoy Death Before Coffee. And now, perhaps, we’ll have that latte or pint together, shall we?

10-33 Assist PC by author Desmond P Ryan - Blog Tour

Today is my stop and closing the tour for Bakers Blog Tours and Promotions. I am re posting as my post went live earlier than it should have. So if you missed it you can now read my Q&A with author Desmond P Ryan. Please check out the previous stops on the blog tour!





Where can you find Desmond? Facebook Twitter and his website you can read more about him and purchase his books.





What sparked the idea for the book?

10-33 Assist PC was originally written as a prequel to Death Before Coffee (which is now the second novel in the series, available on February 8). When my wife was reading and editing Death Before Coffee, she suggested that there was a huge backstory that had to be told. She thought a short novella would suffice, but, once I got started, the characters just kind of ran off on me.


Do the characters come from real life people or completely made up?

All of the characters in 10-33 Assist PC are composites of the women and men that I have come across over my twenty-eight years in policing. One of the great things about writing from experience is that there are no shortages of characters to draw from!


The seed eating partner, the shells getting everywhere, was this drawn from personal experience as it rang very true?

THAT is absolutely and one hundred percent true! Back in the day, everyone, it seemed, chewed those damned sunflower seeds. And spit them EVERYWHERE! I’ve had readers tell me about guys they play hockey with now who spit the seeds all over the changerooms, so it’s not just a cop thing. And it still happens, apparently.
Scout car floormats covered with sunflower seed shells and old hubcaps used as ashtrays in the Criminal Investigation Bureau offices overflowing with cigarette butts are visions that are burned in my brain.


There is A LOT of swearing in the book, particularly from one character, do you think it would have worked with less. What makes that character more sweary than the others?

The swearing. Yes. I know. My mother commented about that, too. But there was a reason for it. Swearing is the language of the streets and anyone working on the streets picks it up pretty quickly. As a result, it is very much, in my experience, part of the police culture. I think to have censored the language would have taken away from the authenticity of the dialogue (sorry, Mom).

With regards to that one particular character—he’s pretty immature and struggles to express himself and/or assert his masculinity. As a result, he falls back on foul language to try to prove himself. The other characters express themselves (and their struggles) differently. Julia Vendramini, for example, is known for not swearing (although I suspect she drops a few loaded phrases under her breath in Italian).


There is a part of the book that is very brutal and graphic, without spoilers, if able, what made you decide to put such a scene in the book?

That scene was very difficult to write, both in terms of describing what was happening, and delivering the emotional impact it had on the characters. I found it very emotionally challenging to write because of my own experiences. Having so said, I felt it was important to include the scene and write it as such to give the reader as realistic an experience as possible. I don’t think it was gratuitous in terms of the graphic nature of it. I wanted the reader to experience what actually happens in those situations. I think we are so desensitized to violence in general because it has been glossed over and/or glorified and I didn’t want to do that. I wanted the reader to feel, smell, taste what violence is by writing it the way it actually looks and feels. Many readers responded strongly to that scene and, as a result, I ended up writing a novella, The Funeral, that was very difficult to write, but has been exceptionally well-received.


The book has a few layers to it, between the cops relationships, working aspect, criminals, PTSD – was this your aim from the start or did some of it surprise you?

One of the great things about crime fiction is that it provides an easy platform to discuss social issues. When I began 10-33 Assist PC, I had a fairly clear idea of the topics I wanted to tackle and how those would have to be layered. For example, I wanted to discuss the challenges women in policing have, which is why I specifically wrote D/C Amanda Black the way I did (NOT-SO-SPOILER ALERT: Amanda Black becomes a very significant character as the series continues). PTSD is another big issue that I had to discuss. It is pretty much a side-note in 10-33 Assist PC but, just as in real life, gets bigger as the characters progress through their careers. I also wanted to give the characters depth. They are (not really) more than just words on a page. They are multi-dimensional, and, like us, have a lot to them. And, as you’ve suggested, some of the layers did kind of surprise me as the characters began developing on their own. Mary-Margaret O’Shea, Mike’s mother, for example, became much more than I had intended. In fact, in The Funeral, she begins to steal some thunder. In Death Before Coffee, she steals quite a bit of thunder and, by the time we see her again in Man At The Door (available October 2019), she is practically running away with the novel. As a result, I’ve had to give her her own cozy series that will be available in 2020 just to keep on track with the Mike O’Shea series. THAT was a surprise!


This is a good foundation book, do you envision this as a long series?

Thank you. I’m glad you enjoyed 10-33 Assist PC. And yes, this is the foundation for the Mike O’Shea Crime Fiction series. I am anticipating it to be a six-book series, although I’ve mucked that up already by writing The Funeral (although I’m cutting myself some slack on that one by saying it’s just a novella!).
I’ve got the next two books set to go, with the fourth in draft and the fifth and sixth in a stack of cue-cards in my drawer. I don’t know that I‘d want to stretch the series out beyond that. I think readers might get bored with it. Or I might. And that’s not a good way to end anything.
Instead, I’ve got two spin-offs with a possible third series in the works.


What are you currently working on?

Right now, I’m madly doing final edits for Death Before Coffee (which will be available in a couple of weeks) and Man At The Door (available in October). From there, I’m going to jump right into the fourth book (title pending) and get the first two Mary Margaret Cozy Series books off to my editor.

If 10-33 was made into a movie, who would you see playing the main characters?

You know, I find that question so difficult because I don’t want to take away from the reader experience of how they see the characters by giving my vision of what those characters may look like. Actually, if you don’t mind, I’m going to pass on answering this one.

What is next for Desmond?

Well, as I’ve mentioned, I’ve got a few more books in the Mike O’Shea Crime Fiction series in the works, as well as the Mary-Margaret Cozy Series, the latter of which I’m quite looking forward to watching develop.
I’m also interested in turning the Mike O’Shea Crime Fiction series into audiobooks. I don’t know about you, but I love audiobooks. Commuting takes up so much time here in Toronto that the only way to make it doable (in my opinion) is by listening to a book while you sit in traffic. I’m very curious to see how to make that happen in the next few months for 10-33 Assist PC.
I’ve also got an idea for a noir series based on Detective Sergeant Robby Williams. In Death Before Coffee, the next book in the Mike O’Shea Crime Fiction series, we see Robby again. Given that Death Before Coffee takes place more than a decade after 10-33 Assist PC, Robby has had a lot of time to unravel, and a very dark series devoted to that experience might be kind of fun. I’ve got the first draft of the first book done for it, so it’s just a matter of going from there.
My editor also suggested that I might like to do a series based on Amanda Black, but we shall see. In the meantime, I’ve got a dozen or so appearances on author panels and at crime conferences scheduled for the first half of 2019 and am really looking forward to seeing what other opportunities present themselves as the year unfolds.





The book is out to buy just now, ebook and treebook format, CLICK HERE to go to Amazon.

10-33 Assist PC by Desmond P Ryan Blog Tour

Today is my stop and closing the tour for Bakers Blog Tours and Promotions, I have a Q&A with author Desmond P Ryan of book 10-33 Assist PC. Please check out the other stops on the blog tour!




What sparked the idea for the book?

10-33 Assist PC was originally written as a prequel to Death Before Coffee (which is now the second novel in the series, available on February 8). When my wife was reading and editing Death Before Coffee, she suggested that there was a huge backstory that had to be told. She thought a short novella would suffice, but, once I got started, the characters just kind of ran off on me.


Do the characters come from real life people or completely made up?

All of the characters in 10-33 Assist PC are composites of the women and men that I have come across over my twenty-eight years in policing. One of the great things about writing from experience is that there are no shortages of characters to draw from!


The seed eating partner, the shells getting everywhere, was this drawn from personal experience as it rang very true?

THAT is absolutely and one hundred percent true! Back in the day, everyone, it seemed, chewed those damned sunflower seeds. And spit them EVERYWHERE! I’ve had readers tell me about guys they play hockey with now who spit the seeds all over the changerooms, so it’s not just a cop thing. And it still happens, apparently.
Scout car floormats covered with sunflower seed shells and old hubcaps used as ashtrays in the Criminal Investigation Bureau offices overflowing with cigarette butts are visions that are burned in my brain.


There is A LOT of swearing in the book, particularly from one character, do you think it would have worked with less. What makes that character more sweary than the others?

The swearing. Yes. I know. My mother commented about that, too. But there was a reason for it. Swearing is the language of the streets and anyone working on the streets picks it up pretty quickly. As a result, it is very much, in my experience, part of the police culture. I think to have censored the language would have taken away from the authenticity of the dialogue (sorry, Mom).

With regards to that one particular character—he’s pretty immature and struggles to express himself and/or assert his masculinity. As a result, he falls back on foul language to try to prove himself. The other characters express themselves (and their struggles) differently. Julia Vendramini, for example, is known for not swearing (although I suspect she drops a few loaded phrases under her breath in Italian).


There is a part of the book that is very brutal and graphic, without spoilers, if able, what made you decide to put such a scene in the book?

That scene was very difficult to write, both in terms of describing what was happening, and delivering the emotional impact it had on the characters. I found it very emotionally challenging to write because of my own experiences. Having so said, I felt it was important to include the scene and write it as such to give the reader as realistic an experience as possible. I don’t think it was gratuitous in terms of the graphic nature of it. I wanted the reader to experience what actually happens in those situations. I think we are so desensitized to violence in general because it has been glossed over and/or glorified and I didn’t want to do that. I wanted the reader to feel, smell, taste what violence is by writing it the way it actually looks and feels. Many readers responded strongly to that scene and, as a result, I ended up writing a novella, The Funeral, that was very difficult to write, but has been exceptionally well-received.


The book has a few layers to it, between the cops relationships, working aspect, criminals, PTSD – was this your aim from the start or did some of it surprise you?

One of the great things about crime fiction is that it provides an easy platform to discuss social issues. When I began 10-33 Assist PC, I had a fairly clear idea of the topics I wanted to tackle and how those would have to be layered. For example, I wanted to discuss the challenges women in policing have, which is why I specifically wrote D/C Amanda Black the way I did (NOT-SO-SPOILER ALERT: Amanda Black becomes a very significant character as the series continues). PTSD is another big issue that I had to discuss. It is pretty much a side-note in 10-33 Assist PC but, just as in real life, gets bigger as the characters progress through their careers. I also wanted to give the characters depth. They are (not really) more than just words on a page. They are multi-dimensional, and, like us, have a lot to them. And, as you’ve suggested, some of the layers did kind of surprise me as the characters began developing on their own. Mary-Margaret O’Shea, Mike’s mother, for example, became much more than I had intended. In fact, in The Funeral, she begins to steal some thunder. In Death Before Coffee, she steals quite a bit of thunder and, by the time we see her again in Man At The Door (available October 2019), she is practically running away with the novel. As a result, I’ve had to give her her own cozy series that will be available in 2020 just to keep on track with the Mike O’Shea series. THAT was a surprise!


This is a good foundation book, do you envision this as a long series?

Thank you. I’m glad you enjoyed 10-33 Assist PC. And yes, this is the foundation for the Mike O’Shea Crime Fiction series. I am anticipating it to be a six-book series, although I’ve mucked that up already by writing The Funeral (although I’m cutting myself some slack on that one by saying it’s just a novella!).
I’ve got the next two books set to go, with the fourth in draft and the fifth and sixth in a stack of cue-cards in my drawer. I don’t know that I‘d want to stretch the series out beyond that. I think readers might get bored with it. Or I might. And that’s not a good way to end anything.
Instead, I’ve got two spin-offs with a possible third series in the works.


What are you currently working on?

Right now, I’m madly doing final edits for Death Before Coffee (which will be available in a couple of weeks) and Man At The Door (available in October). From there, I’m going to jump right into the fourth book (title pending) and get the first two Mary Margaret Cozy Series books off to my editor.

If 10-33 was made into a movie, who would you see playing the main characters?

You know, I find that question so difficult because I don’t want to take away from the reader experience of how they see the characters by giving my vision of what those characters may look like. Actually, if you don’t mind, I’m going to pass on answering this one.

What is next for Desmond?

Well, as I’ve mentioned, I’ve got a few more books in the Mike O’Shea Crime Fiction series in the works, as well as the Mary-Margaret Cozy Series, the latter of which I’m quite looking forward to watching develop.
I’m also interested in turning the Mike O’Shea Crime Fiction series into audiobooks. I don’t know about you, but I love audiobooks. Commuting takes up so much time here in Toronto that the only way to make it doable (in my opinion) is by listening to a book while you sit in traffic. I’m very curious to see how to make that happen in the next few months for 10-33 Assist PC.
I’ve also got an idea for a noir series based on Detective Sergeant Robby Williams. In Death Before Coffee, the next book in the Mike O’Shea Crime Fiction series, we see Robby again. Given that Death Before Coffee takes place more than a decade after 10-33 Assist PC, Robby has had a lot of time to unravel, and a very dark series devoted to that experience might be kind of fun. I’ve got the first draft of the first book done for it, so it’s just a matter of going from there.
My editor also suggested that I might like to do a series based on Amanda Black, but we shall see. In the meantime, I’ve got a dozen or so appearances on author panels and at crime conferences scheduled for the first half of 2019 and am really looking forward to seeing what other opportunities present themselves as the year unfolds.





The book is out to buy just now, ebook and treebook format, CLICK HERE to go to Amazon.

10-33 Assist PC by Desmond P Ryan

10-33 Assist PC by Desmond P. Ryan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - in and out over 4 days

Pages - 177

Publisher - self

Source - Review Copy

Blurb from Goodreads

D/C Mike O’Shea, a young cop with a knack for working hard and following hunches, is on the verge of cracking a prostitution ring when an undercover from another unit burns him. With only days left before their pimps shuttle the girls out of the country, Mike pushes his team into overdrive. Hours later, with too little information, sleep, or luck, the unthinkable happens.

And now, the chase is personal.

In the first of the Mike O’Shea Crime Fiction Series, 10-33 Assist PC draws us into the dirty world of human trafficking through the eyes of the cops who put their lives on the line every day to shut it down. Written by a Real Detective, 10-33 Assist PC is the story of a cop who must decide how to move forward without forgetting the past.

Real Detective. Real Crime. Fiction.


My Review

We meet two of the Juvenile Prostitution Task Force, Mike and Sal who have a pretty horrendous job to do. Investigating the disappearance of young impressionable girls who are drawn into a dark and depraved world, often not to be seen again. Whilst chasing a lead on a missing kid they come up against another agency giving the reader an insight to just how many obstacles these guys face in house, on the streets, with the families, the list goes on, the danger is real!

Heads up, if swearing bothers you you will have an issue because Mike swears every other word, be it with other cops, families or suspects his mouth is going. Sal is a bit of a sweetie with a weakness for sunflowers seeds and leaving the shells around to get into everything, much to the rage of Mike. The two are a bit ying and yang but work well and it is sweet to see their relationship grow as they work together, eat together and bounce off one another.

The book itself has some humour depsite the darkness of some parts, we are dealing with sexual deviants exploiting kids/teens. As with most jobs that deal with dark sides of humanity humour is often used to deal with it. There are some really brutal and graphic scenes that send the reader on an emotive journey. I took a wee bit to settle into the book and them bam, about three quarters in, when I thought I knew where the book was going, the rug was pulled out from under me. I actually sat bolt upright and from then on I couldn't put the book down, I had to know where it was headed. I think this is a good foundation book, we have a good insight into the characters personalities, who they are and some big impacts to their lives. I look forward to seeing what the next book holds for these characters and what Ryan brings next, 3.5/5 for me this time. Thanks to Bakers Blog Tours for introducing me to a new author, I will be actively looking for their next offering.

View all my reviews