For Reasons Unknown - Michael Woods

Genre: Thriller/Detective
Synopsis: Two murders. Twenty years. Now the killer is back for more…DCI Matilda Darke has returned to work after a nine month absence. A shadow of her former self, she is tasked with re-opening a cold case: the terrifyingly brutal murders of Miranda and Stefan Harkness. The only witness was their eleven-year-old son, Jonathan, who was too deeply traumatized to speak a word. Then a dead body is discovered, and the investigation leads back to Matilda's case. Suddenly the past and present converge, and it seems a killer may have come back for more…

*** 

Review: I didn't expect this book to be good at all, considering I just nabbed it as a cheap Kindle purchase. I was, however, pleasantly surprised. I loved the characters (Matilda particularly), and found the central murder mystery very intriguing. The writing is excellent, and I'm looking forward to reading more by the author (this is the first in a series).

There were a few slight issues with the story, which ultimately I decided to overlook in favour of a four star rating - towards the end, events spiral a bit for a couple of the characters and it didn't seem very credible. Additionally, there are a couple of elements in the story which are quite dark/graphic and, while I'm all for that in books, it felt a bit out of place with the middle-ground feel of the rest of the book. Overall, though, I loved it.

When you have a series which is going to be based around an individual, you need that individual to be well-written, well-rounded, and very interesting. For me, this was the case with Matilda. Being honest, she doesn't seem like an overly accomplished detective, (she seems to magically figure stuff out 'off-screen' later in the book) but there's something about her that I like. Maybe it's just her relate-able human-ness. She has faced a tough time, but she handles it pretty well despite the impact its had on her life. She comes close to losing it sometimes, but always pulls back from the edge. There's something admirable about how she does this, and tackles this case while she's at it.

For all the unlikely wackiness that takes place towards the end, it was an enjoyable read. Looking forward to book two.

Rating: 4/5 

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