Book Review: Riven by A.J McCreanor. A brilliant debut crime novel, set in Glasgow, with exciting, dynamic characters

 A brilliant debut crime novel, set in Glasgow, with exciting, dynamic characters.  In Riven, A. J McCreanor gives us a police procedural with a huge moral dilemma - Is justice always served by the truth?  


She also offers us a gritty, dark social commentary on the criminal behaviour rife in the worn down,poverty stricken disenfranchised youth surviving in Glasgow's schemes and tenements and poignantly juxtaposes it with the beauty of

Kelvin Grove

Kelvin Grove, Glasgow's museums, the well tended city centre and the life of Academia at the University.  McCreanor breathes life into all aspects of Glasgow apologetically revealing The Good The Bad and The Ugly in a passionate novel that hits

Glasgow University

the heart of Glasgow with it's warm and witty dialogue , it's fast paced action and a bloody good story that makes us pause and wonder... and think... and then think again!
When James Gilmore, respected educational psychologist is battered to death in his grotty Glasgow home DI Wheeler and DS Ross have difficulty finding a motive for the killing for James Gilmore appears to be a bit of a ghost; no one seems

to be able to give insight into his character let alone a clue to his enemies.  
Meanwhile Wheeler discovers that her nephew, a student at Glasgow university, is not the innocent boy his mother thinks he is, a murderer newly released form Barlinnie prison is 'in the wind' and a known drug addict commits suicide rather

Barlinnie Prison

than enter a methadone programme.  
Riven is a welcome addition to the tradition of Tartan Noir and a suitable rival for the likes of Stuart MacBride, Caro Ramsay and Ian Rankin.  her gritty, no nonsense style warrants a read and I for one am looking forward to the sequel.
Available on Kindle £3.99 or PB £8.99
http://www.amazon.co.uk/A-.-J.-McCreanor/e/B00MS2R3A8/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1426863079&sr=1-2-ent

Look out for her second book Silenced due for release in September 2015 HB £19.99
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Silenced-J-McCreanor/dp/1472112334/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8