Book Review: Taking Pity by David Mark. The stakes are high and nobody is prepared to pull their punches!

After the explosive cliffhanger ending in Sorrow Bound , the 4th Aector McAvoy book Taking Pity is altogether darker, grittier and punchier than it's predecessors.  It's brooding remorse combined with the sense that the norms have altered leaving unpredictability:  deliciously atmospheric!


Recovering form his injuries, responsible for his son Fin and

desperately missing his wife Roisin and their baby Aector is struggling to cope.  Recognising this and overwhelmed with guilt Detective Superintendent Trish Pharoah, unable to include him in the investigation into The Headhunters ( the Southern gang responsible for the crimes against Aector's family) sets him off on an investigation into a cold case.  In 1966, village idiot is found standing in a secluded graveyard over the bodies of a family of four, smoking gun in hand.  he is quickly declared criminally insane and incarcerated in an asylum.  however fifty years on and the powers that be want him prosecuted for his crimes.  Aector's job is to ensure that, after all these years, the case will stand up in court, however

he soon begins to suspect that it's much more complicated than it first appears.
Meanwhile  criminal leader Francis Nock and his henchman Raymond Mahon are defending their territory against the iniquitous Headhunters whose sleek, all seeing presence threatens Nock's enterprise.  The resulting battle leads to many casualties and some very unlikely alliances.
I was delighted to glean more snippets of both Aector and Pharoah's backstory in Taking Pity.  One of Mark's greatest strengths is his attention to the little details that make a character real (and more often than not has me chortling at his pithy descriptions)   In a few short sentences he portrays the essence of each character and the immediacy of their emotions drive the action forward at a rate of knots.
This is a definite must read for police procedural fans.
Available on Amazon kindle £6.64 and HB £12.91
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Taking-Pity-DS-Aector-McAvoy/dp/178206317X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1436178168&sr=8-1&keywords=david+mark