The Crime Warp

A few days ago I posted a review of David Mark’s Cruel Mercy, today I’d like to introduce his 2018 release, Scorched Earth, published by Hodder & Stoughton. Our engaging protagonist DS McAvoy is back on home ground in Hull, investigating a hit and run, which leads to a series of dark secrets. In addition to the menace and violence which are McAvoy’s daily diet, the action takes in African child soldiers and the migrant camp at Calais.  This is where the stylish thriller starts with the Prologue:   ‘This cold is a living thing. It hungers. It hunts. It feeds . When Manu first felt its bitter kiss he feared to look upon his bare arms lest they appear denuded of flesh: chewed to stark white bone. How strange, he had thought. How strange that fire and ice should have the same desires; the same craven lust for meat. Manu is wrapped around himself; his arms blanketing a body as flimsy as the shelter in which he squats, trying to keep his backside above the...

In Cruel Mercy, fans of DS Aector McAvoy get to follow him to the US, more specifically New York. Few people would say that family aren’t trouble now and then, not many however are related to a Roma bare-knuckle fighter who attracts trouble for a living, that is - unless you’re Aector McAvoy.   You might meet up with your brother-in-law to watch the big game on TV, share a beer and some jokes, and all’s good. If you are McAvoy, your brother-in-law involves you in an investigation involving more violence, gore and menace than can reasonably make it into a single lifetime, let alone a trip stateside.  You will encounter a feud that crosses the Atlantic, missing Irishmen, the Mafia, crooked lawyers, clashing police officers, a Penitent, and Aector McAvoy from Hull, Yorkshire, a decent copper who loves his wife, and is stuck in the middle, trying to save the lives of those dear to him, rootle out killers and make sense of a crime that has ruined lives for several ge...