Can I just tell you before I start that I am SO excited to be writing this review, I have butterflies it's so good (the book, not my review!). Anyway, I am absolutely delighted to say that Perfect Remains is the start of a brand new series of books featuring Detectives Ava Turner and Luc Callanach.
Lucky, lucky us.
This is terrific, the central characters are great and the plot is fabulous. Callanach is introduced with a backstory that explains his sudden mysterious move to Edinburgh from working with Interpol in France. And it's enough of a backstory that it brings out that inner need to make him better! He is, in my mind's eye, as devilishly handsome as he's given credit for in the book and this, coupled with his determination and desperation to seek justice, makes him a winning combination. This is even before I mention the blossoming relationship with Ava Turner, who is as badass and feisty a character as you could ever wish her to be. I'm convinced that this is going to be as great a literary partnership as my utter favourite thriller/crime writers bless me with. I am so excited to have another author to add to my NEED TO READ list.
I was thrilled that Helen Fields chose to let us see who the murderer was from the beginning. It made such a pleasant change from the whodunit element that obviously and naturally features so heavily in crime fiction. I did do a bit of a double-take at first though as I wondered just how successfully it was going to play out. Very, is the answer.
The fact that I knew who it was made the events all the more chilling. He (and yes it is a he) is utterly psychotic in his justification and execution of his crimes. And the fact that we see him carrying on his usual daily routine whilst committing all these atrocities adds to the sense of unease in the pit of the stomach. I was desperately rooting for the victims; willing them to somehow survive the fate they were destined for. I grew very fond of all of them in truthfulness, even those of whom we knew very little, so brilliantly were they written.
I love, love, LOVE Perfect Remains - I honestly couldn't bear to put it down such was my attachment to it. It's going to have you hooked from the first page right through to the gruesome end. I cannot recommend it highly enough; long may Callanach and Turner reign! Terrific.
Published on 26th January 2017 - you're going to want to pre-order this one now.
