It felt really weird to be reading this last week, the same week a lorry container containing the bodies of 38 men and women was found in Essex. The bodies are believed to have been smuggled into England, and although Perfect Kill focuses on trafficked women and men, the similarity is chillingly realistic. Whilst it is unthinkable to imagine the horror and desperation the real-life victims suffered, Helen Fields manages to convey some of the panic they very obviously went through.
And so we lead into yet another Perfect instalment of the Callanach and Turner series, and whilst it isn’t essential that you’ve read the previous 5 books, I would of course recommend them wholeheartedly. Luscious Luc is still over the channel in France with Interpol investigating human trafficking when he joins ex-colleague and ex-friend Jean-Paul to work on a case involving a macabre murder. It was good to read the relationship between the two and see how it developed over the course of the book, particularly as Luc seemed much more in control mentally over the events of the past that saw him wrongly accused of rape. His involvement in the case proves vital to the missing person case DCI Ava Turner and her team find themselves working and thus the two of them are thrust once again together.
Now if you haven’t read any of Field’s previous books, Luc and Ava are going through what can only be described as a rocky patch in their relationship. The ripple of attraction that kept me hooked for the first few novels having washed upon the shore and crashed out somewhat painfully; so in Perfect Kill they have to find their way out of the maelstrom of emotions they both feel to a more harmonious working life. And, even though I’m being denied the happiness of seeing them together, it is satisfying to read of them coming-back to the crack team they initially proved themselves to be.
The crimes they are investigating are as disturbing as I mentioned at the start, there are no real light moments, but whilst they are written realistically they’re thankfully not gratuitously macabre. I suppose what I’m trying to say as ineloquently as usual is, the subject makes you think yet won’t make you feel too uncomfortable reading it! I’ve probably not clarified that at all have I? Anyway, the writing is as engaging as ever, as once again Helen Fields proves herself to be worthy of one of the places at the top of many a must-read list. The action is kept at a steady place throughout, and there’s not a moment of slowness at all, the gaps between the action being filled with the dramas unfolding around it. The lives of the varying team members being as gripping as the crimes themselves,
I really could waffle on for ages about this series, and this book, but that would be boring for everyone involved I’m sure, so I’ll finish in my usual way of saying; this Is another cracking read from Helen Fields. Perfect Kill is out on 6th February 2020, be sure to beg, borrow or buy a copy as soon as you can.
