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    For Reasons Unknown
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    For Reasons Unknown
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    For Reasons Unknown
    Ebook407 pages6 hours

    For Reasons Unknown

    By Michael Wood

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    Two murders. Twenty years. Now the killer is back for more…

    DCI Matilda Darke has returned to work after a nine month absence. A shadow of her former self, she is tasked with re-opening a cold case: the terrifyingly brutal murders of Miranda and Stefan Harkness. The only witness was their eleven-year-old son, Jonathan, who was too deeply traumatized to speak a word.

    Then a dead body is discovered, and the investigation leads back to Matilda's case. Suddenly the past and present converge, and it seems a killer may have come back for more…

    A darkly compelling debut crime novel, this is the start of a brilliant series, perfect for fans of Louise Penny and Val McDermid.

    Praise for Michael Wood:

    ‘Crackling dialogue, dark wit and an exciting ending’ Mark Edwards

    ‘DCI Matilda Darke is going places’ James Oswald

    ‘I really enjoyed getting to know DCI Matilda Darke’ Robert Bryndza

    ‘A beautifully written book with a dark heart and a secret that impacts on generations’ Sarah Ward

    ‘A skilfully crafted and compelling debut that hooks from the off and will keep you guessing until the final page’ M.R. Hall

    ‘Gripping, sad and unexpected’ Alex Marwood

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins UK
    Release dateOct 1, 2015
    ISBN9780008158668
    Author

    Michael Wood

    Michael Wood is a freelance journalist and proofreader living in Newcastle. As a journalist he covered many crime stories throughout Sheffield, gaining first-hand knowledge of police procedure. He also reviews books for CrimeSquad, a website dedicated to crime fiction.

    Read more from Michael Wood

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    Reviews for For Reasons Unknown

    4/5

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    • 5/5
      DCI Matilda Darke returns to work after an enforced absence to be given a cold case to investigate. The Harness case had remained a mystery. Despite, or because of, the open animosity of her colleague who had been covering her post a whole load of skeletons start to fall out of closets and the case escalates as there are more murders to solve.An intriguing story, helped along by being set just around the corner from where I grew up which just added to the colour. I couldn't put it down
    • 5/5
      I do enjoy crime procedurals but lately have been enjoying psychological thrillers more. This book, being set in Sheffield, my home city, really piqued my interest though and I thought it was an excellent and well-written book.The many references to places and events in Sheffield were great for me as I was really able to picture exactly where scenes were set. But if you're not from Sheffield it won't affect your enjoyment of the story.This book introduces DCI Matilda Darke who has been having a really bad time in her home and work life and is now just returning to the Murder Investigation Team. She is allocated a cold case from 20 years ago which quickly links in with the new case that her nemesis, Acting DCI Ben Hales, is dealing with. I was really kept guessing right to the end of this really engrossing and easy to read novel. I've ordered the second in the series and have pre-ordered the third and a short story. Great stuff!
    • 4/5
      The first in a new British police procedural set in Sheffield, which follows DCI Matilda Darke returning to work after a nine months absence. Still in a fragile mental state, she is tasked with looking into a cold case from 20 years ago. But when a murdered body turns up, it soon becomes clear that the two cases are linked.This was an enjoyable story that held my attention throughout. Some developments were fairly predictable but it was interesting enough that you still wanted to discover the why and how. It also had some nice surprises that I didn't see coming. Well written without any unnecessary padding, it was a fast paced story that I easily finished within a day or so. I neither loved nor hated Matilda. It was more the characters she was working with, and especially the suspects, that made the book really engaging. Overall, a very good start to a new series, and I would certainly be willing to follow more of Matilda's cases in the future. Thank you to the author and the publisher for providing me with a complimentary copy via NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.
    • 4/5
      This was good and kept me guessing. I hope Matilda's getting her life back together continues into the rest of the books in this series - I do like a competent heroine. There were a couple of things that puzzled me, however: SPOILERShow did Jonathan get the knife out of the house, keep it secretly for years and then insert it into his aunt's grave? Why did he not give the police the licence plate of the car which ran Stephen over?
    • 4/5
      Her husband died and the kidnapping of a child case was botched (though we don't know how), but after counseling, DCI Matilda Darke feels recovered enough to return to work. She's given a cold case to work on to ease her back into the fold. It's the twenty-year-old murder of a couple who left their eleven-year-old son behind covered in blood. As she investigates, more and more troubling clues appear as well as a related murder.This is a thoroughly satisfying who-dun-it in the mode of Agatha Christie. Matilda is an unreliable narrator due to her own personal traumas as she struggles through the case. I veered back and forth over who had done the murders compounded by the erratic behavior of various suspects. Matilda is an engaging protagonist though I did think she snapped out of her trauma a bit too quick in some ways after a tongue-lashing by her boss. Looks like the start of a good series.