The Bad Place (DI Sasha Dawson #1) by M.K. Hill
Genre: Police procedural, crime fiction
Read: 10th September 2019
Purchase: Amazon
(release date: 5th September 2019)
★★★★ 4.5 stars
From the outset, THE BAD PLACE by M.K. Hill appears to be an exciting new series from a new author (to me). A remarkable and enthralling plot, I was pleasantly surprised that despite its seemingly random start it turned into something so insidious I didn't want to put it down and found myself racing to the finish.
Introducing DI Sasha Dawson. Although I am not a fan of the strong ballsy female type, Sasha is different. She is strong but not bitchy; she is open-minded but fair; she is sensitive, likable and yet she is still fallible. I like Sasha, though I could throttle her kids, and her relationship with her team is a good one with each bringing their own strengths to the investigation. I hate in-house fighting and to see a team work well together is a refreshing change.
Twenty six years ago, 6 teenagers were kidnapped and held in a dank dark cellar for two weeks. Only 5 make it out alive. But it takes the abduction of three children today to discover the truth from back then. Now every year the surviving victims meet for dinner and a candlelit vigil for their lost friend, Becky, with the unspoken condition that no one talk about what happened.
But this year is different. On the way to their annual vigil, one of the survivors witnesses a young girl being abducted. However, Lydia is not a reliable witness having struggled with addiction for most of her life since their time in "the bad place". The rest of them pass it off as a fantastical delusion Lydia had obviously misconstrued, given her behaviour has always been somewhat erratic. But then the next day, a report of a 15 year old girl having gone missing rings in their minds. Maybe Lydia WAS telling the truth after all.
Enter DI Sasha Dawson of Essex Police.
Sasha is no stranger to "the bad place" case. She'd been a week into her career and was just a probationary constable when the case broke, the victims escaped and had been there at Jerry Swann's final stand. She remembered one of the girls, Karin McCarthy, and had spoken to her the night of their escape and her face had haunted Sasha since. Now 15 year old Sammi was missing and aside from Lydia witnessing the abduction which had taken place near Karin's house, there is another link to "the bad place" five. One of the other survivors, Michelle, was Sammi's godmother. Coincidence? Sasha thinks not. What is it about these five remaining survivors that holds the key to Sammi's abduction?
Then another child is taken - directly in front of Karin and Simon, who was another of the five survivors. Luke, a teenage boy from Karin's school. Simon tried in vain to intervene and is met with brute force from the masked abductor and pushed into the path of busy traffic. So what links the past to the present? That is what Sasha endeavours to find out.
In the midst of this major investigation, Sasha's own personal life is in meltdown. Her husband is seemingly depressed and showing no interest in her or the children - he won't even talk to her, feigning tiredness. Her mother decides to leave her father and move in with them, creating chaos at home trying to create some boundaries with Sasha's children and their screentime use. Added to that, her teenage children are constantly bickering and then her daughter is accused of bullying, after telling her mother that she was the one being bullied. But to make matters worse, her usually placid husband punches the next door neighbour which is videoed by her daughter's friends and then streamed online. Can life be any more chaotic?
But juggling her private life with this troubling investigation into the abduction of two teenagers soon becomes personal for Sasha when her own daughter Angel disappears. And then all bets are off.
Told in dual timeline format, we are privy to the two weeks in the cellar of "the bad place" and what happened to the six teenagers as each snippet is unveiled gradually. The question of why didn't Becky escape with the rest of them remains forefront in everyone's mind. Who knows the truth? And what are they not saying?
The setting is around Southend in Essex (often known as Southend-on-Sea) and I find this a refreshing locale, away from the bigger cities of London, Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle which are so often featured. The imagery of waves upon the beach and the mile-long pier - which is the longest in the world - is breathtaking. I could almost feel the salt air on my face.
What I love about THE BAD PLACE is that while it is a police procedural it also has that edge of a psychological thriller. It is fresh, it is intriguing and it is completely compelling. The chapters are short and punchy keeping you engaged throughout and, while you can put it down if need be, you won't want to. Despite the characters aplenty, it is easy to follow and identify who was who and where.
A frenetic pace was perfectly timed to keep the reader completely engaged makes THE BAD PLACE a hard book to put down. I wanted to "just read one more chapter" before bed but soon found myself finishing in the wee hours.
I look forward to catching up with Sasha Dawson and her team again soon.
An addictive crime thriller, I thoroughly recommend THE BAD PLACE to anyone who enjoys this genre.
I would like to thank #MKHill, #NetGalley and #HeadOfZeus for an ARC of #TheBadPlace in exchange for an honest review.
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