What He Did (DCI Rachel Hart #2) by J.G. (Julia) Roberts
Genre: Psychological thriller, Crime Fiction, Police procedural
Read: 2nd November 2019
Purchase: Amazon
(Publication: 22nd October 2019)
★★★★★ 5 stars
The second book to feature DCI Rachel Hart but my first, WHAT HE DID is a fast-paced thriller and police procedural with a difference. I like that you can pick up this book without having read the first one "Little Girl Missing" (though admittedly, it has been on my TBR list even longer) as there is enough backstory to bring you up to speed so therefore it can be read as a standalone. But having read this one, I now want to read "Little Girl Missing" even more!
The story opens with a Prologue with a seemingly quiet man who keeps largely to himself tending to the plants in the Botanical Gardens. He is approached by an attractive foreign woman he notices sketching, asking for his opinions of her drawings. The man, Neil Edison, has little confidence when it comes to social situations but he soon finds himself conversing comfortably with this beautiful woman. As she turns the pages of her sketchbook to show her him her other drawings, the nib of one of her pens catches on Neil's hand. His body is found later that week in his flat and his death is reported as a suicide having long suffered from depression.
We are then introduced to the Shaw family - father Simon, ex-football player now manager who it seems has been hiding secrets, daughter Siena who is in a depressive slump after being dumped by the love of her life and then attempted suicide...and then there is mother Maddy, who is trying to keep it all together and look after her family whilst juggling a career as a news presenter with network News 24/7. The family are affluent enough to comfortable but even that is not enough to keep tragedy from their door.
Simon and Maddy go to work as usual one Monday morning, with Simon leaving earlier to beat the rush hour into London. By the time Maddy makes it onto the motorway, she's wishing she'd left at the same time as traffic is at a standstill with an apparent car accident further ahead, making her late for make-up before going on air at midday. Maddy and her co-presenter Tim go live as the begin with the road traffic accident that held commuters up that morning. Reading from the auto-cue, Maddy stops mid-sentence as photos from the accident go live, recognising the inverted Jaguar her husband Simon left for work in that morning. Speechless with her producer screeching in her earpiece, Maddy is immobilised as Tim takes over the report and Maddy is lead from the set. All she can manage is to say that the car was Simon's. The network immediately arrange for a taxi to take her to Charing Cross Hospital where Simon rushed to.
Upon arrival, Maddy soon learns that Simon is critically injured and has been placed in an induced coma to allow any brain swelling from the head injury he sustained to decrease which will then aid his recovery. With no one she could really call on for support, she remembers the kindness of one woman she met in another hospital, and decides to call on her to help break the news to Siena.
Rachel Hart met Maddy in the psychiatric care home her twin sister Ruth is a permanent resident of after Siena's suicide attempt. She had given her her card and said to call her anytime should she need her. So when Rachel receives Maddy's call, she doesn't hesitate to be of assistance. She drops everything to go to Siena to break the news, prepare her and then drive her the 35 miles to the hospital to sit with her mother by her father's bedside.
While the accident is technically not her case, Rachel offers to do a little digging tasking her DI to make some discreet enquiries. It soon comes to light that the accident was anything but when they discover a bullet lodged into driver's seat and as Simon was a resident of their jurisdiction, Rachel and her team began investigations into what really happened. A search of Maddy's house uncovers a threatening letter and list of names of people Simon once had links to during his football playing career.
Then a priest is found murdered in a quiet village, stabbed in the neck in the confessional. When news of his death is aired, Maddy recognises it at once and makes the connection to the suicide she reported on a week or so ago. Simon, Neil and Ray (the murdered priest) were on the same team who played football together some twenty four years ago. Maddy is frantic upon discovering the link and contacts Rachel with the information. Suddenly, Simon's accident takes on a sinister turn when linked with the two deaths. But there was another two names on that list in Simon's study. Can Rachel and her team find them in time before there are any more deaths?
Meanwhile, the team are also acting on a hunch that Siena's ex - Rob Turnbull, a sergeant in the army - may have had something to do with Simon's accident and travel to Wales, where is on a three day manoeuvre, to bring him in for questioning. But when they arrive they discover that Rob left soon after arrival, leaving his mate to cover for him. So where was he now and did he have something to do with Simon's accident after all?
We also meet Bella, a young Portuguese agency nurse who worked for a time at the hospital Siena was in after her suicide attempt and is now on the ward in Charing Cross where Simon now is receiving care after his accident that wasn't. Bella has her own sad story of an alcoholic mother who practically abandoned her, leaving her to be brought up by her grandmother Vevo, who is now terminally ill with cancer. She converses via email with her best friend Beca regularly for updates on Vevo before she must return to Portugal and her dying grandmother, the only parent she has really known.
Bella's story is soon woven into Maddy's to reveal a dark and disturbing secret that is set to turn everything on its head...and Maddy's world upside down.
A spotlight is also shown on Rachel's personal life as she gets to know Tim, a lawyer she has met through the course of her work, and though she draws the line at dating fellow coppers she sees no harm in stepping out with Tim. However Rachel has trust issues and fears and tends to push suitors away when they start to get too close, whilst carrying a baggage load of history. But is Tim all that he appears? To me he seemed a little manipulative and while Rachel found herself getting too close for comfort, Tim offered no resistance when suggesting he meet her sister Ruth. But Rachel and Ruth have their own shared past which is both painful and heartbreaking. Can Rachel move on from that and find happiness? And will it be with Tim?
WHAT HE DID is a different type of police procedural where the focus is more on the other characters rather than Rachel and her team. It made it seem more like psychological tale of suspense where the police are secondary to the main story...and I kind of liked it. We still got to know Rachel and her foibles as well as her strengths as a police officer tasked with leading an investigation. But at the same time it was more than that. What makes it so different is that friendship is in play as a backdrop to the main story involving Rachel, Maddy and even Siena.
A complex story that is both compelling and intriguing, WHAT HE DID is fast paced and action packed with no holds barred that will leave you wanting more! If this book is anything to go by, the first one as well as the rest of the series is one that is not to be missed and I look forward to plenty more like it.
I really loved WHAT HE DID and devoured it in almost one sitting...but for the need to feed hubby. I don't care if the story is predictable - it's the ride I come here for! And boy, what a ride! Although I am still left with a few questions about the goings on in Rachel's personal life, I hope to see them resolved in future releases. I need to know if my instincts are correct...
Definitely recommended to lovers of psychological thrillers who love their books fast paced with short snappy chapters, WHAT HE DID is one not to be missed!
I would like to thank #JGRoberts, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #WhatHeDid in exchange for an honest review.
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