Blood Loss (DI Paton #1) by Kerena Swan
Genre: Domestic thriller, Crime fiction, Police procedural
Read: 10th April 2021
Amazon
Published: 20th March 2021
★★★★★ 5 stars
DESCRIPTION:
Sarah
With one eye on the rear view mirror and the other on the road ahead, Sarah is desperate to get as far away from the remote Scottish cabin as she can without attracting attention. But being inconspicuous isn’t easy with a black eye and clothes soaked in blood…
… and now the fuel tank is empty.
DI Paton
When a body is discovered in a remote cabin in Scotland, DI Paton feels a pang of guilt as he wonders if this is the career break he has been waiting for. But the victim is unidentifiable and the killer has left few clues.
Jenna
With the death of her father and her mother’s failing health, Jenna accepts her future plans must change but nothing can prepare her for the trauma yet to come.
Fleeing south to rebuild her life Sarah uncovers long-hidden family secrets. Determined to get back what she believes is rightfully hers, Sarah thinks her future looks brighter. But Paton is still pursuing her…
… and he’s getting closer.
Kerena Swan’s brilliant novel explores how honest mistakes and human frailty can have terrifying and long-reaching consequences. It’s a tale of family ties and loyalty, revenge and redemption that you won’t want to put down.
MY REVIEW:
I'm thrilled to be taking part in the #BlogTour for Kerena Swan's newest domestic noir/crime fiction BLOOD LOSS.
Following on from the novella "Here She Lies" that initially introduced DI Dave Paton and his lovable son Tommy, the good detective returns in what promises to be an exciting new series. Despite the novella preceding it, BLOOD LOSS is the first in the series and can be read as a standalone. I haven't read the standalone nor knew of its existence till now and I did feel as if I'd missed anything.
The story begins with an explosive start as Sarah flees the scene of a frenzied murder in which she killed her lover, Robert Nash. She feels no real remorse for what she's done apart from the fact that he drove her to it, believing it to be all his fault. As if she has the starring role in a crime drama she now finds herself in, Sarah avoids the nearest junctions to the motorway, service centres and as many roads with CCTV and ANPR that could track her journey from Perthshire in Scotland to Milton Keynes where she ends up.
Believing she has covered her tracks well, Sarah ditches the life she had in Manchester prior to all this...leaving the identity she took there before settling back where she grew up in Milton Keynes as Sarah Butcher, daughter of convicted murderer John Butcher. Finding her mother in her usual drunken state, Sarah resents the life she was given with these two people as parents. Her abusive father had long accused her mother of an affair with the man he killed with one punch for which he now sits in prison for. Maybe he even suspected that she wasn't his daughter. Convinced that the man she grew up with as her father is not her biological father, Sarah decides to do a DNA test to prove or disprove this fact once and for all.
But nothing will prepare Sarah for the results she so eagerly awaits that will change the course of her life forever.
When holiday makers arrive at their rental cottage on the River Tay in Perthshire, they didn't expect to find a man stabbed to death amidst a bloodied mess. DI Paton is tasked with investigating the death which is clearly a murder but soon finds himself meeting dead ends. Not helped by the fact that the man in whose name the cottage had been booked doesn't seem to exist therefore no trace of him can be found. The more he studies the scene, the more Paton is sure that this is a love tryst gone wrong. He looks at the major airports, CCTV, car rentals and even taxi services in his attempts to locate the man...all to no avail. When he is at last identified by his wife reporting him missing in Leeds, Paton is relieved to know the name of the man for whom they are searching to be able to trace his movements...and hopefully his companion. He is excited when they discover a silver car picking up the man traced to a hotel in Paisley. And then nothing.
And then the team catch a break when the same make and model of silver car is seen entering the motorway and heading south towards Manchester. Hot on the trail, Paton heads to Manchester to find out more about Robert Nash's visits to the area and if he had acquired a mistress whilst there. Is this the break they've been looking for? Little does he know that this is only the beginning.
Jenna Winterbourne has lived a charmed life in Bow Brickhill, the more affluent area of Milton Keynes, in a converted barn her parents purchased and converted themselves as their dream home. At 24, she is the youngest of two daughters with her older sister Lucy six years her senior. Despite her privileged life, Jenna stands out from the norm with her peasant style clothing and dread-locked hair, a bone of contention with her more conservative and responsible sister. She holds down two jobs working in a bar at nights and babysitting for twins during the day whilst dreaming of travelling the world and saving the planet. A staunch vegan, Jenna is resolute in her principles regarding animals even to the point of purchasing a very expensive vegan-friendly saddle for riding her horse in her bid to eliminate the use of animal products, including leather. Lucy accuses her of wasting her life away instead of making something worthwhile of herself but Jenna knows that she has never been academic whilst Lucy has thrived on lists and numbers and everything that gives her the air of respectability and responsibility. The two sisters couldn't be more different.
When their mother Fiona suddenly becomes ill, the sisters should be working together but are instead fighting with one another. It takes their cleaner Grace to come to their mother's aid and nursing her before the sisters even know their mother is ill. At first the sisters think it's just their mother missing their father who had died just six months before...but nothing will prepare them for the shock they are about to be delivered that will rock their world from its foundations.
When the story began I wasn't sure where it was going to lead but it isn't long before the direction is clear, with even more "ah-ha!" moments to come, though it never loses its creepy edge throughout. With each page devoured, I became more and more intrigued as backstories emerge and things became intense for all involved. I sympathised with both Sarah and Jenna in their respective lives where each feels a little on the outer and yet their behaviour and attitudes also made me dislike them at times. Though it was Lucy I detested for much of the book. She was positively horrible, rude and selfish. No wonder Jenna felt like she didn't belong with her sister constantly snapping and snarling at her.
The story unfolds through the eyes of Sarah, Jenna and DI Paton and their respective narratives. Though the timeline would have been better identified through the month and year instead of "the previous February" and "the following September". This could make it a little confusing and it would have been best identified as "February 2019" and "September 2019" given as it was the same year and later identified as actually being 2019. Despite this, I found the format easy enough to read as we move between Sarah and Jenna's lives and DI Paton's investigation. As the story progresses, we discover how their lives inextricably intertwine in an intriguing tale with a clever and satisfactory end.
I especially love that it wasn't all police procedural bogging the reader down with only the investigation to tell the tale. I love how the main feature was Sarah closely followed by Jenna with DI Paton's investigation rounding off the story.
A brilliant read from start to finish, BLOOD LOSS is addictive and compelling in every way with engaging characters, likeable or not, that keep those pages turning until the breathtaking conclusion. I loved the final chapters which I thought to be an excellent touch with the final word even a little creepy.
I thoroughly enjoyed BLOOD LOSS and look forward to further adventures with DI Paton and his son Tommy.
I would like to thank #KerenaSwan, #RachelsRandomResources, and #HoebeckBooks for an ARC of #BloodLoss in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Before making the move to Hobeck, Kerena had published three novels, Dying To See You, Scared to Breathe and Who’s There? and has built a solid fan base around her writing career thus far. She is a juggler extraordinaire: driving forward a successful care business she runs with her husband yet finding time to write. She loves to write, here and there and everywhere when she’s not working. We don’t know how she does it but we are glad that she does!
Kerena lives on the Bedfordshire/Buckingham border with her husband, son and two cats. She also has two daughters and two granddaughters.
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Thanks Stina, for your very detailed and honest review. I really appreciate you taking the time to read and review my novel.
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