The Murder Box (DCS Frankie Sheehan #4) by Olivia Kiernan
Genre: Crime fiction, Police procedural
Read: 24th July 2021
Published: 22nd July 2021
★★★ 2.5 stars (rounded up)
DESCRIPTION:
At first, Detective Chief Superintendent Frankie Sheehan believes the murder mystery game sent to her office is a birthday gift from one of her colleagues. But when Frankie studies the game's contents, she notices a striking resemblance between the 'murder victim' and missing twenty-two-year-old Lydia Callin.
As Frankie and her team investigate, a series of grisly crimes connected to the game are discovered across Dublin city and Lydia's involvement with a shadowy network of murder mystery players becomes clear.
On the hunt for Lydia's murderer, Frankie is drawn more deeply into the game. Every successful move brings her closer to the killer. But the real question is not what happens should she lose -- but what happens if she wins.
MY REVIEW:
Well...that was some hours I'll never get back. I can't even begin to detail my thoughts because I simply could not connect to the story. I don't know why because I really enjoyed the previous book "If Looks Could Kill" in this series. The premise for THE MURDER BOX was intriguing to say the least and I was looking forward to beginning the game that DCS Frankie Sheehan found herself playing.
The day before her birthday, Frankie receives an anonymous gift sent to her at the Bureau for Serious Crime. Inside is a box containing forensic clues to a hypothetical murder of a 22 year old woman, including an earring and a histology slide with a piece of human tissue, and an authentic looking post mortem report. Instructions invite her to play the game on a website and to share her findings with the other amateur sleuths also participating so as to advance further and ultimately win the game.
Welcome to the Murder Box murder mystery game. Where participants play to win or play to survive?
However, Frankie and her team are already investigating a high profile missing persons case of celebrity Teddy Dolan who disappeared over a month ago with no leads thus far as to his whereabouts or even if he is dead or alive. Of course it hasn't helped matters that Teddy is the nephew of the Commissioner, explaining why after over a month of no leads and no no clues and no idea they are still investigating. That and Teddy's wife play up to the media to ensure his case remains in the spotlight.
But then a woman comes into the Bureau, asking for Frankie, to report her friend and flatmate missing. Lydia Callin was last seen four weeks previously, just a week after teddy's disappearance, and has not been seen since. Not only that, Lydia had been seeing Teddy prior to her disappearance. Frankie immediately suspects the two cases are linked and that the similarities between her case and the clues in the Murder Box cannot be coincidence. This is more than a party game. It's a deadly game. And Lydia Callin, the hypothetical victim, is missing. Frankie knows that she and her team must play to it's conclusion to catch the killer, becoming part of the game herself.
But the game has a counter...ticking down the time left to play...to solve the riddle which she's been handed in the form of a game. But can she outsmart the killer before it's too late?
Despite being the fourth book in the series, THE MURDER BOX can be read as a standalone. There really isn't anything that remotely connects it with previous books so the reader is not lost in a wealth of useless information. Maybe what I didn't like so much in this book was the partnership I had so enjoyed between Frankie and Baz wasn't there this time. Baz was distracted by his on/off girlfriend maybe? Or was it something else? Either way, he wasn't riding shotgun to Frankie this time whereas the Assistant Commissioner Jack Clancy or ring-in DI Smith Mullins were in his place.
The pace was steady and the plot gritty. The ending was somewhat shocking but also cleverly played. It's not that I didn't like the book...I just didn't enjoy as much a I had anticipated and I found that disappointing.
THE MURDER BOX is taut and tense throughout that is tightly written and perfect for fans of gritty police procedurals like Stuart MacBride, Angela Marsons and M.L. Arlidge.
I would like to thank #OliviaKiernan, #Netgalley and #Quercus for an ARC of #TheMurderBox in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
The second in the series The Killer In Me was called a “captivating new thriller” by the Wall Street Journal, “a high-stakes noir page-turner” by Bookpage.com and “a nail-bitingly good read” by Mystery Scene. The third in the DCS Frankie Sheehan series If Looks Could Kill was released in 2020 and the fourth The Murder Box is now available to pre-order and will be published on 22nd of July.
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