REVIEW: The Murder Box by Olivia Kiernan

 

The Murder Box (DCS Frankie Sheehan #4) by Olivia Kiernan

Genre: Crime fiction, Police procedural

Read: 24th July 2021

Goodreads

Amazon

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:

Olivia Kiernan is an Irish writer. In a previous life, she completed a diploma in anatomy and physiology then a BSc in Chiropractic before she succumbed to the creative itch and embarked on an MA in Creative writing. In 2015, she began writing Play Dead For Me (formerly titled Too Close to Breathe), a crime thriller that was published to critical acclaim in 2018 and features Dublin detective, Frankie Sheehan.

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.

Social Media links:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | BookBub | Goodreads

REVIEW: If Looks Could Kill by Olivia Kiernan (ARC)

If Looks Could Kill (DCS Frankie Sheehan #3) by Olivia Kiernan

Genre: Crime fiction, police procedural

Read: 19th July 2020

Goodreads

Amazon

(publication date: 23rd July 2020)

★★★★ 3.5 stars (rounded up)

When I requested this book I had no idea it was part of a series, and I do prefer to read them in order if possible. It felt as though I may have missed something by coming in on the third book and I was somewhat puzzled with its introduction although that is cleared up further into the story. Still, I felt as though I was missing something.

IF LOOKS COULD KILL opens with a very dramatic scene in a park in Dublin as a man places a gun to his temple in full view of all around and pulls the trigger. Several weeks later, Detective Chief Superintendant Frankie Sheehan and DS Baz Harwood are on their way to rural Wicklow to investigate the disappearance of Debbie Nugent.

A bloody scene greets them in Debbie's home with the living room covered in blood, and yet there is no body. Judging by the amount of blood, Frankie suspects that the woman almost certainly dead but the behaviour of her daughter is even more puzzling. Margot has been living in the house amidst the scene for three days, having not reported her mother missing until after her sister Kristen arrives from France. And even then, it is her boyfriend David Sutton who calls it in.

Frankie launches an investigation into Debbie's life but before long discovers that the woman kept to herself and practically lived off the grid. She had no mobile phone, no internet and no real contact with the outside world but for her job at the garden centre and her weekly trips to Dublin.

Believing Debbie to be almost certainly dead, Frankie organises a search team of volunteers to work alongside the Gardai to scour to woodlands near Debbie's home, in the hope of uncovering her remains. Meanwhile, Frankie and Baz question friends, neighbours and Debbie's two daughters. But as they question them over the coming days, it soon becomes clear that something strange surrounds the Nugent house.

As the team delve deeper, it is revealed the case has links to something darker and leads them into very dangerous territory.

Somewhat slow to begin with, I wasn't sure which direction the story was taking at first. The crime and the story appeared to be predictable with a hint of something untoward. As the story unfolded, it soon became clear that there was something else at play though I didn't expect it to take the turn it did.

An intruiging plot, IF LOOKS COULD KILL had plenty of twists filled with contradictions as the mystery continued to deepen. The pace picked up about 40% into the story which resulted in a compelling read. It's only as you near the end that the opening Prologue suddenly falls into place, giving it an interesting twist.

Told solely from Frankie's first person perspective, with the exception of the Prologue, IF LOOKS COULD KILL is certainly an interesting read and by the end I was congratulating the author that I had started out cursing for the slow beginning.

I liked both Frankie and Baz, who clearly work well together. The two complement each other and is far more enjoyable to read than the angst between partners and ranks found in other novels. I even liked the gruff Jack Clancy, assistant commissioner. Whilst the crime is a puzzling one for the team, when the direction changed I became suspicious of exactly who might be involved and correctly guessed two of the big reveals. But that doesn't spoil my enjoyment of a book. I love trying to work out "whodunnit" and quietly congratulate myself when I get it right. It's like a goal I set myself in trying to work it out...lol

Olivia Kiernan is not an author I have heard of before and I will be interested to read her other books in the Frankie Sheehan series. I was pleasantly surprised by this one, considering I was disappointed with the start and found it slow and ungripping at that stage. However, that all changed and it ended up being a compelling crime thriller that kept both Frankie and the reader on their toes.

IF LOOKS COULD KILL is perfect for fans who like their crime thrillers with a twist.

I would like to thank #OliviaKiernan, #NetGalley and #Quercus for an ARC of #IfLooksCouldKill in exchange for an honest review.