This series just get better and better. I was gripped from the first page and i so felt for Maeve trying to discover the truth and work out who she could trust. Her friendship with Josh continues to be a complex highlight and i was stunned by the twists there. I'm really hoping that aspect will be continued in the next book. 5 stars all the way.

3.5 stars

I'm no closer to knowing what's going on with Kerrigan and Derwent, but pleased to say,I'm not sure Kerrigan knows either!

Good solid story line of possibly wrongly convicted murder,and going over an old case.
Good few twists and turns,and a genuine moment or two of "what????" .
So all in all I'm a happy reader.

I love the Maeve Kerrigan series. Cruel Acts is another amazing edge of your seat thriller. This book had me holding my breath it was so intense! DS Kerrigan has a hard case to solve. Was the serial killer Stone, who has been released early due to a technicality, really guilty or are they dealing with a copy car killer!

Thank you NetGalley for my copy.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

wow this was a gruesome read... a man put away for murder is released from jail because the jurors had looked him up on the internet and found out his history..so he was released but the police were investigating the murders again to try and put him back behind bars....

can the police find the evidence to put him back behind bars...and kelly the son of murderer, is he as innocent as he seems or is there something behind the surface...

all makes for a gruesome interesting read that will keep you on your toes till you find out the truth...

another well written book by this author...

This series is my favourite one and I always eagerly look forward to the next instalment. This was just as good as all the previous book. It was full of twists and turns and great characters. The writing is amazing and I stayed up late into the night finishing it. My only criticism would be that I wish we didn't have to wait so long for the books to come out!

when double murderer, Leo Stone, is released from prison on appeal after a miscarriage of justice, Ds Maeve Kerrigan and DI Josh Derwent are asked to re-evaluate the evidence in readiness for a retrial. here the doubts start to creep in as to whether Stone was guilty of the crimes he was convicted of.

a great police procedural tale that you won’t want to put down.

many thanks to netgalley and the publishers for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for the chance to read this Netgalley.

I have read the Maeve books before so when I saw this one I had to read it. She’s given a case to investigate, which has already been solved and the culprit has spent years in prison for. However it’s been reopened! Maeve akd Derwent need to start from the beginning and make sure they had the right man!

Really well written and exciting. Likeable characters and a book that I read quickly. Loved it!

This book had me gripped from the beginning until the last page. Plenty of twists and turns to keep me enthralled. Loved the characters interaction. Would definitely recommend this book and look forward to her next offering. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it.

I have read all of the DS Maeve Kerrigan police procedural novels, and really enjoyed them all. This, the eight novel in the series, was no exception. It’s worth saying at this point, that each novel can be read as a standalone novel – there’s no need to have read others in the series in order to enjoy ‘Cruel Acts’.

On this occasion, DS Maeve Kerrigan and DI Josh Derwent are re-examining the case of a chill individual, Leo Stone, a convicted serial killer, who, having spent a year in prison for murdering two women, for which he’d been given a life sentence, is out on the technicality that a couple of jurors disobeyed the court’s rules. While waiting for his retrial, Stone claims that he was wrongly convicted.

While the police hope to see Stone back behind bars, there are several causes for disquiet about the original conviction, as well as concern that two past cases, which had relied upon the evidence given by a post-mortem pathologist who’d since died, had been successfully challenged. This raised a question about the safety of the evidence used for Stone’s conviction.

DS Maeve Kerrigan, ambitious, painstaking and clever, but still suffering from the end of her previous long-term relationship, goes back over the original investigation of the missing women, and the reader follows her as she does so. Gradually, she begins to wonder if they convicted the wrong person. And then another woman goes missing.

Kerrigan’s previous relationship with Rob is mentioned several times, but it is her relationship with DI Derwent that is the focus of this novel, and this comes alive through the banter between the pair, which builds on the humour inherent in both of the characters. Maeve Kerrigan comes across as a realistic, convincing police officer, but all of the characterisation in the novel – protagonists and less important characters – is very good.

As always with a Maeve Kerrigan novel, I stayed up reading far too late into the night, unable to close the book until I knew what happened next. It was a compelling, gripping read that was quite scary in places. If I were nit-picking, I’d say that I’d have liked a little more story, and I found the denouement a trifle confusing. Also, it was hard to believe that an experienced DS, such as Kerrigan, would have acted quite in the way she did at times. I won’t say any more as I don’t want to spoil it for readers.

I very much enjoyed ‘Cruel Acts’, and thoroughly recommend it.

Thank you, NetGalley and HarperCollins, for my advance copy of the novel.

Leo Stone is a convicted murderer, or is he? After spending a year in prison for murdering two women and given a life sentence he is out and said he was wrongly convicted.
DS Maeve Kerrigan and DI Josh Derwent are looking into the case and hope to put Leo back inside.
When another woman goes missing is it Leo or a copycat on the loose?
Twists and turns from start to finish.

Brilliant book, I read it in one day! The story is well written, the characters suitably fleshed out and it was well paced. I haven't read any of the other books in the series, but apart from a couple of occasions were they referenced past events, it didn't matter. I would definitely choose to read another.

This is the first time I’ve read a book by Jane Casey , so I’ve not read the first 7 books in the series. I wish I had , not because you need to. This book works perfectly well as a stand alone but because it’s so good .
I loved the twists of plot, the characters, the fact I felt on edge reading some parts of it. The atmosphere created by Jane Casey is enthralling and definately pulls you in from the first few pages.
I shall go back and read the first books to get a real feel for the team and why they have the dynamic they do

The latest in the Maeve Kerrigan crimes series sees Maeve and her partner DI Josh Derwent assigned to re-examining the evidence for the retrial of Leo Stone when it emerges his murder trial jury was prejudiced. The stakes couldn't be higher. The case relied on evidence from pathologist Glen Hanshaw and since his recent death two other cases for which he did the post-mortems had been successfully challenged. Another would open the floodgates and more evidence would be needed to be sure of conviction.

There are plenty of twists, I was pleased to spot a couple of clues but equally fell for a few red herrings.

Cruel Acts is my first Maeve Kerrigan and I'm guessing anyone who has been following the series has a better handle on her relationship with Derwent. Dropping in on them in this book, the whole thing seems a little clumsy leaving me wondering how Maeve could simultaneously have so little understanding of him and have previously given him such an insight into her personal life.

It's a good read, a police procedural that will keep you hooked.

I love the Maeve Kerrigan series of crime novels and the eighth in the series is no exception.
This was a one sitting read for me and it was great to be back with Kerrigan and her DI Josh Derwent. ‘Cruel Acts’ is a intelligently plotted book that draws you into the reinvestigation of a previously convicted killer. As Kerrigan and Derwent look over the case for the retrial we follow the original investigation of the missing women and soon the case broadens.
Like most books in a series, you really need to read from the beginning to understand the characters and their relationships. Of course, this investigation is new and will work as a stand-alone in that respect. But the drive of these books is the central story of Maeve Kerrigan and by close association, Josh Derwent. I for one, love their ‘relationship’ and in this book there are more complex developments between the two, which add some real depth and intensity to the story.

A fascinating, intelligently plotted and tension fuelled crime novel that I’ll be reading more than once! All I can say is roll on book nine!!!!

Hands up, I'm not a fan of the 'serial killer abducting and torturing young women' genre... but, but this is Jane Casey, right? So while the basic plot-line is very familiar, what Casey adds is an acute interest in characterisation, pulled off to supremely creepy effect.

Less stellar is Maeve herself in this outing - after so many books (and I've been with her from the start) it would be nice to see Maeve relaxing her rigid, untouchable stance with her colleagues - but no, she's *still* uptight, touchy, and just generally not much fun to be around. I mean I know her job is stressful, but apart from one or two rather laboured jokes with Josh Derwent, she's pretty morose - in real life, she'd be that awkward one in the corner who doesn't do lunch or team drinks... It's a bit unbelievable, then, that witnesses open up to our Maeve - and for someone so strong on emotional IQ in investigations, she's still unbelievably obtuse when it comes to Derwent...

A few niggles apart, though, this is another fluent, gripping, compulsive read from Casey - I finished it in 24 hours after staying up way too late at night. Not the best in the series (clichéd plotline, yet another alone-and-no-back-up confrontations with a killer) but still head and shoulders above most crime fiction out there.