A brilliant book full of twists. The story is about a man accused of killing two women that gets released from prison due to an error made by a member of the jury. It is the team of detectives job to find out the truth and they find more than they bargained for. I loved the love/hate relationship between Kerrigan and Derwent and was annoyed with myself for only picking up on this series so far through, however I will definitely be going back to the beginning and reading all of this authors books. A really enjoyable book.

I received an arc of this from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

It has taken me a while to get around to reading this as I have a very long 'to read' pile!! I haven't read anything by this author before but the reviews were promising so I was excited to get stuck in.

I really enjoyed it. I was intrigued from the first page and didn't want to put it down. There is quite a lot of descriptions of how the women have died and the state of their bodies after death and during the post mortems, which won't be to everyone's taste. Some of it was a bit tough to read but the story was worth it and I think the descriptions were necessary to highlight the evil nature of the killer.

When the killer was revealed I was surprised. It was not the person I had thought it was, although it then began to make sense. Overall a really good book, well written, and I will be looking to read more by this author again in future.

Great characters in interesting relationships, super storytelling and a plot that keeps you guessing. All the ingredients for a thriller. I thoroughly enjoyed the read.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this review copy.

An assured police procedural from Jane Casey. I’ve read one other of hers but must catch up with the rest, as she writes a cracking thriller. This investigation into a possible miscarriage of justice keeps you guessing right to the end.

The DS Maeve Kerrigan books are one of my favourite police procedural series and Cruel Acts is another fantastic addition to the series. I have not yet read all of the earlier books, so I do need to go back and catch up on a few, however the books can be read as a standalone.

Leo Stone is released from prison after having his conviction overturned. He may be free due to a technicality, but DS Maeve Kerrigan knows that the man is a ruthless killer and, being tasked with reinvestigating the murders, she is determined to ensure the evidence is air tight for the retrial. When another woman goes missing, it is a race against time for Kerrigan and her partner DI Josh Derwent to find the woman before it's too late and to prove Stone's connection to the disappearance.  The investigation is not as straightforward as they would have hoped and Kerrigan finds herself becoming less sure of Stone's guilt. 

The story is cleverly plotted and felt very real, particularly as Kerrigan and Derwent visit the families of Stone's victims. It's not often that police procedurals re-visit the families years down the line and show the gap left in their lives from the loss of a loved one. It humanises the victims and adds some emotion to the story, further emphasised by the occasional chapters told from a victim's point of view.

Kerrigan and Derwent are an interesting pair. They bicker like children, yet it is obvious that they work well together and have a great deal of respect for each other. They are individually great characters and together prove to be a formidable investigative team.

I also like Casey's writing style. The story is quick flowing and compelling, yet there are a few paragraphs which are so very evocative. I particularly loved a paragraph in chapter 15 in which a victim's friend reminisces about the summer the victim disappeared

"It had been one of those summers - day after day of warm weather, work as a passing irrelevance, long lazy evenings in tiny gardens as blue smoke spiralled up from citronella candles and everything seemed hilarious..... that twenty-something world of few responsibilities, late nights, sausages charred to black and split along their length, the sweet, bitter taste of gin cocktails, crying in the bathroom over a stupid argument, huddling up on the sofa to watch TV as a summer storm dumped a month of rain on London in one evening, secrets blossoming in silences, the hard tap of heels on wooden floors, sunburn and freckles, dishes piled in the sink.... It had seemed to them as if it was going to last forever - as if they would live forever."

That whole paragraph really resonated with me. It transported me straight back to my university days - drinking cheap wine in the garden into the early evening, topping up our tans outside the university bars, cramming onto sofas to for movie evenings, those heady times when lectures/seminars were merely an daily inconvenience in our carefree lives. It certainly created a sense of nostalgia for me.

Cruel Acts is a fantastic read. It's clever, engaging and will leave you wanting more. I can certainly see why this book won the 2019 Irish Independent crime fiction book of the year. Casey is a great storyteller and I am already looking forward to picking up my the next book in the series or, indeed, going back to read the ones that I have missed.

This book is book 8 in a series, I haven't read any of the other books so didn't know the back ground to the characters. I still enjoyed the book. It got me hooked from the first few pages. It was an enjoyable read and I wouldn't rule out read some of the others from the series. Thank you you letting me read the copy.

What an excellent read.

Full of twists and turns, a real thrill ride I didn’t want to get off.

Intrigue, suspense abound. A proper page turner that kept me guessing to the end.

Highly deserved 5 stars.

A fantastic read. Kept you guessing until the end. I hadn't read any of the other books in the series but the characters worked so well and there was enough mix of backstory that it didn't matter. A great standalone story and I am keen to read more from the series!

*Many thanks to Jane Casey, HarperCollins UK and NetGalley for arc in exchange for my honest review.*
A truly engaging book in which the need to prepare a retrail allows the police to uncover the truth. DS Kerrigan being inquisitive and having intuition manages to dust old paths and find the murderer.

Cruel Acts follows both DS Mauve and Derwent as they investigate the murder of Leo Stone, a man who is one of two things - a cold-blooded murderer, or a victim of a miscarriage of justice.

It comes to light that Stone was convicted of murdering two young women, but all is not what it seems with the initial investigation and trial, So Maeve and Derwent decide to rip the original investigation to pieces and start again from scratch, leaving no stone unturned. However, .just as you think you know where this boom is going, in comes a plot twist sending you the other way!

A great read and one that is easy to read in one sitting.

It really was hard to put the book down and go to bed. I wanted to know what happened next! Relatable struggles, feelings, and life choices.

A great enjoyable book that was hard to put down. I would greatly recommend to other readers. I am looking forward to reading other books fro. This author.

This is part of a series of books and I think it’s the first book I’ve read from this series, but I could be wrong.

Women have been murdered and detective Maeve Kerrigan is the officer on the case, trying to find the culprit.

I found a lot of the characters were a bit flat, but this is maybe because I haven’t read the other books in the series so didn’t know them and the backstory. I didn’t really warm to any of them but the book was readable enough so kept reading out of curiosity.

Most of the book felt quite slow for me and not that much really happened for most of it. The last 20% ended up being a bit of a rush of activity and some parts I found predictable and far fetched.

Overall, the book was fine but I wouldn’t be in a hurry to read more from this series.

I received an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Collins UK, and the author Jane Casey.
This was a thrilling and compelling detective thriller that kept me gripped throughout. It was full of suspense and I would highly recommend it for a holiday read.
This is the only book in the series that I have read. I enjoyed it a lot and would be interested in reading the others.
4 stars.

Leo stone has had a successful appeal against his murder convictions and is released.
Maeve Kerrigan and Josh Derwent are investigating a murder which bares all similarities to those for with Leo Stone was originally convicted. However the prime suspect has an alibi. Was it him? is there a new serial killer on the loose.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for an honest review

I really enjoyed Jane Casey’s previous books so I was excited to discover that there was another instalment available. This was a great read, well written with an interesting plot, I’ll look forward to the next.

A brilliant, riveting read. I have not read the previous books in this series but it does not matter (although I will now be looking out for them!).

Cruel acts is a great, at times harrowing story of cruelty against women. It is a tale of men who have unresolved trauma and what that does to them.

It is also a gripping story of Maeve Kerrigan and Josh Derwent, are they colleagues, friends or destined to be more?

The book keeps you hooked on both counts from start to finish.

Definitely worth reading!!

I have not read anything before from Jane Casey and I understand there is a book before this one but, it did not make any difference as both can be read as standalone's. This one Leo Stone was jailed for life as he murdered 2 women but has never confessed, and has been released awaiting a retrial on a technicality, much to the horror of the team that worked hard to put him behind bars. As he was released more young females started to disappear and the team was really looking for bodies but did they make a mistake and put the wrong killer behind bars in the first instance he was being questioned when 1 girl went missing. It was a complicated thriller and intricately woven and I did manage to get it right just before the end of the novel, also the author has put in some personal bits about the team as DS Maeve Kerrigan was not on the original team that put Stone away to start with but bought in on this as she thinks of things that others don't think off and see things that others don't see, or perhaps looks for what is not there, she also rents a 1 bed flat off of DI Josh Derwent so there is talk in the team of goings-on that is not there although Derwent is a bit of a control freak, good story good strong characters and well presented.
I would like to thanks HarperCollins UK and Netgalley for an ARC copy for an honest review.

Maeve and Josh are investigating the case of Leo Stone who has been freed from prison but he is the murderer isn't he? It's down to them to find out. When another woman disappears Maeve begins to wonder if he really is the killer but if he isn't who is?

Oh I love this series of books. I love the bond between Maeve and Josh. It's real and complex. The stories are always good with clever twists along the way. This one was no different and a brilliant read. The plot builds and throws many possible answers until the dramatic ending. The ending was well written and finished the story off well. I actually read the book that follows this first so instantly recognised the love interest for Maeve. A brilliant crime/thriller and addition to the series.

Thanks to HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The peerless Jane Casey delivers another masterful crime thriller.... 'Cruel Acts' could very well be her best effort yet. Indeed, there are not enough superlatives in the English language to describe how compelling, addictive and utterly brilliant this novel is. It has it all: meticulous plotting, pitch-perfect prose and a plot to die for - a literal page-turner if ever I saw one. Of course, there is a downside; the fear that I will not encounter another crime thriller as good as this during the forthcoming year! This is shapeshifter of a book - a veritable metamorphosis of a story, cunningly distilled in novelistic form. It starts off simply enough with the successful appeal of Leo Stone for the murder of two young women, and then... well, the story becomes rather more complicated, to say the least. Another woman has gone missing but our prime suspect, Leo Stone, has an iron-clad alibi. He was being interviewed by the police at the time of the young woman's disappearance, so, he is innocent, right? Well, perhaps, perhaps not. Stone is undoubtedly clever and manipulative, with a personality formed by the morality-free zone of psychopathy - but is he a serial killer? That is the perplexing question for the wonderfully realised detectives, Maeve Kerrigan and Josh Derwent. But without drifting into the realm of spoilers, all I can say is that not everything is as it seems in this taut, suspenseful and intelligently written crime thriller. Casey once again delivers a first-rate, superior crime novel brimming with twists and turns, with each page oozing suspense and a heightened sense of anticipation of what was coming next. No more no less than a triumph from the incomparable Jane Casey.