This was a brilliant read. As soon as I started reading this book I just knew I was going to love it. Highly recommended

Wow, thanks so much to netgalley for the ARC of this thrilling read. It was a thorn in my side, because I was sick, and couldn't read much, and just wanted to see how it ended!!! Recommended, worth your time and effort!

splinter in the blood by Lesley welsh.
This was a good read. little slow in places. Greg carver is a detective bit he is found shot in his home. who did it. he was in the middle of a case. was it the killer they are after?
I was sure on the characters. I wasn't sure who was telling the truth or who was lying. I really had no clue who was doing the killings. 4*.

This is an excellent thriller that slowly unwinds as you follow a serial killer with a penchant for tattooing his victims. The novel is narrated through three different sets of eyes - Carver, a brooding and complex detective. Ruth Lake, a sergeant with a disturbing secret and the killer; hellbent on ruining Carvers life. It’s a novel that much resembles a tangled web, lots of characters overlapping and entangled with each other with a hint of sinister.
The only thing that left me feeling a little flat was the ending, I wanted there to be more fireworks in terms of the killer and Carver, like an extra chapter was missing and the ‘why’ was never really explained.
Overall, I’d recommend it and hope it’s the beginning of a series.

A serial killer is stalking the streets of Liverpool. Nicknamed the Thorn Killer, he takes women off the streets and tortures them for days/weeks, tattooing all over their bodies then dumping them in staged scenes. DCI Greg Carver is obsessed and it has cost him his marriage but when he is shot Sergeant Lake has to take over. Lake holds a lot of secrets herself, can she find the Thorn Killer before it is too late?

The start of this book is excellent, there is a real twist on the normal police procedural from page one which is not fully resolved until fairly deep into the story and that grabs the reader's attention from the off. I liked the setting in Liverpool, having lived there many years ago I know the areas around Sefton Park, Wavertree and the Georgian Quarter which helped picture in the mind's eye. The killer is flagged up fairly early on and pretty obviously but that didn't affect my enjoyment and The pace and twisty plot are enough to satisfy any fan of crime fiction.

Not a bad start for a new series.the middle section of the book seemed to drag a bit, but with perseverance the story picks up pace towards the end wanting you to get to the end to see who TK actually is. One thing i did note, once TK has been revealed TK is still referenced as the same gender if though it has changed. All in all a nice read. Thank you to the authors for the signed copy of the book from the author event at Northwich Library

I thought this was an brilliant book. Right from the outset I was grabbed wondering what on earth was happening - has DS Lake really just shot DCI Carver? If so why? It seems so unlikely. But if not, why was she holding the gun and why did she remove the evidence?
It is not just the opening that is good, the pace and tension is kept throughout the book. The characters are developed so well. I hope this is the first of many in a new series.
When I read the synopsis of this book I wasn’t sure if it would be a bit too gruesome for me. Fortunately, it does not get any more graphic than the synopsis.
Thanks to NetGalley for a Kindle copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

it's all who who who, why why why - not only does this book keep you guessing, it totally keeps you in suspense.

Hope there is more of these two rather unusual characters because I LOVED IT.

Thank you netgalley, Little Brown Book and Ashley Dyer for allowing me to read and review this book.

Splinter in the Blood is one of those books that opens with a scene that can’t help but hook you. A police officer at the scene of a crime, the shooting of another officer, who – instead of calling it in – is destroying the evidence.
The victim is DCI Greg Carver. And the officer destroying the evidence his partner, Ruth Lake. Why, it’s not clear – just as it’s not clear if Ruth is a dirty cop or a good one making bad decisions.
She seems good, I have to say, dogged and determined to figure out who shot Carver – and finish the case they were both already working on, the Thorn Killer, a serial killer loose on the streets of Liverpool. But there is always, all the way through the book (well until the climax) that nagging doubt.
I say loose for the Thorn Killer but that is probably the wrong word for someone who is so controlled and calculating, taking their victims and keeping them for weeks, tattooing them with strange symbols before leaving their bodies for the police to find. The case has driven Greg to drink too much and broken his marriage apart. It seems set to do just as much harm to Ruth.
I enjoyed watching as Ruth put the pieces of both cases together, especially as I wasn’t sure if she was a good guy or a bad guy half the time. I just wish that she had done it a bit more quickly because this book was a slow, slow, build and maybe a little too slow for me. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t good – it was. I just wish it had been good in about a 100 less pages. This is a debut novel, though, so I don’t want to give Dyer too hard a time. Instead, I will focus on the positives, of which there are many.
First, it’s really well written. The characters are wonderfully drawn and come to life on the pages. Ruth is front and centre for most of it, but everyone seems real, right down to the desk officers. Next, there’s the plot, which is clever and well thought out. There are plenty of red herrings and twists and turns from the first page, just what I look for in a book of this genre. And finally, there is the ending, which I didn’t see coming but which seemed obvious when it came.
So, all in all, a jolly good read and one I can recommend – just be prepared to be reading it for a while!

For months, a serial killer dubbed 'The Thorn Killer' has terrorized Liverpool, daubing victims with macabre tattoos over most of their body. With no tangible leads, Detective Greg Carver is living and breathing the case... until he is shot in his own home. Finding him in his armchair, the actions of his colleague Ruth Lake are more than suspicious. Instead of calling it in, she removes the gun, carefully wipes down surfaces and takes away Carver's case notes. The only problem is, Carver isn't actually dead. Waking in his hospital room, with few memories of what happened that night, his obsession with the case grows. What exactly is Ruth hiding and will it cause more blood to be shed?

Well, this book certainly grabs your attention from the off! It's not often you read a book where, right from the start, you are incredibly suspicious of the detective in charge but from the moment Ruth Lake tampers with the crime scene, I was not sure whether she was a reliable officer. This mistrust remained for much of the book and, coupled with the unknown reason behind Carver's shooting, this made for an interesting read where you don't know if the police can be trusted.

The modus operandi of the killer was a particularly gruesome and painful one and when we actually experience them in action, I found myself wincing as they used thorns to tattoo their latest victim. Several possible candidates are put forward as to who the killer is and I was pleased to spot a clue whilst reading that steered me towards that person. One part in particular resonated with me as, being from the city where it is set, the locations were very familiar. Let's just say the Fairy Glen in Sefton Park now takes on a whole new meaning!

I liked the complicated relationship that Lake and Carver shared and feel that there is definitely more to be explored if this book becomes a series. There is a definite respect between the two detectives although, in light of the cases they are working on, there was also a lot of apprehension. Both detectives are very tenacious and probably a lot more like each other than they care to realise.

As the book progressed, I found it hard to put down and I whizzed through the second half at a rate of knots. There were numerous twists and turns that held my attention right until the very end. I hope that a second book will follow.

I chose this book to read entirely on the title; it sounded like my kind of book. A police procedural with lots of mutilated dead bodies, at first I thought this would be a gory psychological thriller. And it does have some of that, but overall, the strength of this book lies in the relationship between the protagonists and the multiplicity of twists and turns that have the reader following clues which lead to yet another suspect.

DCI Greg Carver is leading the hunt for a serial killer, known as the Thorn Killer, who has murdered five women in Liverpool and then staged their bodies for the police to find. Each body has been elaborately tattooed using thorns and home-made ink mixed with plant based poisons.

This case has been obsessing Carver and the pressure ramps up when the fifth victim, a drama student named Kara Grogan, is found in the park. Not only does Kara look like Grogan’s estranged wife, Emma, she is wearing a pair of Emma’s earrings, given to her by Carver.

This is too much for Carver to bear and his obsession has led him into serious drinking bouts, sleeplessness and he works at home incessantly trying to delve beneath the surface of these crimes to work out the killer’s motive and the meaning of the tattooed symbols.

The book opens with Carver’s sergeant, Ruth Lake, standing over a near dead Carver in his home. She is holding a pistol which she removes from the scene together with all his case notes, before calling it in. Did she shoot him and if not why has she done the forbidden and disposed of critical evidence from the crime scene?

That Carver survives is down to Lake calling it in, but as he begins a slow recovery, it is clear that the pair, who were clearly close colleagues, are not telling each other the truth. Though recused from the investigation into Carver’s shooting, Lake is determined to uncover the truth behind Carver’s near death and as she investigates, she finds that there are links to the Thorn Killer deaths and she follows the trail that Carver’s notes lead her to.

Unbeknownst to her, however, the killer has Ruth under surveillance and as she conducts her own unauthorised investigation, she is following a path that will put her directly into the path of this devious and cunning psychopathic killer.

The police investigation into Carver’s shooting is hampered by the fact that Carver claims to be unable to remember much of what happened, but Ruth is convinced that he is not telling her everything he can remember and so she also holds back information from him as the two investigations – into Carver’s shooting and the Thorn Killer proceed in parallel.

Splinter In The Blood is a dark and gripping read which had me rapidly turning the pages to get to the truth of the complex and manipulative killer whose deranged motive for murder is deeply disturbing. I’d have liked a little more of a backstory of the killer to better understand what had created this highly unbalanced individual, but overall this was a page turner that kept me guessing all the way through.

I really did enjoy the Lake/Carver relationship and would definitely be open to reading more of this unusual police pairing.

Splinter in the Blood opens with DS Ruth Lake altering a crime scene and concealing vital evidence at the home of her colleague DCI Greg Carver, who has been shot whilst investigating five murders committed by the elusive Thorn Killer - a killer who tattoos his victims using a thorn as a stylus.

The two investigations run parallel with many twists and turns that leave the reader continually changing their mind about who might have committed either crime, or whether they are in fact linked by the same perpetrators. Yes, I will admit that I did guess correctly early on, but it didn’t detract from the enjoyment in turning each page.

Both the central characters are interesting. They clearly have a close bond though, at the same time, continually need to lie to each other. At times, it felt that there was a back-story that I had missed in previous books, but this is the first one and so it would lead me to believe (and hope) that there will be more to come.

A highly-recommended read!

Thank you to Netgalley and Little. Brown Book Group for this advanced copy.

Who did it? Was it Ruth? A book that kept me totally engrossed from beginning to end, it was hard to put down, an intriguing start and an even more intriguing end, a book definitely worth reading

This is a intense blend of psychological thriller and police procedural set in Liverpool. Aside from a hunt for a sociopath serial killer, known as the Thorn Killer, there is the mystery and intrigue of the relationship between DCI Greg Carver and DS Ruth Lake, underpinned by distrust, lies, secrets and deception. Carver is the lead investigator of the killer who has tortured and killed 5 women, tattooing them painfully using a thorn as the stylus, experimenting with differing inks mixed with a variety of plant poisons. Carver falls apart after the fifth victim, Kara Grogan, is chosen because of her strong resemblance to his wife, Emma, and is found deliberately posed, wearing her earrings. He is separated from Emma, binge drinking, running a case which he documents officially at work conscientiously, but which is entirely fictitious, whilst at home he has his real investigation notes.

The story opens with DS Ruth Lake tampering with a crime scene where Carver has been shot, removing the gun and the private case notes. Lake is ex-CSI forensic investigator turned detective, she can read people, and can determine when she is being lied to and maintains an impressive calm impassivity in her efforts to get to the truth. Thanks to Lake, Carver survives, but his memory is shot to pieces and he cannot recall the events surrounding his shooting, although he is less than forthcoming about what he does know. Lake and Carver lie to each other, as Ruth picks up the trail for the serial killer as she digs deep into the life of Kara and the other victims. The murder of businesswoman Adela Faraday begins to reveal connections with the hospitalised Carver and some of his secrets. Carver begins to recover the occasional memory as he and Ruth continue their investigation to uncover the killer. In the meantime, the macabre killer begins to focus on Ruth, whose life becomes endangered. This is a intelligent serial killer, highly manipulative, completely obsessed by accessing the secrets of the victims, the lives they keep secret from their families and others.

This is a disturbing and unsettling read, with its fascinating and flawed protagonists whose lives and relationship with each other is mired in darkness. So much so that the serial killer's interest in them is inevitable, and it makes for compulsive and compelling reading. The author has created a mentally unhinged and controlling killer whose behaviour and thinking gets under your skin and creeps you out, particularly given the atmosphere of menace that pervades the novel. I am not sure if this is the first in a series, but I really hope we get to renew our acquaintance with Carver and Lake, they make an unusually gripping pair in crime fiction. An absorbing and entertaining read that had me appreciating the author's skills in plotting and characterisation. Many thanks to Little, Brown for an ARC.

A complex, clever and incredibly well written crime novel with intriguing characters and plenty of unexpected twists.

Having read Margaret Murphy's books written as A D Garrett, I was very much looking forward to her new venture as Ashley Dyer, and it exceeded all expectations. DS Ruth Lake and DCI Greg Carver are investigating the murders of five young women in Liverpool and a breakthrough seems close when Ruth finds Greg shot in his flat. Both principal cops have interesting back stories and the plot is absolutely fascinating, full of twists and rapidly evolving. I hope this is the first of a series!

I would like to thank Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for an advance copy of Splinter in the Blood, a police procedural featuring DCI Geg Carver and DS Ruth Lake of Liverpool police.

The novel opens with a bang, almost literally, with Ruth removing a gun and cases files from Greg's house while he lies dead from a gunshot wound in his chest until she realises he isn't dead. With Greg rushed to hospital Ruth is left to lie to the investigating officers about these events and carry on with the Thorn Killer investigation they have been pursuing for a year where 5 young women have been killed after being held for weeks and covered in bizarre tattoos.

I thoroughly enjoyed Splinter in the Blood and couldn't put it down. At the heart of it is Greg's reckless lifestyle and his now faulty memories about that night but it equally about Ruth's belief in him and her determination to discover what happened to him despite being barred from the investigation, while still working on the Thorn Killer case. She's a bit of a one woman band but it works really well. I really like that the novel starts well into this latter case as it is a novel and unusual approach which again works really well.

The writing and pacing are excellent. I found myself hanging on to every word as the twists come fast and furiously but they all seem realistic as each discovery follows logically from the previous one. Of course, Ruth has some special skills to help her on her way but they are grounded in fact so don't seem outrageous. I also think that the police way of thinking is well portrayed with much disapproval of Ruth and Greg's maverick ways and a strong adherence to Occam's razor (otherwise known as the bleeding obvious).

The protagonists, Ruth and Greg, are immensely appealing. Despite working closely for a year there is, initially, a distinct lack of trust between them with both lying through their teeth. Ruth knows he's lying because she knows people and Greg knows she's lying because he appears to have developed synesthesia and can see people's auras. Once they come clean with each other they can get on with the investigation, or rather Ruth can and Greg can try to remember.

Splinter in the Blood may be another serial killer novel but it is well done and I love it. I have no hesitation in recommending it as a good read.

I am unsure whether this is pegged to be the start of a new series, but I really hope so because I thoroughly enjoyed it - I found the main characters to be divisively engaging and the dark undertone to the plot really did get under my skin.

I liked this one for the way it was told - we start with a detective shot and his sergeant standing over him - but did she shoot him? If so why? That is the question and instead of going back in time we go forward, day by day, as he lies in the hospital and she continues to instigate a cover up.

This is a serial killer thriller that has an intriguing "bad guy" - the mode of death is the type which feels more horrific the more you actually think about it. The two investigations, that into the killer and that into the shooting of one of our main protagonists move forward side by side. There are plenty of twists and turns to be had, both in event and character, overall it was a proper page turner of a read and very well written, giving a fresh feel to proceedings even whilst following the best tropes of the crime thriller.

Overall yes, I approve. More please.

Recommended.