When tabloid reporter Terry DeHavilland is murdered, DS Todd is the one to investigate why, though perhaps he's not really. There are many more twists in this ball of mysteries, including a high powered group of pedophiles (one whose daughter is actually a reporter investigating the kiddie sex ring), a secret power called "The Voice", and more.
DS Todd character is a little off in parts of the book, and Lucy Mainwaring seems somewhat lacking the ability of a serious investigative reporter. The author did well in not getting over-detailed about the pedophilia so that it overwhelms readers.

Excellent story line which was gripping from start to finish. Great characters. I would highly recommend this book.

I’m starting to think I’ve been spoiled by such authors as Ian Rankin, Elizabeth George & Peter Robinson; that, or there are a lot of people who think it’s easy to write a gripping, well-written crime novel. Because this was, in my opinion, (yet another) tedious crime “thriller”.

I mean, it had a good “blurb”: It had good reviews, with all reviewers giving it either 4 stars or 5 stars.

It all sounded very promising.

However….for me,it takes more than unpleasant (and slightly unbelievable) characters who use “fuck” (and worse) at extremely tediously regular intervals to make a novel deserve the epithet “gritty”. It takes more than a convoluted (and slightly unbelievable) plot to make it “gripping”. I was bored by the end, and was actually skipping pages because I really couldn’t be bothered finding out what happened. I actually don’t know if the ending will stay with me, as one reviewer promised, because at 90% of the book read I thought “Why am I wasting my time reading this?” And I stopped.

It was reasonably well-written, but in a workaday, get-the-job-done kind of way. There was no real sense of place, the characters were, on the whole, rather one-dimensional, and although the plot was based on shocking, real-life events, I still didn’t feel caught up in the story. I actually didn’t care about what was happening – and if the events described are to do with child abuse and paedophilia that says something about the way it’s written, I think (or it says something about me!!)
I’ve given it two-and-a-half stars, but rounded it down for Net Galley to two stars, as they don’t do “half stars”. I’m afraid this is not a book I would recommend.

It's hard to say you "enjoyed" a book about this subject matter but I have to say it was well written, and although the topic is dark & disturbing the book does not play on that and get into disgusting detail. The book focuses more on the people involved in the story and how they deal with it, and you have to decide who is good and who is bad. Sometimes, not easy to tell. You find yourself rooting for the protagonist's and hoping they can prevail over all the setbacks that come their way so that they are able to do the right thing. You will have to read this book to find out if they do or not.

All I can say is "Wow". Eddie Heaton has written a novel that is hard to put down despite the subject matter. You need to keep turning the pages to find out how it will end, and it will stay with you long after you have turned that last page Was justice served? You decide....

This was a good and interesting read, but it did have a couple of flaws I could not over look.

I would say that it is a very NOW topic to read, the abuse of children by people in power, and it did touch a sensitive snare with in me.
All in all, I enjoyed this book a lot but I do not think it is a book I would read again

3 and 1 / 2 stars

DS Todd responds to a body in the street. He knows who it is. It is Terry DeHavilland. He was a tabloid journalist of somewhat dubious fame. The other cops on the scene don’t recognize him.

What happens next is a convoluted story of hidden motives, the sexual abuse of children by those in power – members of parliament. The children were taken from a care home, so they were unlikely to be much missed. As DS Todd follows the trail of Terry’s last story, he is road blocked and meets an odd young woman reporter who has a whole load of unresolved issues. It seems her own father had something to do with the club that met at Knoxley Hall.

This is a heartrending story for a detective book. I was somewhat uncomfortable reading it. In fact, I almost quit reading it. It is well written and plotted fairly well. I didn’t get enough information about DS Todd to judge him in any competent way. I didn’t care for the Lucy Mainwaring character. She seemed too all over the place and acted often without thinking.

I want to thank NetGalley and Troubador Publishing Limited/Matador for forwarding to me a copy of this book so that I may read it.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Troubadour Publishing Ltd for a review copy of Knoxley Hall, a stand alone thriller set in London.

DS Todd is called out to the murder of Terry DeHavilland, a journalist recently released from from a two year prison sentence for phone hacking. DeHavilland, however, had been on the trail of a much bigger story before his incarceration as he had been investigating an alleged establishment paedophile ring with links to Westminster.

Knoxley Hall is not a comfortable read given the subject matter but it is tense and compulsive. I had my heart in my mouth throughout and yet I couldn't put it down. It would be easy to dismiss it as conspiracy theory territory but it is firmly based in "fact" or information readily available in the public domain. What these "facts" are has long been difficult to ascertain given the spin, obfuscation and outright lies that have surrounded the subject for years. Mr Heaton does an excellent job of presenting some credible possibilities and his afterword which states the few available facts baldly and starkly makes it even more credible. Subject matter aside, Knoxley Hall is an excellent thriller with plenty of twists and turns and a delicious irony to finish.

Todd is an interesting character as he has an agenda. I'm not going to say more as it would involve spoilers. All I will say is that he is an unlikely protagonist. In his investigation he is assisted by rookie journalist, Lucy Mainwaring. She is, in some ways, a much more interesting character as it is unclear, even to her, if she is in it for fame and career advancement or for justice. She is not someone I can identify with so I didn't particularly warm to her but she is well drawn.

Knoxley Hall is a great read which I have no hesitation in recommending.