A solid story and a strong debut.

A new femail detective is always something to look forward to and detectives usually have a quirk, but have to confess I was a bit disappointed that Monica's was to do with her body image (height).

A complex and sometimes graphic story but I remained invested in the characters to the end and would invest in any book 2 that follows.

Recommend.

I love discovering a great new detective novelist and Halliday is definitely a gem of a find. The protagonist, Monica Kennedy, is that perfect blend of the initially unapproachable detective with hidden depths, layers of troubled pasts and a moral code that will give and give to the reader as the series progresses. Add to that the perfectly imperfect collection of 'sidekick' supporters with their own foibles to be explored and you have a huge diamond that can be expertly cut into a multitude of beautiful jewels. Knowing that this team will not shy away from putting their lives on the line to solve the worst of crimes is a platinum setting. I will be adding Halliday to my list of favourites in this genre.

I didn't find this book that easy to get into and I initially found the main character, DI Monica Kennedy a hard character to relate to. I've put that down to the author trying to give the reader a thorough background into Monica, why she's policing where she is and what makes her tick. The further I got into the book the more I liked it but at times I found myself shaking my head at some of Monica's actions ( like giving a social worker instructions to investigate!). The storyline itself was quite good - once you got into the book. As a debut I think this was, overall, a good start and I look forward to reading more in the series.

I really enjoyed this book and will give it a huge thumbs up. With a great story line and excellent main characters - I would highly recommend this book.

This was a fabulous read and I felt very lucky that as I finished this I knew I have this fabulous author’s new release to dive straight into.

This had everything I love in a crime story and more. There were plenty of tense, gripping moments where I was literally holding my breath plus I felt I really got to know the characters inside and out.

DI Monica Kennedy has a tough ride. She’s a single mother and that’s a full time job in itself so striving to be a top detective takes its toll. She has no choice but to leave her Lucy with her mother, giving up the cinema trips and fun times to crack the latest case. There is a heavy burden of guilt that she has to carry around. I really enjoyed the fact that Monica had this side to her. All too often the detectives we read about in storys are a bit flat and don’t have the family element embroiled in the story.

Monica is clearly passionate about her job and despite orders from her superiors regarding the evidence path she chooses to follow her instincts. Of course, this does not go down well and she finds herself replaced but Monica is like a dog with a bone and refuses to be stopped from getting to the truth

Micheal was a great character. A social worker who did everything for his clients and he was determined to get to the truth of what was happening to the poor teenage boys that were being enticed and murdered. He lives alone with his cat Colonel Mustard and he is soon on Monica’s suspect list but he manages to convince her of his innonocence and the pair team up to folow the clues.

This story was twisty and I was kept guessing all the way through as to the true identity of the mad man. There were hints and inckilngs that members of the police force were not all they seemed. Monica certainly has her work cut out to get to the truth.

I would highly recommend this book but I have to go now as I have to make a start on the new book Dark waters. I’m sure it won’t take me long to fly through it and I hope it is as gripping as this book.

I enjoyed this book. The plot was strong and so were the characters. If I'm being totally honest though I found the ending to be a little bit disappointing. Possibly well set up for a sequel though.

Set in Inverness which is my favourite place in Scotland. This is the first in a series with DI Monica Kennedy. The book started off okay but lost me in the middle and I never quite made it back fully. However it was readable and will try the next book in the series

A really enjoyable addition to tartan noir. DI Kennedy works in the Highlands region of Scotland and is tasked with investigating what appears to be the ritual murder of a young man. She herself has had a chequered youth, the cause of much gossip and some distrust among fellow officers. In turn, she is wary of the loyalties of the junior officers in her team. The author makes much of her height which feels like a misstep as it adds nothing to the plot or to the reader's interest in the character. The conflict between her duties as detective and single mother are more interesting and realistic.

A disaffected social worker, haunted by the tragic death of a sibling, is drawn into the case after the disappearance of a young client. Interestingly, Bach's efforts progress the investigation much more than the police, as they are diverted into the pursuit of a known criminal based on rather meagre evidence.

Some elements of the plot did not ring true: the random shooting of some officers remained unexplained and the shifting of the MO of the murderer in the climax to the story did not make any sense.

Nevertheless, this was a pacy and easy to read crime thriller. The two protagonists were human (Bach's chain-smoking did prove irritating at times) and with flaws which reflected their characters. It will be interesting to see if Bach returns later in the series and there were one or two strands to the plot which are sure to feature.

A well written and promising debut.

I agree with some of the other reviewers in that I found this a very slow read for 75% of the book, however it started to pick up.pace towards the end and hurtled towards a conclusion within the last 2 chapters. I must admit I did feel like giving up.at one point but persevered as I do like a mystery/detective story. I liked Monica, the DI initially in charge of the case but I did doubt her capabilities as a mother as she gave more precedence to the job and let her daughters welfare become second place. I wouldn't rush out to buy a sequel.based on this first book but would be willing to give the benefit of the doubt and give it a chance.

This book was slower paced than I expected but still worth a read. It is a police thriller but the lead detective Monica Kennedy is not a very sympathetic character. Young boys are going missing in the far north of Scotland and when found, their bodies displayed in a particular way. The rest of DI Kennedy's team are not that nice either. The plot did build to a surprising end but I found that the book did plod at times. There were some vivid descriptions of the far north too. I did quite enjoy the book and am going to read the next one in the series to give it a try.

Thanks to NetGalley and Vintage for providing me with an advance copy of this book for review.

This is a debut novel, introducing DI Monica Kennedy, based in Inverness. A body is found out in the wilderness of the Highlands, and as she searches for the killer more bodies are found.

I liked the setting of the book and at times it feels very eerie.

There are a lot of characters in this book and I feel there are too many. None of the characters have much depth and I found I wasn’t that bothered about them.

I expected the plot to be fast paced as they’re hunting for a killer but despite this it plodded along. Plenty is going on in the book but it just wasn’t engaging enough for me.

I partly guessed whodunnit so wasn’t surprised, and even when all was revealed I wasn’t that interested as I wasn’t involved with the characters.

It feels like everything was crammed into the last 15% of the book and the ending felt rushed.

I would chance reading the next book in the series and hope the characters are more fleshed out with a snappier plot.

****4.5 stars!****

I’ll admit to being a bit picky when it comes to my crime thriller/police procedural reads. I have my fav auto-buy authors (and don’t you know it, lol!). However, once in a while a book comes along that just screams to be read.

FTS had me hooked from the off. It’s truly amazing the power of words, isn’t it? How, with an opening sentence, an author can transport you to another setting. I instantly felt cold with a sense of unease and a side order of claustrophobia as if the dark were creeping in all around me. Atmospheric read? *nods* You could say that *snorts*.

I actually said to The Mommy aka my mum that I doubted how much sleep I was going to get the first night I started the book as it was haunting me, and, quite frankly, giving me the willies. She thought this was hilarious. Her exact words while hooting with laughter were, “It must be some story if it can do that to you.” *chuffs* I honestly believe the woman thinks I’m slightly twisted or something *whistles innocently*. No comments please!

As clichéd as it may sound, I literally felt like I was on the edge of my seat with this story. I HAD to keep reading. It almost felt like the pages were turning themselves, lol. I loved how the author ramped up the tension and momentum of the story with pacy chapters plus alternating the narrative between the main characters. Aaahhh! (<— that was my blood pressure *giggles*)

I really felt for Monica – the pressure to solve this puzzling case as the bodies mounted up. (Those crime scenes had me winching!) Although I still don’t know what to make of her. There seemed to be secrets on all sides. Were they connected? Was that throwaway comment an important clue? So. Many. Questions.

I loved the juxtaposition of the Scottish setting (well I would, wouldn’t I - SCOTLAND!). The land can be picturesque and stunning, but also harsh and unforgiving which reflects itself in the story.

As you can guess, this series has now been added to my auto-buy list. I can’t wait to continue getting to know more about D.I. Monica Kennedy, and help, I mean, join her on her upcoming cases!

This is a first in a new detective series.... and I will definitely be reading more!

Set in the Scottish HIghlands, DI Monica Kennedy and social worker Michael Bach, have to work together to track down the killer of several teenage boys.

With strong characters and several plot twists - this is a must read for summer :-)

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

While I loved the chilling setting of the book, I did not particularly care for the story much. It did have its fair share of suspense and twists, but all of that is lost in the writing. From the Shadows is a good debut nonetheless — I really hope the sequel delivers what this book wasn’t able to.

When we think crime we tend to go to clinical mysteries or a focus on a strange detective. When I read From the Shadows by G R Halliday I got a bit of this but what was unusual about this tale was the sense of atmosphere - which made this more a nightmarish dark trip to the Scottish Highlands

Near Inverness a young teenager is taken from his dead and found in the countryside murdered and tortured. This then brings in DI Monica Kennedy 6 foot 2 mid forties and very much a detective with a few secrets of their own. As another case is found she gets into the orbit of the awkward Michael Bach a social worker very animated when he realises one of his own clients has gone missing too. The murder brings the pair into the sights of gangs; old killers and brutal murderers and constantly a watcher waits to make their own move.

What really is unusual in this tale is for a story set in the UK feels weirdly like another country. Inverness here is the Highlands with remote areas, mountains and a place where even some police are armed. Rather than say Rankin’s Edinburgh this place feels wider and a touch more unreal. Halliday has an excellent way of making the tale feel murky and dark with things looming in it. In many ways when reading this story it felt less crime and more the edges of horror with watchers in the dark; links to the stars and ritual and both leads having strange haunting dreams. Less a puzzle (although this is a meaty mystery) but more a nightmare. The subject matter is tough and sometimes nasty but compelling.

The main leads are both compelling. DI Kennedy is a bit of a mystery. Her mother a keen crime fan is sad she has yet to morph into the renegade detective of her shows and books. But she never feels compatible in her own skin and even her height makes her a constant outsider. The drivers to make her a police officer are fascinating and I look forward as the series progresses to getting to understand her better. In contrast Michael feels like a man on the edge of a precipice - living a life of nicotine, dirty houses and second hand clothes the one thing keeping him going is his desire to help his lost client. These two compliment each other in the investigation with Michael perhaps the more emotional while Kennedy is the more driven by the crime and perhaps not afraid to break the rules to get there. The story hangs well of these characters although I did wish there were a few more female characters in the wider mix of officers and investigators we meet.

Overall a very well delivered atmospheric thriller that while the sun is shining is probably best read at night with the lights down low and shadows in the corner. Very much those who enjoy their crime on the darker side of the fence. The next novel is out in a few months so I’m intrigued to see how the series moves forward.

I always enjoy a good detective story and this is one of them. Monica Kennedy is an all or nothing detective which is difficult for her daughter Lucy and her mom who she relies on wholeheartly and often lets her daughter down, breaking promises of trips out. She is a very tall lady and this makes her awkward in many environments. The back drop of the Scottish Highlands is interesting and although I do not recognise many of the names there are one or two which makes me remember our visits and feel that I want to visit more. She is drawn into an investigation as a social worker Michael is looking for a 17 year old boy who has disappeared and he feels bad about this as he was due to meet him at a specific time and did not turn up and Nichol cannot be found. Nicol holds a secret and this needs to be unleashed.
Boys are missing one after another and Monica Kennedy is pulled into this and has help from Michael. At one point she and her team are not sure if Michael is the one who is guilty. Only time in the story will tell. She battles with her boss along the way and felt as the story was written he is a desk police man and needs to wind Monica Kennedy up on purpose. I really enjoyed the way the story twisted and sometimes led down a path I did not expect. I look forward to the next Monica Kennedy story

Plot
Sixteen-year-old Robert arrives home late. Without a word to his dad, he goes up to his bedroom. Robert is never seen alive again.

A body is soon found on the coast of the Scottish Highlands. Detective Inspector Monica Kennedy stands by the victim in this starkly beautiful and remote landscape. Instinct tells her the case won’t begin and end with this one death.

Meanwhile, Inverness-based social worker Michael Bach is worried about one of his clients whose last correspondence was a single ambiguous text message; Nichol Morgan has been missing for seven days.

As Monica is faced with catching a murderer who has been meticulously watching and waiting, Michael keeps searching for Nichol, desperate to find him before the killer claims another victim.

Review

This is my first encounter with G.R. Halliday's highland dectective and I hope it will not be the last.

Firstly, I am a sucker for anything set in Scotland as its probably on the top of my "Most Want to Visit" list. The setting itself is perfect for the theme of the novel; dark, menacing never bright. It is almost a physical manifestation of the characters inner demons, which I find so catching when it comes to reading a novel.

Secondly, I am so glad that the characters themselves are not perfect. Monica Kennedy, the struggling single mother constantly juggling what to put first, Michael, a man with his own guilt and troubles trying hard to help those around him and paying the price for it. Crawford, the over eager rookie almost too keen to do a good job. I love them!

Thirdly, the plot. It kept me guessing right up until the end and I have a feeling that this is not the last we have seen of certain aspects of it. I need to see how this runs.

Lastly, and probably the only negative and the reason I knocked off a star is the book is quite packed with disturbing scenes and sometimes they were a little hard to read and stomach.

Overall though, I would throughly recommend this book and hope that the rest of the continuing series is as good.

Rating

4 stars

Recommended

Yes - just don't read at night on your own. You'll end up sleeping with the light on - apparently!

This book was very kindly gifted by the publishers in exchange for an honest review as part of a blog tour. All opinions are my own. Not sponsored.

From the Shadows introduces D.I. Monica Kennedy, a woman whose height is her most striking feature and who is conscious enough of that enough to wear the wrong shoe size because asking for Size 10’s would be just one step too far. A single mother to Lucy, she relies on her own mother, a bit of a true crime fanatic, much to Monica’s dismay, to take care of her granddaughter while Monica works. And work she does, long hours where she forgets everything for the job. She’s prepared to go off piste when it suits her and this risk –taking aspect is something that is going to get her into trouble…as a reader you can feel it.

Halliday drops hints about Monica’s past which has led to gossip about her among her colleagues, and the father of her daughter is a mystery which I imagine will be returned to in future books.

A teenage boy goes disappears from his home after being on a night out. Later his body is found, horribly staged in an isolated setting in the Gairloch. G.R. Halliday’s locations here are spot on and his Wester Ross setting with all its darkness and dampness, peat bogs and wild streams is a perfect locus for set a series of macabre serial killings. I cannot fault his sense of place.

Monica and her team investigate and before they have a chance to develop solid leads, another young teenage boy goes missing from home and later turns up in another remote location, similarly butchered. Both lads have very clearly been killed by the same killer. At the same time, Nichol, a third young man has gone missing and his social worker, Michael Bach is worried that will meet the same fate and is looking for him. Michael’s somewhat burnt out from years of dealing with clients who won’t be helped or who the system won’t let him help and this time he really wants to see if he can make a difference to this young boy’s life.

The novel shows us three different perspectives: Monica’s, Michael Bach’s and that of the unnamed ‘Watcher’ whom we take as our antagonist. Monica enlists the help of Michael Bach and in doing so cuts a few procedural corners that would, were she to be found out, lead her into hot water.

Monica Kennedy’s new team member is the straight laced Sergeant Crawford and he makes for an interesting foil. I am looking forward to seeing how these two, quite different, people relate to each other as the series progresses.

From the Shadows is quite a gory book – not something I mind at all, just be aware that this is an author who likes his serial killers to be on the inventive side. Though the pacing overall is good, the book does have a bit of a middle ‘dip’ then hots up again towards the denouement.

Speaking of the denouement, I was a little irked that the author left a couple of pretty big questions unanswered. One I can understand, as it may well play into succeeding books, but the second leaves me wondering if there is to be a return to this crime somewhere ahead?

Verdict: A fantastic sense of place with the choice of setting ideal for a series of ritualistic killings (sorry Scottish Tourist Board). Interesting protagonists and a better than decent start to an almost Scandi style police procedural series.

I thought that Monica was a great lead detective, with her commanding confidence and gut instinct that even the reader trusts. I did feel perhaps that there was too much focus on her height, but other than that she was an extremely likeable and strong character. She was patient, independently confident, but also a caring and very relatable person.

The mystery is gripping and chilling right from the start. When Robert disappears we see his perspective for a while and honestly it’s slightly terrifying, but it made me want to keep reading as I just had to understand what was happening. It’s the perfect balance between intriguing and spooky, so it kept me hooked the whole way through.

Introducing another character, Michael Bach, was another really clever aspect. His determination to find out what happened to his client Nichol perfectly complemented Monica’s gut instinct and patient investigation. It was clear to me throughout that there was some sort of link, but Halliday refuses to give too much away and keeps us guessing throughout.

The plot builds extremely well – it gets more and more fascinating throughout and it’s very hard to predict. I also liked this as it’s unusual compared to a lot of other detective novels you might read – the conclusion is not necessarily like your typical murder novel, and once you read this you’ll know what I mean!

This book was gritty, captivating, sometimes horrifying and chilling throughout. It’s clever and unique plot is a brilliant contrast to other detective series that sometimes fall prey to the same tropes and I do love Monica as the lead detective. I’d 100% recommend this.

This was such a phenomenal start to a new crime series, I really enjoyed DI Kennedy's first foray into mystery.

She's a seasoned DI with a new partner and her own rumoured reputation to contend with and that makes the investigation that much more difficult to pursue.

Boys have gone missing, they always do, it's 'what boys do' but when one body appears in a gruesome discovery, DI Kennedy is put on the trail to discover who murdered him and if there will be more.

While Kennedy is on the case, there's another who's also sorting their own investigation, Michael was Nichol's social worker and when he misses meeting the boy and he goes missing, Michael begins to fear for the teen's life. Is Nichol the murderer's next victim?

Halliday has a good grasp on the violence and unease to write about this sort of case, it was creepy and addictive and I could hardly put it down at times. I just wanted to keep knowing what was going to happen next. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion, my full review will be up on my blog as part of the tour.