This was OK, if a little gory, but it was a little too protracted and could easily have been condensed considerably without losing any plot or characterisation. Already a sequel itself it's left open for further instalments but I won't be first in line.

DC Lucy Clayburn #3

I seem to have missed the second book in the DC Lucy Clayburn series. I will need to get myself a copy. It took me a few chapters to get into this story. It's another book where lots of characters are introduced all at once. Although Lucy is a detective, her father is a crime boss, not always a good combination for several reasons. There is also a lot going on in this book: missing dogs, missing pensioners and even a drug addict ex-nun, just to name a few. How do/or will they all tie together? The story is fast paced and well written. My little criticism is sometimes we get information overload. It was as if the author was just trying to fill more pages to make the story last longer. This is quite a good police procedural. I do think this book can be read as a standalone but it's always best to read Azeris in order.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Avon Books UK, and the author Paul Finch for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

As with all Paul Finch novels there is a need to suspend any expectation of reality before you start reading! Once you’ve done that you can get on with enjoying reading his books and this is no exception. The book was nicely paced and the characters to interesting to read about.

I like Lucy and Frank grew on me in this novel. All in all I enjoyed the book and I’m looking forward to the next one.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Avon Books UK and Paul Finch for my ARC of ‘The Stolen’.

I have read most of previous books by this author but essentially this a standalone so should not detract from the enjoyment if you haven’t read the previous two in this series. All of his books have been brilliant and this did not disappoint. It is based in Manchester and has Detective Constable Lucy Clayburn as the main character who is a gritty and determined and I warmed to her straight away.

She has recently found out that her father is one of the main men in ‘The Crew’, which is Manchester’s largest organised crime gang. When the story begins her bosses within the police force do not know this. Knowing this could cause issues both for her career and her father’s position so they have both kept it quiet so far.

The novel opens with Lucy and her colleagues taking down a gang who are involved in dog fighting and some of the descriptions are horrific, so animal lovers may find this part really stressful. I did. Her next case involves trying to find people who appear to be going missing without trace but no bodies are turning up. As the case escalates Lucy finds herself more involved with her father again and begins to realise that she may need to come clean to the force sooner rather than later, especially when she is put on guard to look after him when he has been shot.

This is a fast paced thriller with an unusual story line encompassing many twists and turns. It is deep and dark and Paul Finch takes the subject matters head on without hiding anything. I thoroughly enjoyed the dialogues and the fact that the author was willing to describe even the most awful scenes.

Excellent read, highly recommended.

I was so pleased to get my teeth into another Lucy Clayburn! I love Lucy as a character and the revelation of her personal life over the last two books is in my opinion a good enough reason to ensure you read these books in order. However, for some reason the actual storyline on this latest book has my opinion kind of torn down the middle.

I love the fact that Lucy is a real gritty character and one that is determined to do the right thing. However, normally this is accompanied by a storyline that has me gripped. For some treason this latest offering felt a little like a jigsaw puzzle and as much as I have finished the book, it felt like there were maybe some pieces that just didn’t fit right (hope that makes sense because it does in my head). Basically the storyline sees Lucy working a simple case which features dogs and dog fighting. Then the story interweaves another thread of pensioners going missing with their dogs, which is where Lucy’s curiosity takes her. Add into that some additional information and another thread featuring Frank McCracken and the Crew as well and you seem to have a storyline with almost too many moving parts.

Overall this was still a great read, but for me (and I am being picky as I have high expectations with this author) there could have been less m moving parts to make it feel more like a streamlined and cohesive book. That said, this still had me gripped (I particularly liked the character Sister Cassie) and by the end of the book I realised I was hankering for another Finch novel to get my teeth into., Because of that it has a 4/5 star rating rather than the full house.

DC Lucy Clayburn has just broken a dog fighting ring when she is immediately called on to another case. People have started to disappear without trace, no clues left behind and no bodies turning up. It seems to coincide with a spate of stolen dogs and the rumor is that a black van has been seen around the time the pets went missing. Is it an urban myth or could it be connected?
Then homeless ex-nun Sister Cassiopa tells her that homeless people seem to be disappearing from the streets and no one is taking it seriously.
Could the missing homeless be part of the same investigation? Lucy has to find out if all of these things are connected while still keeping quiet about her dad being a high ranking local gangster in The Crew. Can she keep up the juggling act or will everything come crashing down.

The latest Lucy Clayburn story is well up to Paul Finch's usual high standard. Stolen is a terrific thriller which pits Lucy against trained killers who started with animals, moved on to homeless people, and are now moving on to more challenging targets. They also have a novel - and well-researched - method of disposing of bodies which is gruesomely believable. Lucy's relationship with her estranged gangster father is further developed as is his role in The Crew - Manchester's leading organised crime gang.

Dog lovers beware - Paul doesn't just break the crime writer's rule that you can harm people but not pets - he blows it to smithereens with an account of a raid on a vile dog fighting establishment which begins the book.

Great characters, an original plot and plenty of tension make this a first class read.

I think Avon always publish the best thrillers. I haven't had a bad one from them yet on netgallery! Stolen is no exception and is a brilliant, dark, twisted and overall Grim with a capital G! Just a warning that there is dog fighting in this book which slightly put me off but I skipped past that and enjoyed the rest of the book
4/5!

I’d like to thank Avon Books UK and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Stolen’ by Paul Finch in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

We meet up with DC Lucy Clayburn as she takes part in a swoop on Les Mahoney’s premises as there’s a dog fight going on that he’s organised and he doesn’t care how the dogs are treated as long as he makes money. Sister Cassie turns up at the police station to let Lucy know that members of the public are disappearing and as no bodies turn up it’s difficult to know what she can do. It doesn’t help that Lucy’s father, Frank McCracken, is a gangster and is part of Ent-Tech Limited, otherwise known as ‘The Crew’. Although Lucy’s not in contact with him, her mother Cora seems keen to meet him again.

When I began reading ‘Stolen’ it appeared promising with Harry Hopkins walking his dog and being pushed into a dark-coloured van. I liked the character of DC Lucy Clayburn and the details of the dog fight were well-written though harrowing, but the chapters about ‘The Crew’ didn’t interest me, they were unnecessarily long and dragged on. Also, the naming of the roads was excessive, after all, it’s supposed to be a thriller and not a street index. Unfortunately this novel didn’t hold my interest and I gave up half way through, although that’s purely my opinion.

Thank you to Avon Books UK and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a classic police procedural with a twist. Grim, not for the squeamish and atmospheric - the author draws you in with his well-drawn characters and suspenseful plot. At the beginning, it's a bit of a struggle to work out how it all hangs together, but once I was into the body of the story, I found it hard to put the book down.

Grim and gritty, this is not for the sensitive or squeamish, particularly the descriptions of dog fighting. If you can get past that then what remains is a fast paced crime novel, the 3rd in a series featuring Lucy Clayburn. One or two sections ever so slightly tedious (the list of gangsters and their complete histories was a bit dull and listing the characters like that didn’t make them seem ‘real’), but that’s a very minor quibble. The plot zips along at a good pace but not at the expense of character development and the action stays on authentic. Insular Northern landscape and it’s inhabitants very well drawn.

Stolen is the third book in the DC Lucy Clayburn series and it was an enjoyable read. I would agree with other reviewers in that it is not a fast paced read but instead an intriguing 'slow burner' which focuses on a couple of different aspects from missing homeless people to drug addicted nuns!
Another main thread of the story focuses on Lucy's feelings towards her gangster father Frank McCracken and increasing pressure from her mother Cora to develop this relationship and I particularly enjoyed how the writer negotiated the career-impacting threat this has for Lucy.
I'm a huge fan of Paul Finch and once again will look forward to the next in the series. 5 stars and many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

Stolen by Paul Finch is a murder / mystery / detective novel. I struggled to get into the story. At first it was all over the place and so many characters were introduced so quickly that a few times I had to page back to remember who was doing what.

There are a few threads woven into the novel – missing dogs then missing pensioners, a drug addicted ex-nun, assassins, a detective and her crime boss father – and the trick is figuring out how they all fit together.

The storyline was an interesting one, but I felt it moved too slowly. There were also pages and pages of descriptions that I felt could have been condensed and the atmosphere would not have been lost.

Overall an interesting, intriguing read but definitely not fast paced and succinct.

#netgalley #avonbooks #paulfinch #stolen

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and of course the author for this digital ARC in exchange for my unbiased review.

I found this book a little hard to settle in to but I did enjoy it in the end.

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Well Paul, you’ve pushed the boat out this time, this one is grim. I must say I found the dogs disappearing and the fighting upsetting, but the story I really could not work out what it was all about! Perhaps I’m slipping in my old age.

With animals, people and vehicles all vanishing off the streets with no clue as to why and what for it makes this book a very compulsive read.

Once again Lucys father is in the picture, as one of the most notorious criminals in the north west, and she is between the devil and the deep blue sea, caught between a rock and a hard place as he is a career criminal and, of course, it goes against the grain of her police ethics. Her mother wants to befriend him again and she, I think would like to, and curiosity is keeping her interested. Will Lucy be able to find out what’s happening without treading over the line?

It certainly is a different book from the Heckenberg series, which I loved but I’m thrilled to see the characters in this series developing and hope there’s more to come.

My thanks for the ARC from the publishers and netgalley.

This book seemed to have more promise than it delivered. A black van has been seen in the areas where some pets have gone missing. A different dark van has been seen near where several homeless individuals have disappeared. Is it connected? Is it just coincidence? DC Lucy Clayburn believes there is a connection, but she isn't certain what. There are some interesting twists in the story, but this one just didn't hold my attention the way I expected it to. It was an easy read, but ultimately just wasn't very satisfying. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Avon Books for an advance copy of Stolen, the third novel to feature DC Lucy Clayburn of GMP.

Lucy is hearing rumours of missing homeless people and a mysterious black van but there is nothing tangible to go on until pensioner Harry Hopkins disappears from his home. This gives her something to get her teeth into and make some tenuous links but it also puts her on a collision course with her father, gangster Frank McCracken.

I thoroughly enjoyed Stolen which is a violent, enthralling tale of murder and mayhem in the Greater Manchester town of Crowley. As ever with Mr Finch’s writing it is high octane and action packed so not high scoring in the realism stakes. Not that the latter matters as it is so well plotted and entertaining I read it in one sitting, desperate to know what was coming next. I would never have guessed the motive or how things turn out. Mr Finch has a great imagination.

At the heart of the novel is the relationship between Lucy and her recently discovered but very estranged father who is high up in the preeminent local criminal gang named The Crew. Acknowledging this relationship would endanger both their jobs but that doesn’t stop Frank from reaching out although it makes Lucy spurn him every time. It is an interesting plot premise, pitting the idealistic Lucy against the worldly and violent Frank and I admire Mr Finch’s ingenuity in tangling them together at every turn.

There is a certain cartoon element to the kidnappers and I’m sure that the author had a lot of fun imagining them. The gangsters on the other hand are all business. They live in a world where violence solves problems and it’s quite chilling in its believability.

Stolen is a good read which I have no hesitation in recommending.

Hello Sidney Sheldon book Stolen. Consuming is a word I’d like to use to describe the book Stolen. It literally consumed me! Wonderful read with one of the best authors enables you to visualise the happenings in this book.

The book for me started a tad slow; but right when you least expect it; it takes over every thing you’re concentrating on and makes you look in another direction.

I loved this book. Would definitely recommend

I must admit I enjoyed this book much more than the previous one. DC Lucy Clayburn is brilliant at her job and is usually in the thick of it, never failing to get stuck in whatever the cost. She does, however, have a massive secret one that she is determined to keep at all costs.

A fast very terrible journey
DC Lucy Clayburn is having a tough time of it all where the gangsters go
People of the public have been missing but nowhere where they are going
I had an ARC from Avon