Great start to a police procedural series. Probably needs some editing to increase the tension. Even though I guessed the 'reveal' I really enjoyed this book and will definitely be looking out for the second instalment. Fab potential for this writer to be a best seller.

3.5⭐️ rounded up to 4Anna Crowe and her two children were murdered in their home. Detective Iris Locke has been given the case to investigate. Iris has a complicated past. Her dad was also a policeman with a reputation that's hard to live up to. Iris feels she is being constantly compared to him. Anna's sister had mysteriously disappeared out of her pram twenty nine years ago. As the investigation progresses, a connection between the two tragedies emerge. With some of the records missing, Iris is forced to ask her father for help.

The pace for this book is a little slow. I liked Iris's character and fully understood why she would hate working I her fathers shadow. The story is well written and the plot believable. A great start to a new series and I look forward to learning more about Iris and her team in future.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Bookouture and the author Geraldine Hogan for my ARC IN exchange for an honest review.

A crime thriller that will keep you frantically turning the pages as you race toward a most unexpected resolution.

What it's about: DS Iris Locke returns to her childhood home, Limerick, after a failed undercover operation in Dublin. Her first assignment in the Murder Team is to attend the scene of a burnt out cottage in the forest with 3 dead bodies inside. A mother and her two children. "Anna Crowe had died tragically and violently but she had died and it was down to Iris to find out why." A complicated police procedural with many suspects but no motive. A clash of personalities, not the least of which is how Iris feels working in the squad where her father, former Superintendant Jack Locke, had reigned supreme. The case is complicated by what Iris feels is a link to a vanished baby 30 years ago, but no one wants to talk about it and the files are missing. NO SPOILERS.

Why you should read it. What a great new series with so much going on it's hard to get your head around. There are many details that provide important information and clues and the descriptions of the setting make you feel like you are right there. The character of Iris is definitely strong and I could relate to her immediately. A daughter following in her revered father's footsteps in the station he commanded is not an easy road. The other players are equally interesting and I can't wait for the next installment so as to get to know them even better. The writing is excellent and the plot is well down, and hey, Geraldine Hogan, you surprised me! I love it when that happens!

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this e-book ARC to read and review. I hope the next book in the series is coming soon!

This ARC was courtesy of netgalley - all thoughts and opinions are mine and unbiased

This is the first in a new series by a new author to me

Loved it !!

A slow burn but nothing wrong with that

Highly recommend

I would like to thank Netgalley and Bookouture for an advance copy of Silent Night, the first novel in a projected series to feature Limerick detective Iris Locke and her fellow sergeant Ben Slattery.

After an undercover operation went wrong, through no fault of hers, Iris Locke is cooling her heels in the floater pool, desperate to get into the Dublin Murder Squad. She is offered a murder squad assignment, unfortunately it’s in her home town of Corbally, Limerick rather than Dublin so despite her reservations she accepts and is soon in the thick of an investigation into the murder of Anna Crowe and her two children. Why would anyone kill this lovely woman and is it linked to the disappearance of her baby sister many years ago?

I thoroughly enjoyed Silent Night which is a police procedural with plenty of twists and turns and some likeable characters. The novel is told mostly from Iris and Slattery’s points of view with other characters, including the ubiquitous unnamed man, added as required. With this concentration on two main characters who have the same goals the change of perspective is not as distracting as in other novels so I didn’t lose concentration. The author spends much of the novel introducing and exploring her protagonists which I liked as they have quite a story but the downside is that the investigation takes second place until the excellent and explosive final quarter when it all kicks off. Despite the hard work and long hours the investigation is rather desultory and consists mainly of the team picking a few suspects with little evidence and clearing them. There is no in depth investigation and very little forensics. The solution is worth waiting for, however, as it is ingenious, action packed and exciting.

I really liked the characterisation which is much stronger than in many crime novels. Slattery is fairly stereotypical, failed marriage, drink problem and a cynical attitude hiding the fact that he cares deeply about his cases but his way of getting out of his professional duties made me love him and want to read more of him. Iris Locke is more difficult to categorise. She’s hardworking and ambitious but quite closed off emotionally. She also has the added problem of working in the station her father “ruled” for many years and she resents any thought of favouritism or comparison. I’m also looking forward to meeting her again.

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

Wow, what a great start to a new series from a very promising new author. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to anyone w.ho is looking for a new great read.

This is the first book in a new series and couldn't wait to start reading. I am glad to say I was not disappointed. Iris is a young detective who was working undercover, her last case did not go well and has since been transferred to the Murder Team in Limerick. A young mother and her two children have been killed in a fire. What links this case with a cold case about a missing child?. This read is a bit of a slow burner but I was soon hooked. This book kept me reading late into the night, I could not put it down. I loved the characters Iris and Slattery both flawed but very human. As for the ending I was speechless and in no way was it what I was expecting. Can't wait to read more about Iris and her team. Almost five stars and highly recommended.
I would like to thank the author, Bookouture and Netgalley for the ARC in return for giving an honest review.

I received a free copy of Silent Night from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The story is about Detective Iris Locke trying to reopen and solve an older case that's connected to Anna Crowe's and her two children's murders.
What I liked about this book was the slow build to a fantastic and unexpected ending.
I also liked the fact that each character had their own story. We get to know them and understand their way of acting, how life affected and changed them.

I enjoyed this book, the story was good and the characters strong.

I would happily recommend this book.

his book was an average read. I had been expecting more but it was still an ok book.
Writing style and pace were of average quality
An ok book

I’d like to thank Bookouture and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Silent Night’ by Geraldine Hogan in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

A baby girl is taken from her pram and never seen again, and thirty years later her sister Anna Crowe dies with her two children in a house fire. Detective Sergeant Iris Locke is moved back from Dublin Castle to work with the murder squad in Limerick as they need more detectives to help with the investigation.

‘Silent Night’ is the first book in the Detective Iris Locke series and although the beginning was promising I thought the story became unnecessarily drawn-out with too many words and not enough action. I couldn’t empathise with the characters who I thought were fairly mediocre and I wondered at times how Slattery could still be part of the squad if he was drinking on duty. I was ready to give up when I was half-way through but kept going and I’m glad I did as the further I got into the story the more interesting it became. I’m sorry I can’t make more positive comments but I’m sure I’ll be in the minority and other readers will enjoy it.

I’m afraid this book wasn’t for me. I usually enjoy police procedural and crime novels, but something was lacking in this story.
Firstly it took me ages to get into it (and I’m not sure I even did ‘get into it’). My mind kept wandering, and I’d find I’d ‘read’ a whole page and not paid any attention to what I’d read. So would have to reread it only to realise I hadn’t really missed anything. There was a lot of unnecessary description that didn’t really lead anywhere. I didn’t feel like we were along for the ride of the investigation as nothing was properly being revealed or discovered.
The story jumped around a lot. Half the time, I was just figuring out what was going on and why we’d jumped so rapidly from one scene to a completely different one. For example, she was speaking to the superintendent about 20% of the way into the book, and she exclaims something, he walks away. In the next sentence, she is somewhere else entirely having a different conversation! I felt like I had whiplash it was changing so rapidly. No segues, no explanation we are just expected to keep up.
Iris Locke herself wasn’t really a likeable character; she was way too vain and thinking she was better than everyone else. She had a sense of entitlement, and it wasn’t endearing. The way the author referred to her name was interchangeable as sometimes she was Iris and others, Locke. I’m not sure if this was deliberate, and it changed with different circumstances or not, but it was confusing.
There was too much time spent on the detectives' lives; I chose to read this book based on the blurb of the investigation given to us. However, I felt like this was just a peripherally story and secondary. It felt unimportant. It left me uninterested in the book itself.
The only reason I persevered with the book is to find out what happened to the baby that went missing at the beginning. To see if we were to get answers or not.
I’m really sorry I didn’t enjoy this but compared to other crime novels that I have read recently, and in the past, this fell very short.

There's something almost joyous about being at the start of a new detective series. The Detective Iris Lock series is just that - a new series by Geraldine Hogan set in Limerick, Ireland with new flawed characters to love, be frustrated with, and hope at the end of the day they just make it home.

Thoughts:
One of the things I noticed right off the bat in the first sections was an overwhelming sense of being kept at arms length by the characters. Of not being invited in by the story. Slowly, I realized it was because the characters weren’t inviting each other in. To me, it seemed that each investigator was determined to keep their own counsel for the most part. Slattery and Iris continually doing their own investigations and digging where they could, but not really discussing it with each other and therefore no major discussions that we, the reader, get to be part of and learn from. Please don’t misunderstand – there are discussions going on with certain individuals stating their case or giving us glimpses. But it never feels full and complete, although there was one point where Iris informs Slattery of where her thoughts were leading that feels more cohesive than others….toward the Baby Fairley case. However, it wasn’t just the two main characters it was the secondary characters too, such as Grady. Every investigator felt like they were an individual island – there to do their job and go home. Grady even admits it to us in a brief section.

Our two main characters each have an issue or two they need to overcome before they will start opening up to us and to each other. For Iris, it is the stigma that she is the daughter of a well known detective celebrity of sorts. This is her first murder squad and to become a full-time member of the team she needs to get out of the probationary period. For Slattery, he has his own demons that we don’t necessarily know all about, but there are some that are obvious. He drinks too much, that is for certain and then during the investigation his wife (separated) has a car accident, which forces upon him even more to cope with.

The story itself is well written and contains a twist I didn’t see coming. At the end, everyone involved knows healing is needed and we’re left wondering and hoping that this is the start of this team slowly being able to support each other from a human standpoint, which is greatly needed for all of them.

Rating: 4 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for the advanced reader copy and opportunity to provide an honest review.

I’m a sucker for a good British police procedural especially if it’s a new series by an author I’m not familiar with, in this case Geraldine Hogan. Iris Locke is a young Detective in Ireland and wants to prove herself and along comes a case that her father, another cop, had been involved in years ago. Iris jumps in, and realizes there are many more emotional ties than she originally anticipated. Good story, with great characters, good and bad, warped and flawed, can’t wait for the next installment.

In the beginning, I thought this would be a good mystery but maybe a three-star read because the characters didn't connect with me. However, the further along I got the more the story intrigued me and the more I let myself appreciate the complex characters. I had guessed the plot-twist but not until well into the halfway point. I enjoyed the writing style and I will be looking forward to the next in the series.

I was beyond excited to start a new police procedural/female detective series. I actively search out these kinds of series, I am always ready to meet a new detective that is intelligent and motivated, and this series is certainly meeting my expectations so far!
I did not like the beginning of this book; I felt that the complex thoughts attributed to four-year old Anna was extremely far-fetched, and the thought that the mother leaving her newborn outside in the front yard by itself was really, really hard to imagine. However, I got past that part and I was glad that I had kept going, the book got a lot more interesting as it went. I liked the main character and am looking forward to the next installment in this series.
I have nothing but good things to say about this new series.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC and I have provided an honest review based on this copy.

This is the first book in the Iris Locke series and I cannot wait for the next. Iris is a young detective working in Dublin whose last undercover case did not go too well. She has yet to find a permanent post so can be sent anywhere. She is called to the Murder team in Limerick to assist in a case where a young mother and her 2 children have been killed in a fire. Iris' father was the main detective in Limerick but has since retired and he has a very stellar reputation to follow. The murder case has links back to a case of a missing child that Iris' dad worked on so that puts some pressure on the team and it makes the whole story very intriguing. The team are a mix of longstanding detectives such as Slattery and some young guards so it takes Iris a while to settle in. She believes she has support in Anita Cullen who worked with her father but maybe not? Iris and Slattery have a strange working relationship which works very well, I look forward to seeing them work together.
Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and Geraldine Hogan for my ARC in exchange for an honest review

4.5 for me !

All I can say about Book 1 in the Detective Locke series set in Limerick is I can't wait until the next book in the series.

I loved Iris and Slattery , flawed characters but that makes them so real.

The case of who killed Anna Crowe and her two children isn't solved easily . Is it tied to the disappearance of Anna's baby sister who disappeared 30 years ago?

As Iris finds out, it is never easy coming home.

The ending will surprise you !! You won't see it coming !!

Looking forward to the next book and see how the characters develop.

I am ready !!

Many thanks to Net Galley and Bookouture for the opportunity to discover this exciting new series with Iris Locke

I love a good detective series and when I saw this one was set in Limerick, it made it all the more better…. What can I say, I loved it. Detective Iris Locke has been trying to get onto a Murder Squad for ages, she gets called up to a murder investigation in Corbally in Limerick, however, her father is a retired well respected superintendent in Corbally and she has big boots to fill, living in his shadow and trying to prove she got thus far on her own merits!

Anna Crowe and her children were found in a house fire, however, they had all been shot prior to the fire shocking the small town, Anna Crowe is the sister of a baby who was snatched 29 years ago which case never got solved and with her death now, it brings the baby Janey story back to the forefront.

I really enjoyed this book, good solid characters which I can’t wait to find out more about. If you like police procedural mysteries with a massive twist thrown in to boot, you will definitely want to read this. An mhaith Geraldine Hogan!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

I love when I get to read a new to me author. The fact that this was book 1 in a new series was an added bonus. That being said, I struggled to get into the book in the beginning. But, that all changed about a third of the way through the book. I loved the characters, flaws and all and I'm looking forward to reading more about them. I had basically figured out the mystery but that didn't dampen my enjoyment of the book. If you enjoy police procedurals and characters who sometimes do the wrong things for the right reasons this book is for you. Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC and for allowing me to provide an honest review.

I do enjoy a good police procedural, especially if they are set in the U.K. even more if they are set in the beautiful location of Ireland, as this one is. The first book in a new series it starts a little slow but soon finds it feet and rolls along nicely. I enjoyed the character development of Detective Locke and look forward to the future books in the series. Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.