For a first book it wasn't bad. If I compare it to the many police procedural I read it is unforgettable. The writing was okay and the story was interesting.

An exciting police procedural told in the third person, mainly from the point of view of DI Eve Hunter. A body is found in a hotel room with ritulastic aspects which leads Eve to think this may be the work of a serial killer. It turns out she is right and what follows is a fast paced twisty thiller. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for an advance copy of Hold Your Tongue, the first novel to feature Aberdeen based DI Eve Hunter.

On her first day back at work after six months recuperation for an injury sustained on the job Eve is plunged straight in to a murder inquiry. The body of a young woman has been found in a hotel room and the ritualistic aspects of her death are enough to worry Eve and her team. Correctly as it turns out because she’s not the last victim.

I thoroughly enjoyed Hold Your Tongue which is an exciting police procedural with plenty of twists and turns. It is told in the third person from various points of view, mostly Eve with contributions from her team. I think this works well as it gives the reader a wider perspective on events without being distracting. The police point of view is intercut with chapters from the unnamed killer, which further alternate between his history and his current day thoughts and actions. I found the history fascinating and well designed as it gradually teases out the story but the present day musings aren’t particularly illuminating, being more of the same I’m too smart to get caught variety. I liked the plot with its twists and steady stream of reveals although it’s not for the faint hearted with a fair amount of violence, both current and historical.

Eve returns to work after an attack which injured her and her partner DC Sanders. Much is made of her guilt over the attack and the friction in the team from those who also blame her for it. I didn’t find any of this particularly convincing and found the lack of detail of what actually happened early on in the novel very frustrating. It is gradually explained over the course of the novel but it’s difficult to navigate all the bad feeling without understanding why. Having said all that, the team starts to meld by the end so I’m really looking forward to the next novel as I think this is a very promising start.

Hold Your Tongue is a good read which I have no hesitation in recommending.

Gritty, Gruesome and NOT to be missed!!
Hold Your Tongue is a shocking and brilliant debut by an author who has the rare talent to drag the reader right into the heart of the story and keep them on the edge of their seat until the very last page.
I loved DI Eve Hunter’s ability to be both fragile - emotionally and physically broken, and racked with guilt - and at the same time 100% badass! She was an instantly likeable heroine and one I can’t wait to read about again.

Thank you to the publisher and the author for the advanced read.

Hold Your Tongue - Deborah Masson

This is a pretty decent debut novel from Ms Masson, I've got high hopes for the next instalment of this Scottish police procedural set in Aberdeen. My own personal preference is for characters to be written as they'd speak using slang spellings for local dialect etc (where its appropriate obviously). I enjoyed this book taking us straight in to the action shocking me with the actual physical violence, only a special kind of twisted could inflict those kind of injuries on another human being.

I always enjoy books where we have more than one point of view combined with short easy to read chapters, they hold my attention much more, plus they always allow me to sneak one or two more. There was one or two events The details we learn from the perpetrator were eye-opening but I felt needed a little tweaking, one in particular could have been shortened as it seemed a little convoluted.

We are introduced to DI Eve Hunter has just returned to work after a violent attack that caused horrendous injuries to herself and her partner Sanders. Following said accident her new team are distrustful of her I have to say Eve is a better woman than me, I was only reading this and my right hand itched to slap DC Jo Mearns, she was so blatantly disrespectful towards Eve.

Her first assignment back on duty is a brutal and vicious murder case, a woman is found mutilated and murdered with a news article pinned on her chest. The next week there's another body found, it too was mutilated and left for dead. Eve is feeling that she has something to prove to both the team and her bosses but as there's little or no clues she's feeling the pressure from the head honchos.

When it came to the conclusion of the story I have to admit that I didn't guess who it was, that pleases me greatly. With all the red herrings and twists contained between these pages its certainly makes for a novel definitely worth a read. I have no problems recommending it to all of my bookworm friends.

Read for an honest review. Thank you, Netgalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers Corner

Wow, for a debut book this is a cracking read. Started off well and got better and better the further I read. Think the author has set the bar high here. . I found it to be a real page turner and a very good and thrilling read that really got my attention. Likeable main character who returns to work after 6 months off and is thrown straight into a murder investigation. Author created a very good background history, saying why DI Hunter has been off and how this had affected her and her relationships with her work colleagues. Quite a few twists and turns in the story, with references to older cases where links are found to the current murders. I thought I knew who the killer was and I was wrong. Was very shocked when I found out who it was.

Hope there will be a second book, I would definitely read it and like to see how DI Hunter and her team
develop.

Thank you to Netgalley

Morgan’s incredibly gritty thriller excels where others have difficulty matching with its troubled characters, backstory and gruesome crimes providing a whirlwind of crime and tension. This is a novel that hits all the right marks that most crime stories often lack.

The characters are richly written and stand on their own against the backdrop that Morgan uses. They are well developed and provide enough angst, pain, suffering and pathos to keep you interested but at the same time staying very true to their humanistic approach.

The crimes and plotting are ingeniously done and Morgan shows a great fortitude for the subject matter. You can tell a lot of work went into the psychological understanding of the crimes and police procedure. This kept the novel intriguing and combined this with the personal dramas and situations within the characters personal lives we end up with a winning formula.

Hold Your Tongue is an excellent crime novel that works on all aspects providing an insightful and thought provoking and a damn good read. This page turner gets it right on so many levels and it is really hard to find anything negative to find. Great characters, fantastic backstory and crimes that are gruesome and a conclusion that makes perfect sense; a crime winner on all fronts.

Loved it .... read a few books recently that haven't captivated me but this one did : well written, good story line, great characters, lots of twists & turns and a suspenseful ending too. Highly recommend.

Based in Aberdeen, Hold Your Tongue is a thriller which is packed full of drama. It follows DI Eve Hunter as she returns to work after a 6-month forced break and it thrown straight into a gruesome case. Women are being murdered by a serial killer in a horrific way.

Hold Your Tongue is about more than just Eve though. Although the main focus of the story, every member of her team gets plenty of airtime and I enjoyed how complex and 3 dimensional every one of them were. Each have their own flaws, their own strengths and their own weaknesses which means that very few characters are fillers.

There was a drawback to this though. Hold Your Tongue is a debut novel but written in a way as if it was a series. In giving the characters so much history and so much of a back story, I constantly felt like I was on book 2 of a series where I had missed whatever had come before. I will also say that I found the ending to be a little too neat. I love a good twist without too many loose ends, but this felt all conveniently resolved.

That being said, I did really enjoy Hold Your Tongue and look forward to what will be coming next from Masson. Once I got into the rhythm of the book, I really enjoyed her writing style and there is no doubt that it kept me turning page after page.

This ARC was courtesy of netgalley - all thoughts and opinions are mine and unbiased
I also post to Amazon, goodreads, Kobo and B&N

Wow - this is a debut novel - what a career start - can't wait to read more from this author

I can't tell you how much I loved this book - I was drawn in from the very first page to the last - couldn't put this down

I loved everything about it - the story, the characters, the use of language - wonderful

Can't wait for the next one

Wow! What a fantastic page turning debut, made even better by being set in my City. Loved everything, great characters, the gruesome murders and the descriptions. Just great. I will be recommending this to everyone. Really hope it is the beginning of what's sure to be a great series.

An amazing read. I Could not put it down. Really draws you in and keeps you hooked from start to finish. Looking forward to more from this amazing author!! Highly recommended book.

Oh wow what a stunningly good read. Yes the formatting was a little but off putting but the story itself was outstanding.

I really liked Eve, and in a way I was able to identify with her. Lots of red herrings, I had one oh my god moment before I realised it was yet another clever diversion from the author. Neatly solved but no boxes and bows involved. Thank you Netgalley for the free read.

When Amazon lets me review I will add the link, meanwhile I have reviewed on Goodreads.

I did kind of enjoy this but there were a few things that stopped me really loving it.

Firstly the book is set in Aberdeen but none of the characters use Scottish words or phrases let alone anything specific to Aberdonians. To me, the setting didn't mean or add anything to the story.

Secondly, I didn't really like any of the characters. some of them felt very 2 dimensional and others felt a bit...confused and overloaded.

I think there is an excellent book in here (and the characters definitely have potential for future adventures) and there are glimmers of it in places, but overall in it's current form it's a solid average.

Wow, what a rush. I think this may be one of the best books I've ever read. I loved all the detectives and the way they interacted with each other, some really good characters there. Then there was the back story involving Eve and Sanders and I thought the author really kept the tension ramped up by only releasing a little of this story at a time. Last and by no means least there is the story of the serial killer who is terrifying the women of Aberdeen and how this story relates to the flashbacks spread throughout the book. It's hard to believe that this is Deborah Masson's debut novel and I think there will be a few bestselling authors out there watching out for her in the future. I know, as a reader, that I can't wait for her next book.

I never repeat the blurb. Interesting and gripping procedural here, The reader is thrown into the midst of current story with past history and past crimes intertwined. Surprising twist and a satisfying ending. Good stuff.

I've never been to Scotland even though an ancestor of mine came from Aberdeen. And having read 'Hold Your Tongue', I'm not sure I'll be visiting my Scottish roots any time soon! In all seriousness this is a fantastic debut from Deborah Masson. Set in a very cold and snowy Aberdeen, this story chilled me to my core. The opening prologue sets the tone of the book so we know we're in for a tense read.

I loved DI Eve Hunter and her team. For a debut, they come to the reader as a fully-rounded cast of characters and the back story is complex enough to provide depth without overwhelming the main plot. And such a creepy plot! Women are being murdered in a most horrific way - their tongues are removed. There doesn't appear to be any connection between the women making the motive complicated. Little evidence is left behind at the scenes so Eve knows that she's dealing with a very clever murderer.

Although Eve is the main protagonist, we hear from other characters including the murderer. Although it's a disturbing voice, Deborah Masson has handled it carefully.

There's great detail in how Aberdeen is portrayed so if I did ever visit I'd be able to pick out some of the sights. I know little about the town apart from its oil industry so it was good to find out more about the place.

Overall, this is a great start to a new series. I can't wait to read more about DI Eve Hunter and her fellow officers.

This... is one of the most gruesome books I have ever read in my life. I was quite taken aback, but really, with that title, what else should I have expected? Either way, this dragged on more than I would have liked. There is potential for sure, but I could barely wait for it to end.

After an accident that caused significant injuries to DI Eve Hunter, she is forced to take a six-months break. Circumstances have required her to undergo treatment. During this period, she drowns herself in guilt and the determination to redeem herself. Eve gets her chance when she is finally allowed back to work, and is thrust into a bizarre murder case. A woman has been killed and mutilated. Pinned to her clothes is a newspaper cutting with a blazing headline that is connected to the victim herself. With little to no clues, we find the detectives at a loss. A woman is found dead every week. Surely they'll be able to capture him before the next one dies?

The author dove straight into the case. Straight-forward. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but my first impression of it wasn't good. It felt too technical, going very much in detail about police work; a tad boring, even if the crime scene is very interesting. I thought at first this was going to be a mystery book with not much development to its characters, but then it proved me wrong. I began to appreciate Masson's style, enjoying as I learnt more about Eve and her other subordinates. I could understand Eve's remorse and the frustration towards those who remained nasty towards her because of the accident. There was a significant number of pages used to describe it all, but to say that it dampened the story would be untrue.

What did dampen the story was the series of events that led up to how the murderer was found out. It's a seriously loooong chain of events, I tell you. They couldn't find a clue about who it is even after the fifth victim. Like Cooper constantly mentioned in the book, they always return to where they started. They are frustrated — so am I as a reader. And this isn't a short book. How is it that every single scene didn't leave a clue that is easy to track? It dragged too long.

But as a mystery novel, it definitely did its job with all the twists (even though some parts are pretty predictable, with foreshadowing and stuff) and creepy vibes. It's written in multiple POVs in the second-person, the murderer's included. Recommended to all mystery fans who don't mind much of a slow read!

Now this really is a chilling psychological thriller! A police led drama with many twists and turns that keep the police as well as the reader guessing right up until the absolutely sickening final confession of the killer. If you like gory murder mysteries you are going to love Hold Your Tongue.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my ecopy of this book.

My thanks to NetGalley and publisher Random House UK - Transworld Publishers, for the ARC.

Well, DI Eve Hunter and her team in Aberdeen have entered our literary world spectacularly in Deborah Masson's debut novel. What a start to (I hope) a new detective series.

Eve has returned to work after 6 months recovering from a brutal attack inflicted on her and her partner Sanders. Eve's damaged leg has given her a limp and she needs painkillers. Sanders was most badly hurt in the attack and is now back home but wheelchair-bound due to paralysis from her broken back. Eve visits Sanders regularly, but they have little to say to each other.

With Eve attending weekly appointments with the Police Psychiatrist her boss DCI Jim Hastings has backed her return to duty, but she needs to prove she is up to the job. DCI Hastings assures her the attack was not her fault, but Eve is consumed with guilt about the circumstances that led up to it, and concerned how her team, including Sanders' replacement - Jo Mearns - will receive her return.
Her Sergeant, DS Mark Cooper, will always stand by her; DC Scott Ferguson can't bear to look her in the eye (but then, perhaps he's got something to feel guilty for about that attack?).

A couple of days back into work Eve attends a murder in a hotel room in the city. Melanie, a beautiful would-be model, has been gruesomely killed and a newspaper headline attached to her. The investigation begins, but a week later another woman's body is found with another headline attached, the two murders displaying alarming similarities.
Do they have a serial killer on the loose?

This book gives us intermittent rather chilling narratives from the point of view of the killer who is no nearer being caught despite several suspects being questioned and eliminated. What's the meaning behind the newspaper headlines and means of death?

Yes, I did find the first half of this book to be rather on the 'slow side' - lots of narrative describing Eve's guilt, her battling to get the cooperation of all members of the team and her need to prove she is still a good and competent detective. The story really picks up in the second-half as truths are revealed and respect for Eve is restored.

Now, I usually reduce my 'stars' if I feel a lot of 'slow-ness' is unnecessarily written-in to lengthen the content; however, on this occasion, I really felt, on finishing the book, that the first 'slow' half thoroughly represented how Eve herself felt - tentative, unsure and guilt-ridden; the second half picked up as her confidence grew and her demons were addressed. There's lots of red-herrings and a very major twist which I absolutely never saw coming!

I loved all the characters, their flaws and misconceptions as well as their loyalty and honesty.
Really looking forward to the next instalment.
Thoroughly recommended.