Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience

Excellent series another mystery that kept me turning the pages,Twists turns characters that come alive read the newest in the series till late at night .Great series highly recommend.#netgalley #when shadows fall.

Review of
WHEN SHADOWS FALL
by Alex Gray
www.alexgrayauthor.co.uk
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I received the ARC from @netgalley. Sorry its taken so long to complete.

A long buried skeleton is discovered, shortly before a retired police officer is gunned down in his garden. And then another. Is there any connection between the victims, and do those skeletal remains provide that elusive link to join the dots?

This book is part of a series that follows senior detective William Lorimer, but is just as entertaining as a standalone story.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, although I found it easier to understand the strong scottish dialect as my mother was a scot.
The characters were likeable, and more importantly, believable. The story conveys the sense of urgency of the investigation and the race to stop more killings. The were a few red herrings along the way and a twist of two. I don't want to ruin your read by saying too much.
Overall this is a skilfully written crime thriller, and I wholeheartedly recommend it, hence the five stars.

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When Shadows Fall is Alex Gray’s seventeenth novel featuring Detective Superintendent Lorimer, now the head of the Major Incident Team based in Glasgow. Skeletal remains are discovered in the grounds of a large house in the West Renfrewshire countryside by the gardener, Joseph Alexander Flynn. Freaked out by his gruesome find, he phones Lorimer. They go back a long way as Lorimer helped Flynn escape his troubled past. When a bullet hole is discovered in the skull, they have to treat it as murder. This cold case seems unconnected to the recent killings of retired police officers, but analysis of the bullet still lodged in the skull tells a different story.
As the number of killings mounts up, tension is rising as to who will be next. This is greatly increased by the fact that the reader knows more than the police; we know what the killer is planning just not his identity. Can Lorimer’s team solve the case before it is too late?
One of the reasons I started reading this series was the Glasgow setting. Alex Gray brings the city to life on the page. I have, unfortunately, been away for more years than I would like, but, even after all this time, this is a Glasgow I recognise, and it makes a great setting for When Shadows Fall.
There are lot of familiar faces in this book, especially if you have, like me, been reading the series from the beginning; once again Dr Brightman’s insight helps to solve the case. Lorimer is unusual among fictional detectives in that he does not display self-destructive behaviour, but goes home every night to his wife and the cat.
Despite being part of a series, you could just as easily read this as a standalone, but I do recommend that you go back to the beginning and enjoy all the others. Alex Gray skillfully weaves the different strands of this complicated plot together into a nail-biting conclusion, and I hope that you feel like giving it a try.
Thanks to the author, Sphere and NetGalley for a review copy.

While only having read the first book in the Glasgow-based Lorimer series by Alex Gray, I was happy to dive into this seventeenth installment anyway. Despite this, WHEN SHADOWS FALL works well as a standalone crime thriller that is no nonsense and makes a pleasant change from all the angst in everyone's lives found in other series.

When gardener, Joseph Flynn, uncovers human remains in the grounds of the estate in which he is working, he immediately calls up his old pal Detective Superintendent Lorimer. Scenes of crime are called as are uniform to cordon off the area and when the remains appear to be decades old with a bullet hole through the skull, Lorimer pays a vist to the scene. The skeletal remains predate the new owners moving in but the question remains why are they buried here and more importantly, whose remains are they?

Meanwhile, Lorimer receives the devastating news that his former boss and and close friend , ex-DSI George Phillips, has been shot dead in his own garden. A clean silent kill, it appears to be a professional hit but Phillips was a well respected officer now enjoying retirement - who would want him dead? With no forensics and no clear motive, Lorimer leaves the local police to investigate.

But when other retired police officers are killed in apparent professional hits, as the head of Police Scotland's MIT Lorimer is forced to take over the investigations. Then when ballistics return a match for all murders, including the decades old remains found buried in an affluent garden, Lorimer faces his toughest case yet in trying to track down the gun and the killer or killers responsible.

Then current serving DC Sharon Carson, a member of Lorimer's team, is shot on her doorstep on Halloween, changing the patterns of the murders. Is this the same gunman or an entirely different crime by someone else?

Throughout the story we also meet John Ramsay, who is currently coming to the end of his 15 year stretch in Glasgow's Barlinnie prison. He has lead a long life of crime, his last resulting in the death of someone during an armed robbery. Whilst in prison he has been questioning whether there is redemption for someone like him, having been diagnosed with lung cancer with just a few more months left. He has struck up an unlikely friendship with the prison chaplain Douglas Petrie, whom he calls the Padre. Their conversations show the Padre that Ramsay is facing an inner struggle he doesn't know what to do with. And knowing that he is soon to be released, the padre gives him the name of a church and priest where he can seek comfort on the outside. But Ramsay faces an even bigger challenge...he has been singled out to make one last hit upon his release.

The plotting throughout is clever and intricate with readers aware of "the Big Man" orchestrating events with no idea who he is or how he is doing it. There is honestly never a dull moment as the narrative switches perspectives throwing in multiple twists to throw us off the scent.

I love Lorimer and I really don't know why I haven't read more of the series...probably the fact I have so many on my TBR list as it is...but I love how there is no angst between the ranks or drunken detectives seeing life through the bottom of a pint glass. I love how Lorimer is happily married to Maggie who has been by his side throughout the series, playing her own important role as not just a housewife but a teacher and children's author. I also like Professor Solomon Brightman's (Solly) input into the case throughout, while small in part, is paramount to the story. I also notice that Solly has married pathologist Rosie and they now have two children. While I haven't read the other fifteen books in between and have missed Lorimer's transition from DCI to DSI, the thing about this series is that each book can be read as a standalone.

A brilliant tale from start to finish, WHEN SHADOWS FALL is fiendishly plotted with plenty of twists to keep the reader guessing while at the same time whetting our appetites for more.

Cleverly constructed, WHEN SHADOWS FALL is an atmospheric read that will make readers seek out the rest of the series, if they haven't already done so. It is one that all Scottish crime thriller fans will love and I thoroughly recommend not just this book...but the entire series!

I thoroughly enjoyed WHEN SHADOWS FALL, just as much as the first, and look forward to reading more of Lorimer in the future.

I would like to thank #AlexGray, #NetGalley and #Sphere for an ARC of #WhenShadowsFall in exchange for an honest review.

Another great installment of DI Lorimer from Alex Gray, this time with a killer who is targeting the police force themselves. I love that I have invested in the characters, so reading about their lives is as much a draw as the crime and mystery itself.

😊 Although I have yet to read any of the other books in this series by Alex Gray, I was happy to dive into this 17th book, When Shadows Fall and I think it worked well as an individual crime/ thriller.

In this Glasgow based series, DSI William Lorimer comes across as an interesting character and a sharp-witted investigator. In this well plotted instalment, it all kicks off when Joseph Alexander Flynn, a landscape gardener and a friend of Superintendent Lorimer working in an affluent client's garden, digs up the remains of a skull, part of a long-dead corpse shot in the head. A quick phone call to his pal brings Lorimer to the scene and the cold case team painstakingly begin trying to figure out the victim's identity and what took place all those years ago. Then two further deaths are reported- the first is Lorimer's well respected and admired boss, George Phillips, now retired. This is followed by retiree DI Stephen McAlpine, gunned down in another area of Scotland. Without any leads or evidence, the police are struggling, and fear has started to spread amongst the police force when a current DC - Sharon Carson - a member of Lorimer's MIT team, is murdered on her own doorstep.

All of the characterisation by Alex Gray is exemplary, and each was adeptly constructed and believable in their role, whether intended to be good or bad. The clarity of Alex Gray's writing made it an easy story-line to follow, and the intricate and twisty plot went down a treat as it zigzagged along. With many misdirections and the unexpected events that added enrichment to the story, I continued to be surprised until the laudable finale.

This atmospheric and exhilarating read has inspired me to seek out copies of the other instalments in this highly acclaimed series. Very highly recommended, I am certain that crime fiction and thriller aficionados will love When Shadows Fall. My thanks must go to Alex Gray for writing such an awesome book! 😊

I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel at my request from Little, Brown Book Group UK / Sphere via NetGalley and this review is my unbiased opinion.

With thanks to Little Brown and NetGalley for the ARC.

Lorimar and the team are back for the 17th Chapter in Alex Gray's much loved series.

Lorimar's friend and gardener Flynn digs up a skeleton on a everyday gardening job, not much for Lorimar to get involved in although it soon becomes apparent that the skull has a bullet hole in it.

Elsewhere a couple of retired cops are murdered in different parts of the country, it raises a few eyebrows but it's kept local. When some more are targeted Lorimar and his MIT are called in.

It soon becomes apparent that 'Mr Big' is orchestrating the killings. He is not committing the crimes himself but using others.

The murders are scattered around Scotland, causing Lorimars team to be stretched very thinly.
As the murders multiply, so does the pressure on Lorimar.

As we might expect, the two disparate cases soon form a link and the team are looking into the current cases and the cold case uncovered by Flynn.

The pressure is on, not only to identify Mr Big but also the gunman or gunmen involved.

Gray is right back at her best with a brilliant tale from the excellent and much loved cast.

Highly recommended.

A really no nonsense British based story which is a pleasant change from books where all the characters having so much angst in their lives. I enjoyed the book and will look for more from Alex Gray but whilst the plot was believable the solving of it pushed the boundaries a bit too much and the experts could have been called miracle workers.
Nevertheless a very good read.

I have read all the Alex Grey books and look forward each year to hear the continuation of Lorimer and his team's cases . This certainly did not disappoint, in fact I think it is the best of the last few I have read. Situated throughout different areas of Scotland but concentrating on the Paisley/Renfrewshire area made it even more poignant to me as although I was born and bred in Paisley and left over 40 years ago, I still have family there and return as often as possible, so many of the areas were familiar to me. An excellent plot with many twists and turns and left us in suspense until the last few pages. I would certainly recommend and look forward to next year, hoping of course that you do not retire Lorimer and his team.

I’ve come rather late to Alex Gray’s series featuring Detective Superintendent William Lorimer and psychologist and criminal profiler, Dr Solomon Brightman. As a result, while this is the latest in the sequence, I’m still catching up with some of the earlier volumes, which means that I haven’t yet met Joseph Alexander Flynn, reformed drug addict and now Lorimer family friend, who kicks off this latest novel when he digs up a skull while landscaping a garden. The Cold Case Team are called in and, even though it’s clear that the man has been murdered, the death would hardly have troubled Lorimer and his Major Incident Team were it not for the fact that the bullet is also retrieved and, when it is examined, it proves to have been fired by a gun that is still around, a gun that is being used to execute retired police officers.

The first of these is George Phillips, Lorimer’s old boss, gunned down in his own garden. The killing of one of their own brings all the members of Police Scotland together in the search for the gunmen and their efforts are redoubled when the murder of Ex DI Stephen McAlpine follows hard on the heels of that of Phillips. At first the two deaths are treated as a dreadful coincidence, but when ballistic evidence shows that the same gun fired both bullets and those bullets are then linked to that found by Flynn in a suburban garden, it becomes apparent that a single mind is behind all three murders.

The immediate focus of the investigation centres on criminals put away by the murdered officers. However, try as they might, Lorimer’s team finds it impossible to discover a common individual among the rogues apprehended and incarcerated as a result of the work of those have been killed. If there is a mastermind behind the deaths, he or she is not going to be easy to pinpoint.

Solly Brightman, of course, is looking for a pattern in the killings. Most obviously the killer appears to be targeting officers who have retired. This theory is apparently blown out of the water when the fourth victim is still in service. Have all their deliberation so far been misdirected?

Meanwhile, in Barlinnie prison, John Ramsey is coming to the end of a fifteen  year sentence. Now elderly, and suffering from the cancer that he knows will kill him within a year, he is both looking forward to and dreading his release. While the pleasures of freedom are enticing, as soon as he gets out he has a job to do for the mysterious figure known as The Old Man. He has to kill a man he has no reason to dislike other than for the fact that he is a police officer and, despite his past record, the thought troubles Ramsey. But should he fail to go through with the execution his own death will follow even more swiftly than expected and it will not be pleasant.

While I enjoy Gray's work enough to keep coming back to it, there are features of her writing which I have to say I do find irritating. In particular, she has a tendency to over explain things, very often by Lorimer imparting information to his long-suffering wife, Maggie, that I’m sure, after all these years of being married to a policeman, she must already know. It feels clumsy. There are also elements of the plot line in this particular novel, which I didn’t feel worked very well. One of these proved to be a red herring which petered out into nothing. The other, for me, meant that the ending was unsatisfactory, although I’m sure some readers will have no problem with it. Nevertheless, it was an interesting enough read and I’m certain true fans of Lorimer and Brightman will enjoy it very much.

I really enjoyed this book! A great story line that kept me hooked and excellent main characters. I would highly recommend this book.

The latest episode to feature Superintendent Lorimer is a 5*read in this brilliant series by Alex Gray. As usual, set in and around Glasgow, it is well written, has another fantastic plot and is complex and filled with interesting characters. One of my favourite authors and a great series of books. I highly recommend reading them. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

First book I read in this series and I'm more than happy I discovered it because it was a great read.
The plot, the cast of characters and the solid mystery kept me hooked till the end turning pages as fast as I could.
I love the storytelling and I found this story gripping and entertaining, with the right ingredients to make it an excellent novel.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Brilliant. I read a lot of books. How have I missed this series? This is the first book that I have read in this series and I will definitely be trying to read the rest of the series. Really well written with strong characters. I felt as if I was in Glasgow witnessing everything unfold.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

This is the latest addition in Alex Gray's Detective Superintendent William Lorimer series that I dip into every now and then, based in Glasgow. There is a strong focus on the families, marriages and relationships that have developed over time, but with little on the whole in the way of strife, conflict, competitive rivalries, traumas, or addictions common in crime fiction. In this well plotted story, it all begins with a landscape gardener, Joseph Alexander Flynn, friend of Lorimer, working in a well to do client's garden, when he shockingly digs up a skull and remains of a long dead corpse shot in the head. This brings Lorimer to the scene and the beginnings of the cold case team painstakingly trying to figure out the identity of the victim and what happened to him , with the only clue that his poor diet and its effects suggesting the possibility of someone who had been in prison.

Lorimer and Police Scotland have more trouble heading their way that is to culminate in stress, chaos and terror that they could never have forseen. It starts with the shooting dead in his garden of Lorimer's well respected and admired boss, George Phillips, now retired. Lorimer is left reeling, wondering who would want to kill George? He has scarcely taken this in, when another retired police officer in another part of the Scotland, ex-DI Stephen McAlpine, is gunned down. Two separate investigations are set up, when the news comes in that both men had been shot with the same gun. With no leads or any evidence, the police are left scrambling, the hits have been professional, and fear spreads amongst the police force when a current DC Sharon Carson, a member of Lorimer's MIT team is shot dead on her doorstep. There are differences and anomalies in Sharon's murder, but the killing of other retired police officers continues as the case comes under Lorimer's MIT team. It is the input of Professor Solly Brightman that begins to give them an inkling to where the truth might lie.

Alex Gray's great crime fiction series is one you can pick up at any stage and not feel lost, you can soon pick up where the characters are. In this complex, intriguing and tense storytelling, the connections between the cold case killing, and the present day shooting spree targeting retired police officers will begin to put the MIT team on the road to unmasking the 'Big Man', the organising mastermind behind the nightmare police murders. One of my favourite threads is the relationship between an older cancer-afflicted bad man and inmate of Barlinnie prison, John Ramsey, and the Reverend Donald Petrie, the non-judgmental chaplain, the unexpected and surprising path Ramsey's life takes, illustrating that redemption and salvation is not always out of reach. This is a wonderful crime read where I enjoyed catching up with the familiar characters caught up in a humdinger of a case. Many thanks to Little, Brown for an ARC.

I've dipped in and out of this well established series so can say that this book works well as a stand alone but many of the central characters I remember.
A clever plot, well written with just a smidgen of Scottish humour.

Detective Superintendant Lorimer is gutted when his old friend and colleague is found dead at home,but there is worse to come when two more ex-policemen are found dead.It is now up to Lorimer and his team to solve the case and stop another murder of one of their own,but can he do it.5*

Thank you to NetGalley for reconnecting me with this authors books, having not read one for a while I was intrigued as to whether I would be able to follow the characters and can confirm this was not an issue

When retired police officers start to be killed in their own homes it is left to Dsi Lorimer and his team to face what could be the most harrowing and toughest case they have yet to face

Highly recommended and has now inspired me to read the others I have missed in the series

Lorimer's old friend and former colleague is shot dead at home. He's not the only one: two more ex-policemen die.

Who will be next? With no clues to identify the killer, how will Lorimer solve this one?