We are back with book two in the Detective Megan Thomas series from author Susan Wilkins and I couldn't be happier...
I am loving her character Megan.
There is something about her that I seem to be drawn to. Maybe it's her vulnerability or her love and fierce protection of her family, I'm not sure but I am really looking forward to seeing where the author takes her next in book three.
For now, this storyline in book two Megan's family are involved in it.
Her sister Debbie is the first person to stumble across the body of her boss Greg Porter. It is soon discovered that Debbie has motive for wanting her former boss dead.
Megan is appalled however by how her family are being treated.
The team in charge of the murder enquiry need to work together to solve it. Not every one knows how to be a team player though which makes for a tough investigation.
Added to the story is Megan's past and the terror she feels that it might rear its ugly head again.
Author Susan Wilkins has written well, her characters I completely enjoyed and feel vested in them.
Well worth your time for drama and suspense and the odd red herring to keep you guessing......

Close To The Bone by Susan Wilkins is the second book in the DS Megan Thomas  series. I have read the first book in the series but for anyone that hasn't, you can read it on it's own, but, I will bet you will go back to number one after this.It is set in beautiful Devon where Megan has relocated to be close to her sister in Berrycombe. She previously worked undercover for the MET for several years and has decided to move to improve her lifestyle but ultimately, has sacrificed her marriage among other things. 

Megans' sister Debbie finds Greg Porter, a local businessman bludgeoned to death, she becomes prime suspect number one. Megan is sidelined to work with the NCA, so is unable to do anything but watch from the sidelines as her sister is mercilessy ground down. 
The story is mainly told from Megans point of view so we, as readers are beside her guessing with whatever facts are gathered as she attempts to save her sister and crack a smuggling ring with the NCA at the same time.To add to her burden we see her past come back to haunt her as well, a emotional time for poor Megan in this instalment, I must say!
Megan is a great character for me, really believable being divorced and in her forties and single as well. The fact that she suffers with PTSD from an undercover job going wrong creates a vulnerability, and makes her just like everyone else, not a superwoman hero. Just a female police officer doing her job as best she can.Although, I have to admit she can fly off the handle at times, which is great to see as well!
I thoroughly enjoyed Megans new instalment, it gave me a chance to almost get to know her even better. Cannot wait for Susan to release number three! 
Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for the book for the tour today.

Close to the Bone is the second instalment in the Detective Megan Thomas series and can be read as a standalone. I do recommend you reading the first, Buried Deep, not because you won’t be able to follow along, but because you will be missing out on another great read!

For Detective Megan Thomas’ second outing, Susan Wilkins has made it personal when Megan’s sister Debbie, is questioned over the murder of her employer. But like all cases, nothing is as it seems and as the investigation deepens and a second body is found, a whole can of worms opens which brings with it police corruption, human trafficking and organised crime.

The characters are first class and have been created so well. Megan as the main protagonist, really brings the series to life and I liked how we see more of a vulnerable side to her this time around and more of her relationship with Debbie. In saying that though, we still are shown her sassy side which I enjoy.

The plot is strong and has been well researched and executed. There are no obvious plot holes and the two cases come together seamlessly leaving no loose threads. The story moves at a decent pace and with some red herrings, twists and turns and some surprises along the way, makes this such an enjoyable read. 

With only two books in, this is fast becoming one of my favourite series. Susan Wilkins really has created something great here and I hope there will be many books to come. It was my absolute pleasure to read and review Close to the Bone which I highly recommend.

Thank you to Susan Wilkins, Bookouture and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of Close to the Bone which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

Really enjoyed this book! Read it in one day!  Kept me interested and guessing until the very end.  Great characters and easy to relate to. I felt like I was in the story! Highly recommend! 
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Detective Megan Thomas’ sister Debbie was stressed. Working three jobs, her husband away working, three children to care for – thank goodness Megan was under the same roof and could help out now and then. One of Debbie’s jobs was contract cleaning and the morning she discovered a body in the only apartment ready for display was when her life started falling apart. And the shock Megan received when her colleagues informed her Debbie was in custody had her seeing red.

As Megan tried to find out what was going on, members of her team were determined they had their murderer. But Megan believed her sister and could see there was more to it than it seemed. Off the case and working another under the banner of NCA – the National Crime Authority – Megan found herself drawn into the people smuggling investigation, along with Danny Ingram and his off-sider Sasha Garcia. The horrors that were confronting them made them determined to catch the criminals.

With another body discovered and secrets desperately kept, Megan wasn’t sure which way to go. What would be the outcome in these brutal and mesmerizing cases?

People smuggling and murder. What a combination. Close to the Bone is the 2nd in the Detective Megan Thomas series by Susan Wilkins and I thoroughly enjoyed it. With a tight plot, plenty of twists, a fast pace and lots of action, I raced through the pages. Megan is still suffering PTSD from her time undercover, although she’s much better than she was. She’s beginning to work better with her team although there are a couple of intensely annoying members to cope with! I’m looking forward to the next in the series after this one pulled me right in! Highly recommended.

With thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

This is is the second book in the series and I absolutely loved it. 
Megan is still struggling with PTSD but seems to have it more under control in this book. 
She’s made aware that a man has been murdered with a hammer to the head and finds out that her sister, Debbie is under suspicion for the murder. 
Megan knows Debbie wouldn’t do anything like this but having to prove it whilst not being allowed to work on the case is a struggle. 
Megan is asked to work with the NCA when a woman and a child are found on the shore in life jackets and the woman is sobbing for her other child who is lost at sea. 
The murdered man seems to have links to the harbour and soon it’s clear the two cases may be linked. 
This is a great crime thriller that I really enjoyed and I can’t wait to read the next book in the series. 
Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher.   I have liked everything this author has written and this was no exception,   for me it is up there as one of her best.   Great storyline, great characters.   Loved it.

Close to the Bone is the second book in the Detective Sergeant Megan Thomas series by British author, Susan Wilkins, set in the normally quiet, picturesque county of Devon. Megan has relocated there to be nearer to her sister in the seaside town of Berrycombe, having served several gruelling years working undercover for the Metropolitan Police. Her decision to move was for a better lifestyle and it has cost her dearly, including her marriage.

When Megan's learns that her sister, Debbie Hayden, has found the dead body of local businessman Greg Porter, her life is thrown into disarray. Working for one of the Major Investigation Teams of Devon and Cornwall Police and assigned as liaison to the National Crime Authority on a case investigating people smuggling, Megan can only watch from the sidelines as Debbie becomes the main suspect in Porter's murder. Debbie found his body and worked for the victim but she strenuously denies killing him. Still wrestling with the PTSD caused by an past undercover operation that went awry, Megan is gradually learning to work as part of a team again and to trust others, as she had worked alone for years.

This was a brilliant instalment in what is proving to be an excellent new police procedural series. With its well executed plot, the twists were plentiful with frequent meandering turns and a there was a great use of misdirection overall. I have certainly taken a liking to Megan; her vulnerable state and insecurity were touching and emotive though she was still able to deliver when the need arose. As with the first book, I was really impressed by the techniques Susan Wilkins used to keep my interest in the story; the clever plot without being overly complicated; the timely reveals that ramped up the tension; the unexpected developments.

It will be a long wait for the next novel in this super, stylish series and I have no hesitation in recommending Close to the Bone.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Bookouture via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

Thank you to Bookouture for my copy of this book via Netgalley and for letting me take part in this tour. I really enjoyed the first book in this series so I was very excited to read book 2. Even though it's a series you could read these as standalones.
Megan Thomas is understandably outraged when her sister is arrested. This whole line of questioning and thought trail was sloppy police work. If there’s one thing Megan can’t stand its sloppy work. Megan has quite a fight to prove her sister is innocent though. Megan also has to deal with liaising with the National Crime Agency (NCA) and her past coming to haunt her. Poor Megan really goes through the wringer in this book. 
There is a lot going on with the two cases. The murder of Greg Porter and the smuggling ring. There are quite a few red herrings in this book and every time I thought I knew what was happening it turned out that Susan was leading me up a blind alley. The cases were very gripping and I was eager to find out the truth. 
I was not expecting the story to progress as it did. Quite a few things in the last few chapters took me by surprise. I guess you just really don’t know how some people react or handle certain situations. 
It was great to be back with Megan and I hope there are more books to come. I really want to learn more about Megan’s past!

What a gripping and highly entertaining story. It’s fast paced, highly entertaining and it kept me on the edge till the end.
This is a police procedural tightly plotted and well written and it mixes a murder investigation with some highly sensitive issues like women abuse and human trafficking.
Meg is a strong and likeable characters, you cannot help liking her and how she’s coping with the aftermath of being kidnapped and nearly killed. I appreciated her empathy toward the victims and who is suffering.
All the characters are well thought and interesting even if most of them are not likeable and have their own agenda.
The mystery is complex and there are multiple investigations, one about a murder and another about human trafficking. You can guess some of the details but the solution is quite complex and I understood why only at the end of the book.
The plot flows, it’s full of twists and turns and you are hooked while trying to understand what is going on and what will be next.
Even if I didn’t read the previous book I had no issues with the characters or the plot.
I will surely read the previous book and can’t wait to read the next instalment.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to Bookouture and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

When I read the first book in this series (Buried Deep), I very much liked the detective at the heart of it and had a feeling this was going to be a great series. This second book has certainly lived up to that promise.

DS Megan Thomas, divorced and in her forties, is still recovering from the PTSD she has suffered since an undercover job while she was at the Met ended very badly, but her move to Devon is starting to work out for her and giving her a chance to enjoy her job again. Living with her sister Debbie and her family has given her a comfortable home until she's ready to find a place of her own and she's gradually fitting in with her new police team. However, her job is turning out to be anything but quiet. She's been asked to act as liason for a team from National Crime Authority (NCA) looking at people smuggling. On top of that, when Debbie discovers the body of a murdered property developer, a man she works for, she becomes a suspect and Megan has her work cut out getting the old school detective leading the team to look beyond Debbie for someone else who might have had reason to kill the man.

The plot is tightly written with the clues coming from good police work and slotting together well to form a realistic investigation. I really like the way Megan is growing in confidence at her new job and that we're getting to know the other team members well. I had a hunch who the murderer was, but didn't know why and there were some good twists to the plot to keep us on our toes. Nice short chapters, told from Megan's point of view, made it easy to keep reading 'just one more' instead of putting the book down. Now I'm eagerly waiting for the next book in this series.

Book 2 in the Megan Thomas series.

Although I hadn't read the first book it didn't stop me enjoying this one. There are a few references to the previous book but it didn't reveal, or feel like you were missing, too much.

Megan is a great character who is really likable.

The plot was fast and kept my attention from start to finish. I did guess one bit of the story but not the why.

This is the first book I've read by this author but it certainly won't be the last.

Really good book!

This is the second book in the Detective Megan Thomas series and a very good read. Interesting characters and plot, centred around people smuggling in the West Country. It is fast paced, with plenty twists and excellent descriptions. A winner for Susan Wilkins and a book I would recommend to lovers of crime fiction. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

Another police procedural that had shades of a thriller with organized crime and trafficking along with a murder where at the center of whole rigmarole was Debbie, Detective Morgan’s sister.

Author Susan Wilkins placed her main character into a situation of helplessness where she was cast to the sidelines by her boss. Add to that was another criminal from her past as an undercover. Whew!! Morgan really had a fight on her hands to prove her sister’s innocence.

My second book by this author, I could feel Morgan’s pain in this high speed thriller with multiple plotlines all layered well. Emotions seeped through the words, causing me to get to the end at one go. Few twists peppered the book along with some blind alleys.

I am generally not fond of human trafficking, but I could get through this without stopping. The writing kept the story going smoothly until the last page. Megan and her team worked well with each other to solve the murder along with the other subplots. Overall, a good mystery. I enjoyed it.

Some thrillers pull you in emotionally with a crime relating to people, relationships, and betrayals, while others are about police corruption and criminal enterprises which pull you in with intricate details. Close To The Bone is a bit of both, but it’s mostly the latter.

It’s much bleaker in tone than most thrillers I’ve read recently with its focus on money laundering, people trafficking and organised crime. While there are elements of an unresolved mystery and character’s going through psychological torment, it’s not a crime drama that you will feel emotionally attached to. Instead, it’s an in-depth investigation that feels painfully relevant to many of today’s issues.

Keeping you engaged with a quick pace and tight plot, the book follows two stories which link together well. But I wouldn’t describe it as “edge of your seat suspense” as the cover suggests. It’s much more sophisticated than that. You can tell that Susan Wilkins is an experienced writer as she doesn’t bother with over-used thriller tropes. The suspense here is in the intelligently-researched police procedural process and the disappointment in how hard the story hits home.

Although the story isn’t particularly tense and lacks a bit of action at times, what gets under your nails is how true-to-life it feels. There are too many cases like this on the news at the minute where the human aspect is lost or forgotten, so it’s the rawness of the case that Megan is investigating that keeps you so interested.

But the trouble with a story like this is that you can’t sympathise with any of the characters because too few of them have good intentions. While there are many strong characters, it’s difficult to feel drawn to any of the people under investigation because they are all selfish and money-driven. The members of the Devon & Cornwall Police team are described well, but this second book does still feel like an introduction to most of them so it’s difficult to find someone to root for.

Megan herself, however, is really likeable. I love her straight-talking and no-nonsense approach. She’s a very relatable character who is undeniably good at her job. But her troubled past has obviously made her close up, so I feel like we’re only scratching on the surface with her character and that there’s a lot more to discover about her.

Although this is the second book it the series, it works incredibly well as a standalone book. It rounds up Megan’s past and current circumstances well and the connections are easy to follow. I didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything regarding any of the relationships, but I did want to know more about some of the characters in the closing chapters.

I enjoyed the slight hint of romance, which felt more like a mutual need to feel connected to someone than anything too romanticised, but I wanted just one more scene between Megan and Danny at the end. You could see that she is a very lonely person and that trusting somebody else was a big step for her to take, so I wanted Wilkins to leave things on a bit more of high with a hint at where their relationship will be going in a possible future instalment.

Most of all, I wanted to see inside Jim’s mindset a little more. He was obviously troubled and filled with anger, and there was obviously a balance being staged as to whether we should feel sorry for him because of his illness or dislike him because of his brutish actions and attitude. But I needed to see more of the torment going on in his mind to better understand his resentment of life. In the end, I just found him unlikeable which didn’t make me care about his actions enough.

Overall, Close To The Bone is a really well written and developed police investigation and I did really enjoy reading it, but I just wasn’t excited enough by it to give it a higher rating. Still, I’m intrigued by Megan and am certainly interested in reading the first book in the series to feel better connected to these characters.

Having very much enjoyed Buried Deep, the first in the DI Megan Thomas series, I was really looking forward to Close To The Bone and was not disappointed.  Having worked as an undercover cop in the Met, Meg has now transferred to Devon in search of a quiet life but that was never going to happen.  She now lives with her sister and family and things turn personal in a case very close to home.  The characterisation is excellent and the picture of Devon is very evocative.  I look forward to more.

A really good fast paced thriller. There is a lot to the plot and some great characters.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Detective Morgan Thomas #2

Detective Morgan Thomas's sister, Debbie has been brought in for questioning. She's the main suspect in a people trafficking ring and for the murder of Greg Porter. Debbie had worked for Greg. She had also found his body and reported it to the police. 

As the story progresses, it also uncovers: police corruption, people trafficking and organised crime. The story follows two enquiries which are eventually linked together. I was hooked from the beginning. I did guess who the perpetrator was but that doesn't spoil a book for me. Morgan is a flawed character and I prefer that to the characters all being straight laced. We also learn more of her backstory. The pace is fast and the characters were well rounded.

I would  like to thank #NetGalley, #Bookouture and the author Susan Wilkins for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is turning into a good series. Two separate cases which become one,lots of twists for our feisty detective. Fast paced and exciting.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Bookouture for an advance copy of Close to the Bone, the second novel to feature DS Megan Thomas of the Devon Police.

When local businessman Greg Porter is bludgeoned to death Megan’s sister, Debbie, quickly becomes the prime suspect. Sidelined to liaise with the NCA on a different matter Megan can only watch helplessly as her sister is pursued.

I thoroughly enjoyed Close to the Bone which is a great police procedural with a bit of everything thrown in. It is mostly told from Megan’s point of view, allowing the reader to evaluate the facts and speculate alongside her. I’ll admit to guessing the perpetrator’s identity early on but this did not help me get anywhere near the motive or guess at what caused it or what would ensue. I was gripped from start to finish. It is a tightly plotted novel with nothing wasted and where every action has a later consequence. I am in awe of the author’s ability to see what becomes a complicated plot so clearly and lucidly. 

As I said there is a bit of everything with both family and professional tension for Megan, a tragic backstory for Greg Porter’s family and some very contemporary crimes. There is even a hint of romance. There is never a dull moment.

I like Megan Thomas as a capable woman with a past. In some senses she is relatable, being divorced, single and in her 40s. She lives with her sister’s family and leads a solitary life with not much in it except swimming and her job. Many of us have been that lonely person. This is due, in the main, to the more unrelatable fact that she has PTSD due to an undercover operation that went wrong. Lonely does not mean quiet and unfeeling as she has quite a temper when she gets going and I cheered her on every time. 

Close to the Bone is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.