This is a thriller full of twists and turns
The cases are complex. The characters are well developed
This is the first in a new series

A good start to a new series. This book has it all-murder, drugs, people trafficking and kidnapping. I look forward to the next book in the series.
Thank you Netgalley and Joffre Books for giving me the opportunity to give my unbiased opinion.

First one in a new series, but left me a little unsure.

I've read some of Helen's other series and loved them, but this one ...!

Good story line, liked the characters, and would like to read the next one as there was a bit of a cliffhanger!

Deducted a star as I'm not sure but that is my opinion only.

First book in a new series and what a corker ! A great read that was left on a great cliffhanger and waiting for the next one to see where it goes !

The Guilty Man Helen Durrant
This one didn't do it for me unfortunately, it didn't grab my attention, so its a dnf

The Guilty Man by Helen H. Durrant is the first in the Detectives Lennox & Wilde series.

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Joffe Books, and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.


Series Information:
DI Harry Lennox and DS Jess Wilde are detectives in Ryebridge in Northern England.  They have been working together for the last couple of years, and seem to get along well, but Harry's past is a mystery.  We know his is from Scotland.  Harry just broke up with his girlfriend, and living in a friend's driveway in a camper van.  Jess is living with her parents, but saving for a house of her own.  Their boss is Superintendent Roderick Croft.


My Synopsis:   (No major reveals, but if concerned, skip to My Opinions)
3 year old Lucy Green has shown up in a park, after being missing for 5 weeks.  She seems to be in better shape now than when she lived with her rather uncaring mother.  The suspect who confessed to killing her is in custody.

Caroline Sutton appears at the precinct to say her husband Nick was missing.  Nick is responsible for half of the crime in the area, mainly drug dealing.  Caroline specifically asks for Harry, even though she had recently charged him with bullying when he tried to get her to turn her husband in.  The main suspect in Nick's disappearance is his rival Andy Marsh.  There could be a turf war brewing.  However, there seems to be a new player in town.

Meanwhile,   Harry is hiding a past that not even his partner knows about, and it's about to explode.


My Opinions:   
This was a really interesting start to a new series, but it may take me a little to get into it.

A couple of things were dropped, for instance what happened to the man who said he killed Lucy?

The characters....not so sure about them.  I definitely disliked Harry, who is living like a slob, drinking too much, and hiding his past.  Jess didn't fair too much better in my mind, as she was constantly complaining about Harry and his personal habits.  While both may be justified in their actions (in their own minds),  the secrets and the nit-picking got annoying.

The actual plot was quite good, and there were a number of twists, although I had anticipated most of them.

It was definitely a fast and entertaining read, and I will be reading the next (which I already have).

The Guilty Man by Helen H Durant
This is the first book in the Harry Lennox Series.
Harry moves to the small town of Ryebridge but his past keeps following him. He’s a great detective but is he who he says he is.
Harry and his team are on the trail of a smuggling gang.

Thank you Net Galley. A wonderful, new series from Ms. Durrant. I enjoyed the book very much and look forward to reading more.

This is the first book in a new series featuring Detective Harry Lennox and DI Jess Wilde. This book covers kidnapping, people trafficking and murder. Harry and Jess are called out as the police find a 3 year old girl Lucy Green, wandering barefoot in the park. She has been missing for a few weeks and a man has confessed to her kidnapping and killing before he was attacked in,prison. The book opens with a man, Nick Sutton, a well known criminal, being tortured and having his hand amputated. His wife Caroline, turns up at the police station to report him missing. Harry and Jess soon realise that they have a turf war to deal with as Andy Marsh, Nick’s arch rival is also missing. What has happened to both these men? We learn that Harry as a past that he wants to keep secret especially from Jess. I found this an OK read but I didn’t really take to the main characters but will read the next book in the series and hope it improves.
Thanks to Netgalley and Joffe Books for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

The Guilty Man is fast paced crime novel that keeps you guessing throughout. Harry and Jess become involved in a dangerous people trafficking investigation while trying to solve the strange reappearance of a child who was abducted weeks ago.
This book feels like the start of a series involving the same characters, and I did think it kept a little too much back in this particular novel. A great read for fans of thrillers with twists and turns.

I was hooked from the beginning to the end. Thanks for the advanced copy. Can't wait to read more by Helen H Durant

A brilliant read! My first from this author and looking at her back catalogue I can see how much I have missed and will definitely be on the lookout for them. I foundcthe writing flowed effortlessly and the characters all sparkled with personality. A gritty storyline told fantastically.

The Guilty Man by Helen H. Durrant was another excellent read. I have enjoyed reading all Helen's books. Helen has a great way of starting her books that will have you hooked within the first few pages.
The Guilty Man is the first instalment in Helen's new series, which is set in a rundown town of Ryebridge, Northern England, featuring DI Harry Lennox and DS Jess Wilde and it did not disappoint, I loved it.
I enjoyed reading and learning more about DI Harry Lennox and DS Jess Wilde and these are great new characters within this new series. I am looking forward reading the next book.......

I highly recommend all Helen's books. They have all been an excellent read.

Big Thank-you to Netgalley and Joffe books for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review

Another great book by Helen Durrant . This is the first in the D I Lennox series and what a great start. The story line was gripping and made you want to keep on reading which made it hard to put down . I really liked the characters and the way the story flowed . A great police drama and I can't wait for the next in the series .

THE GUILTY MAN is the first book in a new crime fiction series, (DI Harry Lennox/DS Jess Wilde #1 by best-selling author Helen H. Durrant. Having enjoyed her other series, I was looking forward to starting this new series.

ALSO BY HELEN H. DURRANT
RACHEL KING
Book 1: Next Victim (2019)
Book 2: Two Victims (2019)
Book 3: Wrong Victim (2019)
Book 4: Forgotten Victim (2020)

THE CALLADINE & BAYLISS MYSTERY SERIES
Book 1: DEAD WRONG (2015)
Book 2: DEAD SILENT (2015)
Book 3: DEAD LIST (2015)
Book 4: DEAD LOST (2016)
Book 5: DEAD & BURIED (2016)
Book 6: DEAD NASTY (2016)
Book 7: DEAD JEALOUS (2017)
Book 8: DEAD BAD (2018)
Book 9: DEAD GUILTY (2019)
Book 10: DEAD WICKED (2020)

THE DCI GRECO BOOKS
Book 1: DARK MURDER (2015)
Book 2: DARK HOUSES (2016)
Book 3: DARK TRADE (2017)
Book 4: DARK ANGEL (2018)

THE DETECTIVES
DI HARRY LENNOX began his career in Glasgow, but due to a traumatic incident, transferred to West Yorkshire and then Ryebridge. Harry is single, thirty-five and has a chaotic lifestyle. Currently living on a mate’s drive in a campervan. This is down to his girlfriend throwing him out. Harry’s life is a mess…he is living in a beat-up camper van, little facilities and drunk most nights, and had split up with his partner a month ago.

DS JESS WILDE is thirty and still lives with her parents. She is unattached and keen to progress in her career. She gets on well with Harry. He doesn’t have much time for protocol, and this suits her. She is critical of how he lives. She is about to buy her first property locally.

Detective Harry Lennox and DS Jess Wilde are currently assigned to a case of a missing three- year- old child. But the little girl, thought to be dead, turns up alive in the park.

Another case involves a tortured victim by a ruthless criminal. The victim’s severed hand is left on his wife’s doorstep.

Could both these cases be connected?

This is a fast-paced murder mystery with an array of well-developed characters and possible suspects. The novel centers around a missing child, human-trafficking and drug cartels. A great beginning to a promising series.

Many thanks to the author, Joffe Books and Netgalley for my digital copy.

The Guilty Man by Helen Durrant is the first book which I have read by this author and by no means shall be the last. I enjoyed the dynamic of male and female detective partners and how you swiftly are taken into the story. I quickly became engaged with the characters and the storyline took many twists and turns pleasantly leaving me uncertain, and hanging at the end of each chapter, determined to read more. I did accurately predict the ending. I appreciate Durrant's no nonsense style of writing, descriptive where needed however entirely focussed on telling the events in an active manner so as to feel you're living them as they play out. Will be sure to purchase the second in this series. Many thanks to Helen Durrant, Joffe Books and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

The Guilty Man is the first instalment in Helen H. Durrant's new series set in the rundown town of Ryebridge, Northern England, featuring DI Harry Lennox and DS Jess Wilde. I always love to read any crime series from the first book and this one has definitely started with a bang.

Toddler Lucy Green has been found in Cheetham Park dishevelled, shoeless but unharmed, having been missing for several weeks. The three-year-old's mum, Kelsey Green, is a drug addict who doesn't seem concerned about her daughter's safety. Albert Sykes, now in hospital, had confessed to both kidnapping and killing Lucy before he was attacked in prison, so questions need to be asked before Lucy can return home. Jess and Harry are also assigned the case of Nick Sutton, a notorious criminal, who is reported missing by his wife, Caroline, and when his arch-enemy, Andy Marsh, also goes awol, the police are baffled by this dual disappearing act.

Kidnapping, people trafficking, murder and drug addiction all have a place in The Guilty Man. It was an absorbing and riveting read with a plot that gripped me. Although the pacing was something of slow amble at the start as characters were introduced, it soon picked up and I was then racing along to find out what would be occurring next. It was a terrifying and chilling police procedural with multiple storylines that were equally engrossing. With many twists I didn't see coming, I was regularly caught off-guard. Helen H. Durrant has taken time to create her deep and complex main characters and I was rooting for them all the way. A good, menacing, tension-filled story with a cracking unexpected ending, I can't wait to see what treats will be in store when book two is released. I'm very much looking forward to seeing Lennox and Wilde evolve and mature. Very highly recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley, Joffe books and the author, Helen H. Durrant for the complimentary advanced copy. This is my honest and totally voluntary review.

A gritty story involving murder,drugs,kidnapping and people trafficking. The main detective is struggling with his own problems but he has a trusty sidekick to rely on. A good read.

The Guilty Man by Helen Durant

I must say that I am familiar with Durrant’s books as I have read others in her series with Rachael King. I really enjoyed the fact that they can be read as a stand alone book or together is the reader so chooses. I found this one to be a little different than the others. This one started off pretty slow and the characters were hard to understand at times with so many things going on at one time. You have a severed hand left at the owners wife’s house, there is a missing child although found alive, the mother was not at all concerned. The main protagonist is Detective Harry Lennox who himself has many issues that seem to take over most of what the reader learns about him such as his alcohol abuse and the fact that he was kicked out of his home and now resides in a camper in the yard of a friend of his. It all does come together but not with a spectacular ending as stated in the blurb. I was somewhat disappointed after reading this one. I wanted to read another of Durrant’s books after finishing the last in the series that I was reading so when I saw this one, I requested it immediately. I will say that there are some really good twists just not what you would expect from a writer who hits it out of the Park in other books.


Thank you to netgalley as well as the author/publisher for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

My Thanks to NetGalley and publisher Joffe Books for the e-copy.
This book has a really good plot and the strands of it only come together in a twisty ending.

DI Harry Lennox, a Scot, transferred from West Yorkshire into a small Northern town of Ryebridge where he's partnered with DS Jess Wilde. His girlfriend Anthea has thrown him out and he's living in a camper van on his friend Don's driveway - engaging in late nights and drinking too much; Harry has a past he's not prepared to reveal.
They've been investigating the disappearance of Lucy Green, a 3yr-old girl, missing for 5 weeks, when she suddenly reappears in the park from where she had been abducted and was found wearing expensive clothes. Notwithstanding the fact that they have a man in custody who confessed to her killing.
The mother, Kelsey, a drug addict living on the notorious Baxendale Estate, is only focussed on selling her story to the newspapers for drug money.
Nick Sutton and Andy Marsh have, so far, peacefully divided-up the area's lucrative criminal activities, laundering their money through legitimate businesses - Nick owns car dealerships and houses on the Baxendale whilst Andy has a down-market clothing factory.
Nick is reported missing and his severed hand is sent to his home. Kelsey Green, as with other tenants on the Baxendale, is offered free, but deadly, drugs by a foreigner. Andy is also found to be missing.
What's going on? There's a "new kid on the block".
We enter the world of organised crime, people trafficking and ruthlessness. Harry begins to think he knows who is behind it all - a villain from his past, but is he right - will his secret be uncovered?

OK, so this is all good. However - the portrayed relationship between Harry and Jess was just, well, unbelievable, and I was tempted to DNF this book before half-way through. Jess has a totally inappropriate attitude and use of language towards her boss - it's not humorous, teasing, nor supportive; she's constantly and repetitively nagging him to reveal his past, telling him how he should approach situations and questioning his actions and style of living, let alone displaying disloyalty as she attempts to wheedle out Harry's past from one of his ex-colleagues.
This just didn't work for me. Additionally, the dialogue between Harry and the foreign female villain of the piece is stereotypically over-played to the point of being farcical.

Others have obviously enjoyed this book, unfortunately I was rather annoyed by it.
Anyway, no harm in trying it if you like the sound of the plot.