I’ve never read this series before but no need, it works perfectly as a standalone. I loved it as a spooky read for October but anyone who has an interest in crime thrillers will enjoy this one.

Dark and tense. A missing boy with parents denying he is gone. A gripping story to get to the stunning finale. I have read a couple of Katerina Diamond's books. They are a series but can be read alone for sure. This is a stunner.

Trick or Treat is the seventh book in the Imogen Grey and Adrian Miles series. Over this remarkable series, Katerina Diamond has keenly developed her two main characters with authentic complexity, often experiencing emotional and psychological turmoil while maintaining effective capabilities as detectives to unravel many intricate plots. I am invested in these fascinating and likeable characters and have become deeply attached to their well-being. While multiple threads are running through this story, there are two main themes: solving a crime and dealing with the raw psychological distress Adrian Miles faces following a brutal attack he suffered in the previous book Woman in the Water. Let me take a moment to state that reading the last book, at least, would be helpful before reading this one.

Marcus Carlyle is a six-year-old boy, and he is kidnapped outside his home on Halloween by two men in a white van. The only witness is Jason Hitchin, who, after being dumped by his girlfriend, decides to break into her home while her family are away on holiday and dish out some vented-up damage. Jason not only sees the kidnappers but manages to get a video recording. While he doesn’t share the video, he does let the police know anonymously that the child has been kidnapped. The information gives the police a head start before the ransom is demanded, although the case will still be complex. DS Imogen Grey runs point on the case, and she has a very early suspect. The challenge is tracking down Marcus before anything deadly happens and proving her suspicions that the suspect is responsible. The case is brilliantly worked, and this is an excellent police procedural investigation with a roller-coaster ride of suspense, certainty, anxiety, hope, panic and … the unknown.

It is a rare occurrence where a police thriller focuses so perceptively on a relationship between the protagonists. Adrian and Imogen have been in a relationship for some time, but since the last brutal assault on Adrian, he has left the police force, and he finds it impossible to reveal his vulnerability and feelings with Imogen. Adrian’s behaviour drives Imogen away, and the emotional pain from both perspectives is very delicately portrayed. The threads will come together in a race against time, and we hope the solution is the one we want.

From Katerina’s first book, it is recognisable how fearless she is in shocking the reader. None of her characters are safe, have flaws, many are highly capable, and the mix provides a diverse range of intriguing personalities and relationships. The balance between the two main themes in this novel was perfect, and the atmosphere created in both added to the enthralling storyline. For fans of Katerina Diamond, this book is one of her best, and I highly recommend it. I want to thank Avon Books and NetGalley for providing a free ARC in return for an honest review.

Trick or Treat is the seventh book in the Imogen Grey and Adrian Miles series. Over this remarkable series, Katerina Diamond has keenly developed her two main characters with authentic complexity, often experiencing emotional and psychological turmoil while maintaining effective capabilities as detectives to unravel many intricate plots. I am invested in these fascinating and likeable characters and have become deeply attached to their well-being. While multiple threads are running through this story, there are two main themes: solving a crime and dealing with the raw psychological distress Adrian Miles faces following a brutal attack he suffered in the previous book Woman in the Water. Let me take a moment to state that reading the last book, at least, would be helpful before reading this one.

Marcus Carlyle is a six-year-old boy, and he is kidnapped outside his home on Halloween by two men in a white van. The only witness is Jason Hitchin, who, after being dumped by his girlfriend, decides to break into her home while her family are away on holiday and dish out some vented-up damage. Jason not only sees the kidnappers but manages to get a video recording. While he doesn’t share the video, he does let the police know anonymously that the child has been kidnapped. The information gives the police a head start before the ransom is demanded, although the case will still be complex. DS Imogen Grey runs point on the case, and she has a very early suspect. The challenge is tracking down Marcus before anything deadly happens and proving her suspicions that the suspect is responsible. The case is brilliantly worked, and this is an excellent police procedural investigation with a roller-coaster ride of suspense, certainty, anxiety, hope, panic and … the unknown.

It is a rare occurrence where a police thriller focuses so perceptively on a relationship between the protagonists. Adrian and Imogen have been in a relationship for some time, but since the last brutal assault on Adrian, he has left the police force, and he finds it impossible to reveal his vulnerability and feelings with Imogen. Adrian’s behaviour drives Imogen away, and the emotional pain from both perspectives is very delicately portrayed. The threads will come together in a race against time, and we hope the solution is the one we want.

From Katerina’s first book, it is recognisable how fearless she is in shocking the reader. None of her characters are safe, have flaws, many are highly capable, and the mix provides a diverse range of intriguing personalities and relationships. The balance between the two main themes in this novel was perfect, and the atmosphere created in both added to the enthralling storyline. For fans of Katerina Diamond, this book is one of her best, and I highly recommend it. I want to thank Avon Books and NetGalley for providing a free ARC in return for an honest review.

Another gripping and highly entertaining book in this series, an excellent police procedural featuring complex and fleshed out characters.
I was hooked since the first pages and the story kept me on the edge till the end.
Secrets, faulted and damaged characters, a solid mystery full of twists and turn that kept me guessing.
Can't wait for the next story.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A fabulous crime thriller, that held my suspense throughout. Thrilling, lots of twits and turns. Simply wonderful.

Trick or Treat by Katerina Diamond is book 7 in the Detective Imogen Grey series but reads well as a standalone.

Not really Halloween related beyond when the book begins, but a gripping read, packed with twists and cleverly interwoven stories.

Finally, if you’re looking for a book to read this Halloween that is connected to the season but only tenuously, then Trick or Treat by Katerina Diamond might be perfect for you. This detective thriller is the seventh book in the DS Imogen Grey series, but I was able to leap straight in without having read any of the previous books. It is initially set on Halloween, hence the title, but the holiday plays no part in the story as a whole.

On Halloween, six-year-old Marcus is kidnapped from the street outside his home and his mother receives a phone call demanding a ransom and no police involvement. Unfortunately for the kidnappers, the crime was witnessed by a teenage boy who had broken into his ex-girlfriend’s house to trash it and who anonymously reports the event. Soon, Detective Imogen Grey is on the scene, and she immediately suspects that there might be more to Marcus’ family than immediately meets the eye.

As she investigates, Imogen’s boyfriend and former colleague Adrian is wrestling with his own demons as he suffers through PTSD stemming from a sexual assault several months before. Personally investigating the crime he couldn’t bear to report, Adrian’s investigation begins to connect to Imogen’s causing conflict and confusion. Can Imogen find Marcus in time and will Adrian find the strength to share what happened with those close to him?

Trick or Treat could have been a fairly standard police procedural novel but managed to avoid this through its multiple interconnected plot lines and the well-developed characters who populate them. There’s Jason the teenage witness from a broken home who is desperate to avoid following his deadbeat dad and older brother into prison, Imogen who feels increasingly shut out from her own relationship and guilty for noticing that she’s starting to look elsewhere, and Adrian who is dealing not only with PTSD from his attack but lingering feelings of guilt for not fighting back, not to mention multiple side characters who all came across as having their own unique backstories—almost no one here felt two-dimensional.

The actual core plot of the book was a little predictable, but I felt this was done intentionally. The heart of this story was never about who took Marcus but rather why, and although even this part appears obvious on the surface, it leads into an impressively well-thought-out plot with a central antagonist who is both cunning and heartless. However, it was Adrian’s story that was the most compelling part of the book for me. It is rare to come across male rape victims in fiction, and also rare to see the after-effects of rape portrayed with such honesty. Adrian suffers from panic attacks and anxiety as well as PTSD, but these are compounded by his gender and former career in the police. He feels that someone like him should never have “allowed” the attack to happen and thus feels guilty and responsible for it. He struggles to attend therapy because doing so would force him to admit what happened, and even allows himself to take on punishments that could have been avoided by telling the truth. The rape affects not only his mental health but his physical health, relationships, and career. It is not something that happens one week and can be forgotten about the next, as often seems to happen to victims on television.

Despite not generally being a fan of the detective genre, Trick or Treat convinced me to give it a try more often, and I may well start that by reading more of the DS Imogen Grey series.

I found it a little hard to get into this book, it wasn't what I was expecting from the title and cover. An enjoyable read, however, and one that fans of the series will love. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read.

TRICK OR TREAT?
When six-year-old Marcus is taken from outside his house on Halloween it shakes his quiet neighbourhood to the core.
Everyone was ready for a night of trick-or-treating. Now the unthinkable has happened.
TRUTH OR LIES?
As Detective Imogen Grey arrives to question Marcus’s parents, they tell her there has been a mistake. Their son is just fine.
But if that’s true, where is Marcus?
INNOCENT OR GUILTY?
Imogen becomes locked in a race against time to find the missing child and uncover the truth. Can she discover what’s happened to Marcus before it’s too late?

This is a wonderful addition to this thrilling series!
Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start.
Love the well fleshed out characters and found them believable.
Great suspense and action with wonderful world building that adds so much to the story.
Such a thrilling read that I couldn't put it down.
Can't wait to read more of these.
Recommend reading.

I was provided an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher. This is my own honest voluntary review.

I didnt realise this was part of a series until I started reading it, while it read ok as a stand alone I kind of felt like I was missing things with the main characters. I picked this book mainly because of the title and cover, its coming up for Halloween so I wanted something spooky and twisty. There are multiple events in this book that hit the twisty part on the head however it is more detective story than crappy tale. That said over all I enjoyed it and will be starting from the beginning to get the best out of the characters

When a child is kidnapped it is up to Imogen Grey to find the clues that will lead them to a safe return. Along the way many other situations occur that somehow all link to the case. Adrian must come to terms with his assault and find a way to share his experience with Imogen if he wants to keep his relationship. The team really rallies together to catch the bad guy and learn to trust each other. I recommend this book to those who like good novels with a twist.

It’s Halloween when 6 year old Marcus is taken from outside his house, witnessed only by a frightened teenager who keeps himself hidden.
Following an anonymous tip off Detective Imogen Grey visits Marcus’s house where his parents insist everything is fine. Imogen is sure something isn’t quite right but things are much worse than she could have imagined...
Once again following Imogen as her and her team try to get to the bottom of Marcus’s abduction and return him to safety. We delve into the search for Marcus and read more about Imogen and her partner Adrian as they struggle to repair their relationship.
This is the 7th in the Imogen Grey series and although best read in order could also be read as a stand-alone..
Told mostly from Imogen’s perspective, with a bit of Adrian and other characters thrown in, this book is broken down into easy to read chapters making it easy to pick up and put down, although the cliffhangers at the end of some of these do make you want to read just one more each time you reach the end.
I found this an easy to read, enjoyable book

Its Halloween morning and while everyone else in the neighbourhood is getting ready to go trick or treating that evening, Jason has decided to tackle dome demons of his own. His girlfriend has just broken up with him, and he has decided that while she and her family are away on a cruise, he is going to break into her house and mess it up a little; maybe take back a couple of the trinkets and gifts he has bought her over the past months. Unfortunately, while Jason is illegally in his now ex-girlfriend’s house, he looks out the window and witnesses the kidnapping of a young boy on the street just outside. He quickly whips out his phone and takes a photo of the kidnappers and calls the police, but disappears before the police can question him.

As it happens, the kidnapped boy is Marcus Carlyle, who lives with his parents Sara and Peter across the street. When Sara receives a ransom call and threats to not involve the police, she doesn’t know that someone has already called them, so when DS Imogen Grey arrives on Sara’s doorstep, she is flummoxed and tries to keep the story quiet. Imogen knows something is up, and when she finally gets Sara to confide in her, Imogen starts to unravel a plot so twisty and full of sinister happenings that it could very well be a true Halloween horror story.

“Trick or Treat” by Katerina Diamond was definitely full of action, and there was a compelling mystery at the heart of the book. Unfortunately, I feel like the very fact that the book had so much going on was why it felt like it dragged too much at times. I thought that there were too many side stories and too much happening around the main mystery, which led to me ultimately feeling like the book was wandering off in too many different directions. By the end of the book, when the loose ends were being tied together, I felt that everything was being brought together too neatly, and I thought that a tighter focus on the main investigation with one sub-investigation would probably have been enough. As it stood, I think this book tried to focus on too many characters, and ultimately felt spread too thin as a result.

I recognize that this book is the 7th in a series, and so perhaps it’s unfair to say that there were too many characters. In a series that is long-standing like this, one does start to form relationships and attachments to a number of characters, and you want to know what happens to them all. I just thought that there was too much happening with too many people, and the book would have benefitted from a tightening and paring down of storylines.

That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy the book. I thought the story was engaging and I was interested in it. I think there were some interesting topics tackled, and I think the ending of the book was twisty enough to be satisfying (although I did see the twist coming a while before it happened). The book ends on a cliffhanger ready for another book in the series, but I do think that this can be read as a standalone. There are a couple of references to past cases and past books, but not in such a way that you can’t follow the story. I think Diamond painted a fairly human cast of characters, and really tried to flesh them out emotionally, although at times I felt like there was a bit too much wallowing in thoughts, and it may have edged towards “telling” and not “showing”.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and thought it was engaging and intriguing enough to keep me reading. The points where the story drags a little are short enough that you can power through them quickly, and I think that ultimately, this is an enjoyable crime fiction novel that will satisfy someone looking for a police procedural novel with a bit more character focus.

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon for the ARC in exchange for a review.

Fast paced, thrilling and suspenseful book. The characters were complex and amazingly written. This was the first book I have read by this author though I have many on my TBR list. I was not disappointed and will definitely be seeking out other books by her to read.

Well, I really enjoyed this one.

True there are a few moments that defy logic. You can expect to be in a little bit of disbelief when it comes to character behavior - but also, you probably won't care because you're that into finding out exactly what is going on.

I love that I was surprised by the reason behind everything, and I liked our sub plot - that was heart rending!

I'll happily read the author again.

*ARC via Net Galley

If you are a fan of true crime, this one is for you! This is dark and intense and not for the faint of heart, only because it involves a child being kidnapped. It's twisty and thrilling which is everything I want for an October read. It's written so well, I need to go back and read the other books in this series! I'm not usually a fan of detective series because I feel like I miss out on key facts if I haven't read the other books, but this works really well without having done as such. This one had me biting my nails all the way up to the end. This comes highly recommended!

Wow!! What a book.

This is one hell of a twisty read that will keep you guessing quite literally until the very last sentence when the author kinda just gives you the answer to the question you have been waiting for since page 1 and then it’s case closed leaving you reeling for more.

It’s not often I read a book that has a cliffhanger ending but I kinda like it, it’s a good move because once you have closed the book you still can not stop thinking about those characters.

This is actually the first book I have read in this police procedure series so I didn’t really find a great connection to many of the characters, but I have to say my favourites were Adrian - who I felt incredibly sorry for and Dean - now this guy kinda stole the show for me.

Thanks to Netgalley for the Arc. I got this based on title and cover alone. Not knowing it was a part of a series. Thankfully it flowed as a single title and I didn’t feel I was missing much. I had a hard time connecting with the book. It wasn’t bad but wasn’t good. I seemed to get characters’ names confused except Imogene and Adrian. Seemed to drag a lot

One of my favourite police procedural series; the characters are great, there's always an interesting plot with lots of twists and it's set in Devon.
This is the probably the best one yet, there's a lot of tension and ongoing trauma from the previous books. There's a great main plot about a young child being kidnapped and there are some fascinating criminal elements.