Cover Image: FEAR ON THE FENS

FEAR ON THE FENS

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Member Reviews

Joy Ellis is one of my favourite authors and I love this series. Another great read, love Nicki and Joseph and their relationship and how they connect with the other main characters in each book. Another fast paced read, that left me guessing right up until the end.

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D.I Nikki Galena and her partner D.S Joseph Easter have been pitted against all manner of adversary but this case leaves them feeling defeated from the start. Not only are they dealing with mental illness but they are being hampered in their attempts to track down a particularly vicious killer by agents from a nameless government agency.
This book captures the imagination from page one and continues to thrill the reader as the story progresses. No-one can be trusted and everytime you think you haved figure out what is going on there is another twist leading to a jaw-dropping conclusion.
This book can be read as a stand-alone but it will be all the more enjoyable if you start this fantastic series with book one. I highly recommend it.

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A Gruesome Discovery…
The thirteenth in the DI Nikki Gallena series finds the Detective with a gruesome and disturbing discovery. When links to the past come to light the mystery deepens. Once again, an immersive and enjoyable storyline with a likeable protagonist and a colourful cast of supporting characters. A solid entry in this long running and engaging series.

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Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. Another great read from this author, her characters are so believable and it is a book you get thoroughly engrossed it. I really liked it.

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DI Nikki Galena #13

Now: In the beautiful gardens of Shelly House a shocking discovery is made. A blackened hand dangles over the side of a wheelbarrow. Detectives Nikki Galena and Joseph Easter are called in to investigate.

Twenty years ago: A family's destroyed by tragic secrets. The scientist father who killed their gardener, before be murdered himself. The brother who disappeared, never to be seen again. Nikki and Joseph must find the man who's been missing for two decades.

A man has been found brutally slaughtered beside a tree in an arboretum. DI Nikki Galena and her team are investigating.

This story spans over two decades and a dysfunctional family. We know who the perpetrator is and we get an insight into the reasons for his actions. There's plenty of twists in this story. I like the relationship that Nikki and Joseph share. This is an interesting and slightly different plotline to the normal police procedurals.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #JoffeBooks and the author #JoyEllis for my ARC of #FearOnTheFens in exchange for an honest review.

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Superb! A strange case takes DI Nikki Galena and her team to the edge of reality. Not sure where the truth lies and with unexpected restrictions on what they can actually investigate the team slowly unravel the deeply disturbing truth. A shocking and unnerving story.

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This is the 13th in the Fens series which I can relate to as I live in the Fens, this one is when DI Nikki Galena and team are sent to a local arboretum with beautiful gardens and landscape to find a burnt body in a wheelbarrow. Where to start as it soon turns out there is yet another murder and one young lad a bit of a trouble maker on all accounts gets let off lightly so it seems and turns out they are looking for a lad that worked at the arboretum and has since left and he was into nature and trees plants etc in a big way even a college degree, and a brother that is desperate to find him as he had been missing since the age on 13yrs, is he still really alive and well and where has he been? A Mr Hackett has turned up at the police headquarters and is taken a rather torrid look at all the preceding going on looks a bit like the intelligence service has their nose in it, and Harry brother of the missing lad eager to find him only the tale he spins makes his brother sound mental perhaps he is apparently he is in tune with the faeries etc, which can make him very dangerous as whoever destroys plants and living organisms he will destroy you.
Different from the normal Fens novels the usual crew is at the ready to detect and the characters are well thought out makes the reader feel as if you know them intimately.
I would like to thank Netgalley & Joffe books for a copy to read and here's my honest and personal review.

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This is a nice pacey read. A man has been found horrifically slaughtered on the site of a burnt tree in an arboretum. It is quickly established, with the help of his brother, who is responsible for the killing. DI Galena and her team start to work on the case and are quickly hobbled by the arrival at the station of Mr Hackett from the intelligence services. Is there a lot more to this case than meets the eye? Prepare yourself for a rollercoaster!
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Another excellent book by Joy Ellis featuring Detective Nicky Gallena and Joseph Easter who are sent to investigate a murder in the gardens of Shelley House. This leads the reader to a family of secrets and the killing of a scientist's gardener twenty years ago.

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I would like to thank Netgalley and Joffe for an advance copy of Fear on the Fens, the thirteenth novel to feature DI Nikki Galena and her partner DS Joseph Easter set in the fictional Fenland town of Greenborough.

A burnt body left in a wheelbarrow on a country estate gives Nikki her first clue that she is hunting a pitiless killer. What it doesn’t tell her is that she is embarking on the most difficult case of her career, trying to excavate the history of a troubled family while negotiating the parameters imposed by the security services.

I thoroughly enjoyed Fear on the Fens, which is an engrossing tale of secrets and lies and not only on the perpetrator’s part. This is a different novel from its predecessors, because it’s not a hunt for the identity of the killer, which is established early in the novel, but more a search for him and an understanding of why he has become a killer. Obviously there is a lot more to it with the security services involved, but if I told you I’d have to kill you.

I guessed one of the main mysteries early on in the novel, but that didn’t spoil my enjoyment of the novel in the slightest as there are so many threads I didn’t guess and the author keeps it fresh with twists and developments, none of which I foresaw. I was impressed by her easy command of the narrative, although some of the subject matter is straight out of the conspiracy theory manual. I am interested in them, not saying I believe them, so I could recognise many of the allusions and while the premise of one plot angle seems far fetched, it’s not beyond the realms of possibility because the background to it is real. I think it will depend on the reader and how far they can push their credulity. Still, it adds to the fun and games of a novel I found hard to put down.

Fear on the Fens is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

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Once again a good read from Joy Ellis. It was a little far fetched but nonetheless once I got into it I couldn’t put it down. I like the characters in the Nikki Galena series and look forward to the next one.

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Another brilliant instalment from Joy Ellis with her Nikki Galena, this one was a little different as they chase down a killer who lives in a fantasy world of woodland spirits but Nikki and her team have their hands tied by the secret service who will not let them release any information about their presumed suspect. As always the story flowed really well and I love the dynamics between Nikki and her team. As always I look forward to the next instalment.

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My thanks to Joffe books, Joy Ellis and Netgalley.
I found this to be slightly different than most of Ms. Eliss's.books.
Everything that I expect in an Ellis book was there, but this story had a sad side to it. It ended up with me.thinking too much of how.things were felt.
It was a good story. But, I was sidetracked.with the feelings of others. I did enjoy the book, but the feels were too much.

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Number 13 in the Nikki Galena series and another belter of a read
The characters and the subplots continue to develop brilliantly, it’s amazing to witness the change in Nikki since the first book and the developments of the relationships of all the characters. I particularly enjoy the crossover of characters from the other series set in the Fens too.
Really unique main plot this time, none of the usual murder plots that seem to plague police procedurals here. A great ending too that promises to make number 14 all the more interesting

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This is the latest in the DI Nikki Galena series and the best so far of this excellent series. The main protagonist is a truly haunting character with an unusual gift. The plot twists and turns as the team try to unravel the web of misdirection they find themselves drawn into, whilst also being restricted in the investigation by a dark presence from national security watching their every move. Highly recommended.

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Wow what a fantastic read, I loved this book. Joy Ellis at her best! Kept me engaged and captivated right the way through, it was a real page turner that I found hard to put down. Excellent book, worthy of 5 stars

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This is new territory for DI Nikki Galena and her team at Greenborough when a man turns up looking for his brother who disappeared over a decade before. It appears that the security services are also taking more than a passing interest in this man and his family too. So when the strange murders start happening everyone sees the urgency in capturing the killer to prevent further deaths but finding the truth is hard when every turn seems to be blocked.
A good read which leads in different directions and not until the end reveals the whole story. Definitely worth a read.

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My thanks to NetGalley and Joffe Books for an advance copy of this book.

Can’t believe this is book 13 in the series, it is fantastic to read how much Nikki has developed from book 1. She was a real loner, one-woman crime fighter, but now she has become a true team player. She is not the only one, all of the characters have been developed over the series.

To me this could be the best one so far, one of the most horrific. Not for the faint hearted. Very difficult to put down, the pace and twists , keep you hooked with the exceptionally strong, and balanced characters.

I highly recommend this book (and the whole series) to anyone who likes a strong police procedural series and is not too worried about reading some horrific murders.

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Nikki Galena is back and this time, she’s got a doozy of a case. “CIA psychic spies and bloody fairies. It’s like the X-Files meets Tinker Bell around here. Whatever happened to good old bumping someone off to get their money?” A young man with Fantasy Prone Personality Disorder is thought to have set a young hoodlum on fire after he harmed a tree. Then, a second man is brutally murdered after he attempts to cut down a tree.
It’s been so wonderful to see Nikki’s transformation from the initial book. She’s gone from a loner to a true team player. As Nikki says more than once during the book, “Oh, hell! I really am getting soft in my old age.” And she does have a great team, starting with Joseph, her sergeant and her partner.
There’s a great sense of tension to this book and the book is aptly named. It was an interesting plot line to know the killer but for there to be all sorts of other questions and roadblocks thrown in their way. The team is prohibited from looking into the father’s background, in a sort of “he who must not be named” kind of way. <spoiler> Although, I wasn’t sure I could believe that MI5 (or whoever) would prohibit putting out a picture of a suspected murderer who was actively killing folks. </spoiler>
I recommend this book (and series) to everyone that likes strong police procedurals that feature strong, balanced characters. The book flows at a nice pace with enough twists to keep the reader engaged.
My thanks to NetGalley and Joffre Books for an advance copy of this book.

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Fear on the Fens, by Joy Ellis, is another great read. This murder mystery kept me hooked from beginning to end and what an ending! I was able to almost guess at one of the main twists but I was absolutely floored by the last one. I also enjoyed getting to "know" most of the main characters even the opinionated DI Galena.
A terrifying discovery is made n the peaceful gardens at Shelley House. A charred hand hangs over the side of an old wheelbarrow.
Detectives Nikki Galena and Joseph Easter are called in to investigate the gruesome murder
What they don't realize is that this murder is related to twenty plus year old family secrets. There's the father, a scientist, that murdered their gardener and was then, murdered himself. Then there's the brother who vanished an was never seen again.
Nikki and Joseph are determined to find the brother who’s been missing for twenty years and to discover the past of this broken family before one more person is murdered.

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