Trick or Treat by Katerina Diamond Narrated by: Stevie Lacey this book is the seventh in the superb Detective Imogen Grey series and it did not disappoint. A six year old boy called Marcus is playing out in the street on his bike where he lives and is snatched by a stranger, The only person who has witnesses this abduction is a teenage boy who is frightened and determined to keep himself hidden and phones the Police anonymously.
When Detective Imogen Grey is called out to an expensive Exeter street, to visit the child’s house, Marcus's parents deny that their son has been taken. They act as if nothing has happened to him!

OMG!!! Why!!! I know I would be in bits!!!!

What has happened too little Marcus?

Where is he?

Will Detective Imogen Grey and her team find Marcus in time?

This latest book by Katerina Diamond is full of brilliant twists and turns throughout and will have you hooked from the beginning till the end. This series has been a 5 star read. I have loved this and looking forward to the next book in the Detective Imogen Grey series.

I highly recommend this book!

Big Thank you to NetGalley, Avon Books UK and the author Katerina Diamond for my ARC of Trick Or Treat in exchange for an honest

Marcus, a six-year-old boy, is kidnapped by men in a van outside his house. Unfortunately the only witness, Jason, is also acting unlawfully at the time and therefore can only make an anonymous call to the police. DS Imogen Grey is put on the case and in time the parents receive a ransom demand. The drop goes wrong and the detectives fear that the boy may never be found. Meanwhile Imogen’s boyfriend Adrian, formerly DS Miles, is going through a torment of his own after being abducted by two men and subjected to a lengthy and brutal rape some months ago. He is unable to confide in Imogen and turns to using his new job in a security company to try to trace his attackers. The two investigations collide and Adrian finds himself on the wrong side of the law. Will Imogen and her newest recruit DC Walsh, a very likeable and insightful detective, find the boy, catch the kidnappers and save Adrian as the case opens up into something bigger and more shocking than they could ever imagine?
Featuring a very easy to listen to narrator, this is a brilliant addition to the series, featuring some great and well-drawn characters. Adrian’s story is particularly well told with a good deal of sensitivity, and with things looking up at the end of the book, I am eagerly awaiting the next story.

The plot was good. Fast paced. Never quite sure which way the book was going to go next. Mix of characters. The book was well written. Audiobook was a great addition ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Love this author
And she didn’t disappoint with this book
An absolute page turner
Love Detective Imogen grey and her team
This series is fantastic
The narrator is very good too
Thanks NetGalley

Thank you Netgally for sending the Audio ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review

This is the first book of the author that I read and this one is the book 7 of the series D.S. Imogen Grey so I wasn’t familiar with the characters at all but that wasn’t a problem We get more that enough background to understand their relationships, a bit too much in my opinion, mostly because I felt the actual crime story was push to the background halfway the book.

I was hooked at the beginning of the story after the kidnap of the boy, and all the detail that was given and the witness’ conflicts, but then the personal life of the detectives got on the way and the main plot was gone and was resolved quickly leaving a lot inconsistencies that made the investigation very poor and made me want to quit the book as I didn’t care about the personal life of Imogen Grey.
Maybe im not necessarily the target Audi we for the book or this kind of police/romance type series.
The narrator was absolutely brilliant helping the listener get into the story and she manage to change characters smoothly enough so you don’t get confused or lost amongst all of the characters and information.

I initially wanted to read this book because I thought it was going to be a good Halloween thriller. Admittedly, I didn’t read the blurb and based this solely on the front cover. I don’t remember there being any link to Halloween at all in the book. I’m sure I’m wrong but, based on the title, I thought it would be mentioned more often or, often enough that I’d at least remember.

That said, I enjoyed the book and didn’t find it hard to follow (I haven’t read any of the others in the series). The story was mostly focused on the main character’s boyfriend and not so much on the actual crime - a missing boy. I did like Imogen, the main character, and had I not read this book and therefore read the conclusion to something that had happened to her boyfriend previously, I would’ve gone back and read some of the others in the series.

I’d recommend for a quick read/good narrator.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the eARC of this book.

Trick or Treat is the seventh book in the Imogen Grey and Adrian Miles series. A great crime thriller that held me in suspense the whole time. This fast paced, multilayered story was well written.

I enjoyed this audiobook, there was lots of build up and mystery and drama. There were multiple strands to the story too, which all eventually tied together in some way, which was really interesting. I did miss who the ‘baddie’ was at the end and had to listen to the last part again so I fully understood what happened, but that was on me, rather than the narrative or audiobook!!

I’d definitely recommend to others who like thrillers.

3 1/2 stars.

Narrator 5 stars
Great soothing voice

Story 3 stars

This was a very interesting story. Hearing one of the back stories of a particular character was hard but well done to the author for giving the male such a horrible life situation as this is just not talked about EVER!!

This is the first time I've heard of this author or series so I'm going to head over to kindle and start with book 1

This one was surprisingly deeper than I anticipated. And while it is book 7 in the series and my first book, I was able to follow along, though I probably would've enjoyed one of the plot lines more if I had read the previous book.

A young boy goes missing and Imogen is working tirelessly to bring him home alive. When a ransom drop goes bad, she is forced to try any means necessary to find him. This is a complex story with multiple plots that don’t overwhelm the story and keep moving it along. In addition I was drawn into the relationship between Imogen and Adrian. The characters are well developed and I wanted to know more about them.

Stevie Lacey does a good job narrating and capturing the story.

I really enjoyed this one and need to find the previous books in the series and get caught up for book 8.

This book is brilliant there is so much action and mystery. I was hooked from the very first chapter. This book had me paging turning like a crazy person. Its full to the brim with twists and turns when you least expect it. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was perfect in every way. Really added to the atmosphere and tension leaving you on the edge of your seat. I just couldn't put it down. I loved the unexpected twist that comes from the leading female officers boyfriend it was definitely unexpected and great. This book is so exciting it will keep you thinking you know whats going to happen next then it will change again. The story-line is just pure genius. The author has a wonderful style that follows so well. I loved the fast paced action of this book giving plenty of different options to think about. I really can not wait to read more from this author. The characters are so easy to connect with that we really get to love and hate them with a passion. The ending is so brilliant that you won't be disappointed as it ties up the story-lines magnificently.
So much praise to the author and publishers for producing such a gripping, atmospheric, edge of your seat work of pure genius fiction.

A fantastic read and great addition to the series! Cleverly crafted storyline that kept you guessing throughout. The author also dealt with the issue of men being sexually assaulted and the consequences of this in a compassionate and sensitive way. A great author and series and I can’t wait for the next one !!

I really enjoyed this book, I was hooked from the beginning and kept invested by the different character perspectives! There was certainly plenty of drama and crime involved and I loved the autumn vibe! I have a little bit of bias of one of the surnames used lots throughout the book (it’s mine) which I didn’t know was there until I opened the book!

An engaging 4 star thriller but can I please find out what happens next to the main characters! I also read this as a stand-alone as I haven’t read the many books in the serious before it which would have given a lot of context to plots that are mentioned in this book (I think) but I still thoroughly enjoyed it!

Wow, I've only just caught my breath after holding it in suspense the whole way through this book! From the very beginning it's full of twists and turns to keep you immersed in the story. This was so well done, multi-layered and just the right level of complex without getting bogged down on police procedural stuff. I was completly immersed in the story and the characters from the get-go and only realised it was book 7 in the series once I had finished, so it's completly readable as a stand alone book too. Would highly recommend it.

In a Nutshell: A nice police procedural with some interesting emotional drama thrown in. (But it has nothing to do with Halloween except for the date of the kidnap.)

Story:
6 year old Marcus is kidnapped on from outside his house on Halloween morning. The only person who witnesses the crime is a teenager, Jason, who reports it anonymously and is determined not to reveal more. With just the information from this anonymous call, Detective Imogen Grey turns up at Marcus’s house, where his parents first claim that everything is fine. But she soon realises that they are hiding something and begins digging into the facts until a whole murky mess reveals itself.

This book certainly was one of the better crime thrillers that I’ve read this year. The case appears straightforward at the start but soon becomes pretty complex. Just as I assumed that it was getting predictable or guessable, the book threw another surprise my way, including a whopper towards the end that I didn’t see coming at all. There are multiple arcs in the story even beyond the kidnapping, with one track focussed on Imogen’s romantic partner and ex-police partner Adrien Miles who is now working with a private firm. Another track focusses on Jason the teenager and his family. All these side-tracks don’t seem to have a direct bearing on the story at first but help you understand the characters and their motivations better. As the story progresses, you will see all the varied storylines merging together smoothly. The overall storyline is very engaging, and the short chapters help you in moving ahead at full pace.

Imogen Grey as a detective is a thorough professional. I really enjoyed her character and thought it one of the best-written female cop characters I’ve ever come across. Her reporting head, DCI Kapoor, is another fabulous female police officer. Rarely does a crime book focus on the brains than the looks of its female officers, and this was one of them. Adrien’s track is pretty hardhitting. Not revealing anything here and as I don’t want to give out spoilers, but the trauma he is facing is not at all a common trope in any kind of fiction. To see an emotional struggle usually faced by females from the point of view of a man was an eye-opening experience. A couple of his decisions in the second half felt a little illogical to me. But I guess I ought to forgive him for those as he wasn’t mentally in the right place.

This book served as a reminder to me as to why I prefer to read books in their right serial order, even if they are supposedly standalone police procedurals. Many of the characters referred to in the book are from earlier books in this series. Many of the situations are an aftermath of what happened in the prior book. Imogen, Adrien and some other minor characters aren’t given much of a background as they are already know to those who have read the previous books. I felt like I was hampered a little by jumping straight to book 7 of the series as I didn’t get to know any character (especially the secondary ones) in depth. And I am impressed enough with the book that I might just give a try to this series.

A couple of minor negatives. The title is a bit of a misnomer. The book isn’t connected to Halloween in any way except for Marcus’s kidnapping happening on the 31st of October. Barring this reference and a couple of references to pumpkins, the book reads like a regular crime thriller. Also, there are some things left unexplained that I would have loved to know more about.

Overall, a pretty well-written and very enjoyable police procedural. 4.25 stars from me.

The audiobook clocks at 10.5 hrs and is narrated by Stevie Lacey. She does a good job of bringing all the characters to life and I really enjoyed her narration.

My thanks to HarperCollins UK Audio and NetGalley for the ALC of “Trick or Treat”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the audiobook.

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

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

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 listen to audio, the narrator had a lovely tone and expression

Despite never having read this author before and this being part of a series, it was perfect to read as a standalone book and I didn't feel as if I'd waded in halfway through!
Really well written, definitely keeps you engaged in the story and the characters. Plenty of twists and turns to keep the story interesting. I'm off to buy the other books in the series, to catch up...

This is definitely not my usual kind of book but i absolutely loved this one. I thought the ending was particularly well crafted and the story was so well thought out.

EXCERPT: An engine rumbled outside the window and he rushed to look; he would have to make a run for it if it was them back from their holiday. A white van had turned into the street and was pulling into Amanda's drive - looked like a couple of builders. He couldn't carry on trashing the place while they were parked there. He studied the two men in the front seat for a moment before noticing the gun on the dashboard. The hairs on the back of Jason's neck stood on end when he realised they were watching the boy who was still cycling up and down the street on his own. What he had assumed were beanies revealed themselves to be balaclavas as the men pulled them down over their faces.

Should he call the police? That would land him in a whole heap of shit. He couldn't just let this happen though. He picked up a sweater off the floor and dialled triple nine before wrapping the sweater around the mouthpiece in an attempt to conceal his voice. He knew his phone was untraceable. It was something his brother made him promise: always use pay-as-you-go phones with disposable SIMs; don't let anyone trace where you are. That's how they'd got Luke on his GBH charge - by finding his location through his phone.

As Jason spoke to dispatch, refusing to answer the questions that might give him away, the engine on the van started again, one man exiting the passenger side and sliding open the back door. Jason felt powerless as the boy cycled towards the van. He knew what was going to happen next, but it still made him sick to his stomach to watch as the scene played out before his eyes.

'Please, you have to hurry. They've taken him, the little boy across the road. They grabbed him and put him in the back of a white van. Forty-six Golding Road.'

ABOUT 'TRICK OR TREAT': A stranger. A child. A liar who will stop at nothing…

When six-year-old Marcus is taken from outside his house on Halloween, there is only one witness: a frightened teen determined to keep himself hidden.

After an anonymous tip off, Detective Imogen Grey is called out to an expensive Exeter street, caught up in the buzz of the holiday. But when the police visit Marcus's house, his parents claim everything is fine. Imogen is sure there is more to the family than meets the eye. But just how much more, she could never have imagined…

What has happened to little Marcus? And will he ever come home?

MY THOUGHTS: A rather mundane police procedural that focuses more on DS Imogen Grey's life with her ex-copper boyfriend, Adrian, than it does on the abduction of young Marcus Carlyle.

There were a lot of things in Trick or Treat that just didn't add up for me, the major one being that the person behind the kidnapping had previously been in jail, and so you would think that the fingerprints would be on record, and had they taken fingerprints for elimination purposes, they would have discovered an anomaly.

The other thing that really irritated me was the author's constant use of 'said'. Sara said. Imogen said. Adrian said. Peter said . . . It was really grating on my nerves by the end.

There were several things that weren't explained to my satisfaction, but going into them would give away spoilers, so I am not prepared to do that.

I seriously considered not finishing this once or twice. I found it difficult to relate to any of the characters, even Sara. This book could have been greatly improved by hearing from Marcus; his view of what was happening to him would have made the story far more interesting. We have absolutely no idea what happened to him while in captivity.

A lacklustre narration didn't help either. The narrator has a limited range of tone, and certainly wasn't expressive. She could have been reading the telephone directory.

Trick or Treat was a disappointing experience for me.

⭐⭐.4

#TrickorTreat #NetGalley

I: @katerinadiamondauthor @harpercollinsuk

T: @TheVenomousPen @HarperCollinsUK

#audiobook #contemporaryfiction #crime #detectivefiction #familydrama #mystery #policeprocedural

THE AUTHOR: Katerina Diamond was born in Weston in the seventies, and her parents owned a fish and chip shop in the Greek community. She moved to Thessaloniki in Greece and attended Greek school where she learnt Greek in just 6 months. After her parents divorce, they relocated to Devon. After school, and working in her uncles fish and chip shop, she went (briefly) to university at Derby, where she met her husband and had two children. Katerina now lives in the East Kent Coast with her husband and children.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Harper Collins UK Audio for providing an audio ARC of Trick or Treat by Katerina Diamond for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

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