Book 10 in the Maeve Kerrigan series and did we get what we've all been waiting years for? 🤐 not telling.

Maeve and Derwent are posing as a couple and living at Jellicoe Close to perform surveillance on neighbours and find out what really happened to a young boy who turned up dead.

The Close is basically a police procedural crossed with a fake dating romance (if couples end up together EVERY time in romance books, I wouldn't know and this doesn't mean they do here). I loved the mix of genres and all the suspense.

This book probably won't work for you if you haven't read the earlier books in the series. But if you have, make sure you have time to binge it in one sitting - you'll want to 😍

The "new" characters were not likeable but it didn't change how I felt about it - I literally only cared about Maeve and Derwent.

Expected Publication Date: 2 March 2023

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Such a well written book, with some very sinister, creepy characters, a thrilling storyline, a great thriller. One not to be missed that's for sure uni.

Maeve Kerrigan's story continues: and it's taken a completely different direction, in terms of love interests, than it did at the start of the series. This one is slightly different, because Maeve and Derwent are working under cover in the 'close' of the title; and we're largely without the usual wider cast of characters. I did enjoy it hugely, though I think I slightly prefer the usual setting...and, of course, am dying to see what happens next in the will-they-won't-they tension.

I read The Cutting Place when it came out however I couldn’t really remember much about it which I admit made it harder for me to get my head around some of the relationship dynamics in this. In terms of a police procedural it was ok but not exceptional however there really was excellent chemistry between Maeve and Derwent who were undercover in a quiet neighbourhood to try to solve the mystery surrounding a dead man who was the brother in law of a person with influence. The characters in the neighbourhood were all very interesting and it becomes clear that one of the males is a cause for concern but not necessarily in relation to their case and it’s impossible to guess which as each of the males just had something about them which made you question them. For me I enjoyed this element more than the actual case they were there for and I also liked the case of the murdered doctor found in the hospital car park but I’d have liked more of that than bits here and there. I think for me this book was less about the crimes and more about the people as this truly is bursting with character and tension between them. I like how things ended between Maeve and Derwent in this and it will certainly be interesting to see where their relationship is at in the next book.

Thank you Harper Collins UK and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. IYKYK, my reviews are always honest.

One sentence review: Half Kerrwent (Maeve Kerr + Josh Derwent) romance, half police procedural, all the vibes

SYNOPSIS

DS Maeve Kerr and DI Josh Derwent go undercover as a couple to get to the bottom of a missing person's case.

MY OPINION

Oh. my. I scrummed louder than I've ever scrummed before while reading this. I felt like I was 12 years old again reading Twilight for the first time; Kerrwent's chemistry had me in a TIZZY 😂 I'm not afraid to admit it!! Tbh I didn't even care about the crimes being committed... I was just there for the Kerrwent vibes.

With that in mind, I (shockingly) wouldn't recommend this as a standalone. To really get the most out of Kerrwent, you need to at least read the previous two books (I'm saying this because those are the only other two I've read LOL). Otherwise you might be impartial to their "relationship" or annoyed that this book is chock full of domestic Kerrwent scenes while the two criminal cases take a backseat. Arguably, there are a lot of filler scenes to build up the tension between Kerrwent (as if it wasn't tense enough??) which may seem unnecessary to a first-time reader. BUT, if you're balls deep in this series, then this is a MUST.

Ya'll may have seen me begging for a Kerrwent kiss in my reviews from books #8 & #9. Now I'm not one to kiss and tell... so you'll have to read it yourself to find out 🫣

I clued into who the unnamed narrator was pretty early, but I appreciate that the author threw in a couple of curveballs near the end that had me second-guessing myself. Which is silly because when am I ever wrong??? (obvious sarcasm) Anyways, Maeve did have her detective dumbass moments – can detectives please stop heading out into heavily wooded areas without cell phones or basic protection?? Tysm.

Anyways, this was a solid and enjoyable read. I am definitely looking forward to #11 because I stan Kerrwent.

PROS AND CONS

Pros: solid suspense and sexual tension (this is a rare time where I don't mind it), decent writing, the cases were quite juicy but I was really just here for Kerrwent, some good jokey jokes

Cons: objectively a lot of filler scenes with Maeve describing her day or domestic events with Josh that may not matter to a first-time reader of the series

Another truly outstanding novel from Jane Casey, I finished this book in a day and could not put it down. The tension between the characters and the story is palpable from start to finish.

I love the care that Jane has taken with Maeve following the events of the The Cutting Place and the evolution of both Maeve and Josh’s characters.

I also found myself warming to Georgia is this book, which a bit like Maeve I thought would never happen!

If anyone is new to the Maeve Kerrigan series I would recommend starting from the beginning before reading this book, you have some fantastic books waiting for you!

An utterly gorgeous, addictive, frustrating, crackling tenth instalment of the Maeve Kerrigan series, in which Maeve and Josh go undercover as a couple to surveil a suspected human trafficker. There's enough legal/crime/political stuff thrown in to make this a plausible scenario, and what we're left with is the opportunity to scream at these two at every tense little moment where it seems like they might finally get together. But then - unrelated to the case they're working on - a dead body turns up in the cosy little neighbourhood...
Absolutely LOVED this.

What a tease Jane Casey is! This is the book that fans of Maeve Kerrigan and Josh Derwent have been waiting for since about book 3. Casey ramps up the sexual tension but still leaves us wanting more...

There's enough of a crime element to keep things ticking over nicely but really this is a book that is centred on that crucial push-pull relationship that makes this series so riveting.

Definitely not the place to start if you haven't read this series before as there's a lot of past history sitting behind this story, but a must-read for fans - and the nail-biting wait for the next book starts here!