⭐️ 3 ⭐️

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC, in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

Death on the Thames is the third book in the Detective Louise Mangan series. I’ve read the previous two books and enjoyed them both — One of Our Ministers is Missing is still my firm favourite.
 
The book is set over dual timelines: 1999 and 2019. I thought the first half of the book (in 1999) was slow-paced and repetitive, but I really enjoyed the second half (set in 2019).
 
Alan Johnson's writing is excellent, and the characterisation is spot-on. For me, it's not the most memorable of the three books, but it's still an entertaining enough read. I’m looking forward to the next in the series.

This is book three in the Detective Louise Mangan series .
This thriller is a cracking read and it keeps you guessing right until the very end .
The book starts in 1999 when Louise is a young detective constable and is on the hunt for a cyclist who is committing sexual assaults on women.
She sees a cyclist ride into a place called Tagg Island which is a community of house boats . Louise can sense that all is not as it seems but can’t find the cyclist but has a gut feeling this is the man they need to speak to.
Twenty years later Louise finds herself back on the island when there is a fire on a house boat . Is it all as it first appears?
This book has everything sometimes the plot was complex but not too clever to understand, plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader interested.
Altogether a great read and highly recommended!
Thanks to NetGalley and Headline.

In 1999 young detective Louise Mangan is involved in the hunt for a sex attacker based around Hampton Court. Following a lead she visits Tagg's Island, a community of houseboats, but when a high profile TV personality is murdered nearby her colleagues believe they have got their man and the investigation is wound down. The island itself was at the centre of an organised crime gang with a far reach and twenty years later, after a fire, Louise reopens the case.
This is very much a classic British police thriller with the perspective of being written by an insider. Although some of the characters are the same as Johnson's previous novel there is no expectation that the reader treats this as a follow-up. It's nicely plotted with a couple of different strands and I did like the focus on violence and prejudice against women. I wasn't overly convinced about the 'Jill Dando' aspect but am willing to forgive that as it is very readable.

Death on the Thames is the third book by former MP Alan Johnson featuring police detective Louise Mangan. It has a dual timeline story split between 1999 when Louise is a young married DC and 2019 when Louise is a very senior detective reaching the end of her career at the Met.

The plot clearly draws heavy inspiration from the real-life unsolved murder of BBC Crimewatch presenter Jill Dando, but also weaves in a high-stakes drug smuggling plot and observations about sexism in the police force.

A properly good police procedural with an engaging protagonist, highly recommended.

Set near Hampton Court, this multilayered story takes in the Police hunt for a man committing sexual assaults as well as an investigation into drug seizures. Both investigations become complex and in the final third of the book, I struggled to pull the disparate strings together.

The writing style seemed different to me, compared to the two previous books in the series, I followed the previous two books but this one was far more complex; at least it seemed that way to me.

I read this book through NetGalley and would like to thank the author and the publisher for this opportunity.

Alan Johnson moved from writing award-winning memoirs to writing crime fiction in 2021 with the publication of The Late Train to Gipsy Hill, a book I very much enjoyed.

In the first half of this third book in the series, we travel back to 1999 to meet the young Louise Mangan, then a Detective Constable. Despite being obviously capable, she is experiencing the persistent and ‘casual’ misogyny that pervaded the Metropolitan Police at the time. (Many would argue it still does, and this is picked up again in the second part of the book.) Louise is frustrated at being sidelined from major operations and having her suspicions that the man arrested for a series of assaults on women may not be the culprit. Louise decides to pursue her own enquiries but the success of a major police operation to close down a drug smuggling operation sees her moved off the case despite, in her mind, there being plenty of loose ends still to be tied up.

One of the interesting things about this part of the book is how much that we now take for granted in police investigations was in its infancy in 1999. For example, the DNA database was still regarded as ‘nascent technology’ and DNA samples were not routinely checked. And the Metropolitan police were only just beginning to use electronic forms of communication, in the face of some resistance.

The second half of the book moves us on twenty years, to 2019. This is where I came a little unstuck because, although I own a copy of the second book, One of Our Ministers is Missing, I haven’t yet read it. Between the first and this third book, Louise Mangan’s career has obviously progressed significantly. There have also been big changes in her private life since 1999. The latter go pretty much unexplored with some surprising omissions. The misogyny Louise experienced in the first part of the book, although less widespread, is still there and, mirroring recent events in the Metropolitan police, there are officers whose conduct really should mean they have no place in the police force. Louise is also frustrated about the Met’s record on tackling violence against women and girls, again reflecting contemporary concerns.

The author really ups the twists and turns of the plot, and the thriller element in the final quarter of the book. Louise’s persistence – and some intelligence from an unlikely source – eventually leads to a group of dangerous criminals being brought to book and a longstanding mystery being resolved. And perhaps never believe what you’re told unless you’ve double-checked it, even triple-checked it, is sage advice? Louise also discovers startling evidence of an operation sanctioned at the highest level which raises the question: can the end ever justifies the means?

Death on the Thames is another well-crafted police procedural that left me hoping Louise can be persuaded against retiring for a little while longer.

Was not enjoying it enough to carry on reading it,I liked the authors previous 2 fiction books but unfortunately by 30% I found my mind wandering etc, found it quite repetitive story wise and did not like any of the new characters.

Death on the Thames by Alan Johnson is the writer’s third novel in the Detective Louise Mangan series.
It covers a series of deaths and a drug empire which covers country wide network and all within Hampton Court,London.
Louise Mangan is a young police woman and then later a detective in London, when events in her early years coincide with her later years as a policewoman.
A very intricate and involved story covering many years in the detective serving role.
Highly recommended

Another good novel from this author. The various plots and characters intertwine in an easy to understand style. Convincing storyline and happy to recommend this book.

A somewhat different police procedural in that it also includes the inner working culture and the barriers caused by different aims jealousies and conflicting personalities. Centres on busting a drugs racket that overlaps with a cold case of a serial murder.

The story starts in 1999 when DNA use in criminal investigations was in its infancy and a young DC Louise Mangan investigates sexual assault cases near Hampton Court. She seemingly solves the case when arresting a cyclist who fits the description of the attacker is arrested on a pathway beside the Thames. There’s a parallel storyline with a BBC programme involving a Mr. Big of the drugs world about to be revealed live on air. The two stories are cleverly interwoven and a raid on Tagg’s Island where the body of a missing girl is discovered shows that the wrong man was arrested earlier. The presenter of the TV programme is murdered on her doorstep,shades of Jill Dando. The second part moves the action on 20 years and the now senior officer Louise takes the opportunity with new characters along to further investigate the girls cold case murder. Somewhat convoluted at times it’s a good tale with a super twist right at the end.

1999, London.

Little does DC Louise Mangan know that when she's in pursuit of a killer near Hampton Court, the place she comes across will have a significant impact twenty years in the future.

Compelling

Death on the Thames by Alan Johnson is the third book in the Detective Mangan thriller series.
In short, the book begins with a young Detective Constable Louise Mangan and a case which she was involved with and which didn’t have a satisfying conclusion for her. Twenty years later a fire brings Detective Superintendent Mangan back to the same island reinvigorating her curiosity to that case twenty years ago.
Well I’ve read all three books in this series, all hugely enjoyable…Alan is simply a great storyteller. Death on the Thames is a classic British thriller, a rollercoaster ride containing many threads which all come together neatly in the end…satisfyingly twisty and clever. It’s one of those books which just grips you, loved it. I liked the way Alan sprinkled a few herbs into the plot…using Sage, Basil and Rosemary as characters! And creating a character in the book, a BBC reporter having the same initials as a past BBC presenter with a similar story! I’m looking forward to reading more from Alan.
Big thanks to Alan Johnson, Headline and NetGalley for this eARC which I chose to read in return for my honest review.

The plot of the book was interesting and I love a good murder mystery but sadly this didn’t fully catch me along and i didn’t fully get into the book. It had too many threads and i felt that it didn’t have enough plot reveals to keep me hooked. However, I did love the idea of the book and the aspect was interesting.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Headline for an advance copy of Death on the Thames, the third novel to feature Detective Louise Mangan of the Met, set in 1999 and 2019.

In 1999 Louise is a rookie detective and a spate of attacks leads her to Tagg’s Island on the Thames, a quiet spot for houseboats and plenty of secrets. In 2019 a fire brings DCS Louise Mangan back to Tagg’s Island for some truth.

I can’t say that Death on the Thames really caught or held my attention. It has too many threads and almost no early resolutions or reveals to keep the reader turning the pages. It is split almost equally between 1999 and 2019 with the 1999 section subsiding into a morass of unanswered questions and unresolved cases, including a high level drug dealer’s identity, the murder of a young woman, the identity of a sexual predator and the murder of a TV presenter, which mirrors almost exactly the murder of Jill Dando, a real life unsolved crime. To be fair the tempo picks up in the second half with a tense tale of undercover work, that has no relation to the events of the first half, while the events of the first half limp along beside it until a few big twists give it a certain resolution.

I am a big fan of police procedurals. I like the logic and order in them. I found that aspect of the novel fascinating in the way decisions are made and hard truths faced. I was less impressed with some of the bias in the novel with potential suspects’ comments taken at face value and not questioned.

I think that Death on the Thames has a good premise and some interesting plot lines, but the execution doesn’t suit my tastes. I prefer a more straightforward narrative that allows me to get immersed.

Another author to add to the ever expanding list, as I will definitely be reading more of his books.
Really enjoyed this book, good characters and story line carry it along nicely. Highly recommend.

Death on the Thames is the latest in the Louise Mangan series by former Labour MP Alan Johnson. This is the first book I've read in this series and it struck me how similar the author's style is to that of Jeffrey Archer,another former MP.

The tale begins in 1999 when rookie Detective Louise Mangan stumbles onto the hidden community of House Boats on Tagg's Island on the River Thames while on the trail of a suspected murderer and sexual predator. Unknown to Louise her presence has alarmed some very dangerous people in the seemingly quiet community.

20 years later and on the verge of retirement from a very successful career the now Detective Superintendent Mangan finds herself back in the supposedly peaceful backwater when a suspicious fire appears to have links to events back in 1999.

This is a good read but sometimes a frustrating one,a lot of the main events are told in retrospect by characters instead of described as they happen,I found this odd the first time and frustrating as it happened again and again. It also feels as if the author has spoken at length to someone about the shortcomings of the Met and felt obliged to cram them all into the narrative,which sometimes breaks the flow.
Parts are jaw-droppingly implausible,I'd guess any real undercover policeman would be in hysterics at the behaviour of one character.
That said ,as a light read it's entertaining ,which is the main thing. If you're a fan of Jeffrey Archer or Richard Osman I'd guess you'd really like it,if gritty realism is your thing you'll find it a bit lightweight.

It's 1999 and Detective Constable Louise Mangan is helping chase down a cyclist suspected of a series of attacks on women. Her chase leads her to a community of houseboats, a place which seems full of mysteries. Twenty years later and a return to an unsolved murder from the time brings the now DCI Mangan back to the area and into the path of a wider series of crimes.

I'm a big fan of Alan Johnson's autobiographies so I was looking forward to reading this but I'm afraid I wasn't quite so keen. The plot was interesting and his past position of Home Secretary certainly makes some of his comments on policing over the years interesting, but his writing just wasn't quite as compelling for me in fiction. Some it was a little repetitive and he tended to get a little bogged down in details of things which didn't really need further explanation, plus the characters weren't entirely convincing to me - the main character seemed to be a little oblivious and too accepting to convince as someone destined for the top as the guilty party was not hard to guess.

In the acknowledgements, there is a line about it being 'a work of fiction, none of it is true, not even the bits where readers may detect a similarity to actual events' but a subplot of a murdered female host of a tv crime programme is so obviously based on the murder of Jill Dando, it's unavoidable. Everything is almost identical to the shooting of the host of Crimewatch in 1999, right down to the year, the medic fiance, the loner suspect convicted then released, the possible links to Eastern European criminals, it's unsolved status.

This was an enjoyable enough read but not quite as good as his non fiction for me, I'm afraid.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in return for an honest review.
#DeathontheThames #NetGalley

Engaging thriller, well written and great characters. Gripping and page turning. My thanks to netgalley and the publisher for my copy.

I loved Richard Osman's book so I was really excited to read this due to the similarities and it kept me just as hooked as his books did.