Member Reviews
Sorry to say, I struggled with this book, possibly as I haven’t read the rest of the series, but as it’s a prequel, i thought I’d give it a go and the premise looked brilliant.
I found it difficult to connect with any of the characters, in particular the main character, police detective, Jane Tennison, who was intensely unlikeable. On the one hand, claiming to struggle as a woman in a man’s world in the 1990s, but then doing her very best to make life as difficult as possible for those around her and completely alienating everyone who crossed her path. As a woman, I have no sympathy for women who behave badly and then claim gender discrimination.
Maybe she could be the next murder victim and give everyone a break?!!
The plot itself was ok, two different cases, not mind blowing, slow, and a bit repetitive in the end when I was just wanting them to get on with it!
I imagine if other readers have stuck with this character this far, they will likely love it, but it wasn’t for me.
1.5 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for an ARC in return for an honest review.
This is the tenth and final instalment of the ‘Tennison’ series by author Lynda La Plante. I have always enjoyed the character Jane Tennison, been completely absorbed by both the books and television series. In fact for me find it impossible to read these novels without picturing Helen Mirren which serves to add to my enjoyment of this series.
It is so easy to step back into this series and “Whole Life Sentence” demonstrates the tenacity and brilliance of newly promoted Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison. Tennison is transferred into the elite Area Major Incident Pool (AMIP) and instantly faces discrimination which adds another level to this novel.
Tennison tries to establish herself in her new role but faces the constant personal battles from her superiors and colleagues. The frustrations and conflicts are there everyday as she tries to compete in a male-dominated environment. Tennison is a very strong woman and is never going to give in despite the odds.
Rather than giving Tennison a lead case she is handed a five-year-old cold case involving a missing teenager. Tennison sees an opportunity to prove her worth and delves into the case, uncovering clues and leads previously ignored or missed. The missing teenager was an assumed suicide but Tennison suspects it is actually a murder case.
Tennison meticulously gathers evidence and builds her case much to the annoyance and scepticism of her colleagues. And when she starts to show signs of breaking the case they are quick to try and snatch the glory from her.
These novels are well written, plenty of detail, excellent characters and can even make the reader want to scream at the injustice of the treatment she sometimes receives.
I would recommend this series to anyone who loves gritty crime novels with strong characters.
I would like to thank both Netgalley and Bonnier Books UK for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
An absolute cracker of a read to end the series. I'm kinda sad to see the end of the Jane Tennison series. This was such a good read. It finally sees Jane sticking to her guns whilst still being confronted with sexism and derogatory comments from her male colleagues. She is a complete badass, and I really enjoyed the plot of this book with her having 2 completely different cases to work on alongside each other. I thought it was unfair what Shefford did to her regarding the Brittany Hall case, but Jane was still on top in the end with the CIB file 😂
Whole Life Sentence is the tenth and final addition to the Jane Tennison series – the Prime Suspect books pick things up from hereon in. Although this book can be read as a standalone it is best to have read some of the previous entries in the series. The opening chapters of the book, all character-work, could be a little slow for you if you haven’t….
This was the strongest book in the series for me. Jane is involved in two cases, both of which held my interest and kept me turning the pages. She feels fleshed out and developed as a character and I loved her new assistant, Margaret!
A fab book. Recommended!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers, Zaffre, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Delighted to get to read another novel in the Jane Tennison series, and this gripping read didn't disappoint. Great characters and some interesting twists, which is synonymous of the author, and this series in particular. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance reader copy.
The last of the books in the Jane Tennison series, the prequel to the Prime Suspect Series. It’s now 1991 and after earning promotion to DCI Jane has been successful in her application to join the newly formed Area Major Incident Team (AMIT) based in Central London. They are responsible for investigating major crimes. However she was unprepared for the unforgiving and misogynistic attitude of the team and is disgusted to find herself in a shabby office with a new PA and handed a 5 year old cold case involving a missing girl.
Briefly, this is Jane so she starts digging into the cold case, as usual on her own. Then she is handed a second case, a suspected suicide, but Jane isn’t convinced. Standard police procedures this is not but instead is Jane Tennison style procedural even including a request to visit Scotland and a North Sea oil rig!
This isn’t fast paced, in line with the nature of a cold case, but it works well. With Jane’s tenacity her investigations start to pay dividends. Then she finds someone else taking the plaudits which rightly annoys her. Despite all her years in the force and her excellent record it’s shocking to see that outright prejudice is still as rampant as ever and Jane is being set up to fail. However, this is a much stronger woman than the green probationer we met in book 1. It’s been great to watch Jane grow and this was a great ending to a great series. 4.5⭐️
This is the last book in the Tennison series. It has to be as it brings Jane's story right up to where we began with the Prime Suspect series, A series that I haven't actually read so, for me anyway, means that I still have another three Jane Tennison books to read!
So... in this book, newly promoted DCI (oooo get her) Jane Tennison realises her dream and manages to get herself a place on the prestigious Area Major Incident Pool (AMIP) which is an elite team who investigate non-domestic murders. She is a bit shocked (but not surprised) when she turns up for her first day and sees what they have supplied her in terms of office and support staff. But, this is Jane we are talking about and it is not long until she has overcome these obstacles. She is less successful initially with sorting the misogynistic behaviour, snide remarks, and practical jokes. But as we all know from reading the previous books (and I am assuming you have) she is well used to this and has her own ways of dealing with it.
Anyway... as her first case, they also try and stitch her up by giving her an old cold case that everyone else has given up with and no one else wants anything to do with. Which is a bit nasty and out of order as it concerns a missing teenager, assumed suicide. But it's not one that will give anyone any glory and plaudits so it has been shelved. But Jane is not like that and she is determined to get stuck in...
As expected though, as she starts to chip away at the case, as she starts to uncover new leads and new evidence comes to light that indicates murder, the vultures (her colleagues) start circling, ready to swoop in, steal the case and take all the glory...
As with all the previous books, I blooming loved this book. I love Jane as a character and, although I haven't read the PS books, I was familiar with her as a character from the TV, and was very excited when I heard that the author was going to go back to the start of her career. I've been with her every step of her journey and witnessed her development, as a character, a person, and a cop, all the way through and and excited to revisit the latter days of her career...
And the story being investigated is an absolute doozy. With all the twists and turns you'd expect from the author and the series. And one that, at the end of the day, also satisfies.
All in all, a fitting final book in this series which brings us up to date with what has gone before. I'm off to start Prime Suspect... My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.
If you've read a Jane Tennison book by Linda LA Plante before, you will know that this is a police officer that cannot be silenced, although everyone will try both in and outside of the police force. You can read this as a standalone book, but if you've read books in this series and the later books which were the originals, you may know that this is the last in the series that links the early life and the later life of Jane Tennison. While this is sad, to contemplate no further books in the series, this is an excellent story and shows the tenacity of both the writer and her lead character. She receives her final promotion in this series at the beginning of this story and her treatment is appalling, but this is back in the days when mobile phones were still brick sized and brand new. This novel shows a good and building relationship of Tennison and Maureen, and how they work together to defy the men that are out to torment their lives. There are two clear stories within this book and they are linked by Jane Tennison. Now, how can we convince Linda La Plante that maybe one more book is required?
In this final book in the Jane Tennison series, Lynda takes us back to the very beginning. A newly promototed DCI, Jane joins the elite AMIT section. Rife with misogyny from the very top, she sets about trying to make her mark in this chauvinistic group. Her colleagues are all ignorant and rude and desperate to get rid of her. However, Jane is made of stronger stuff and refuses to let them win. Given a five year old cold case regarding a missing student she knows it’s just a ploy to frustrate her but she resolutely sticks to the task to find out what happened to the young girl. In the meantime her personal life seems to take a turn for the better with the introduction of Peter. As the story proceeds with further frustrations and few victories there is obviously a long way to go but with her assistant Maureen having her back, we all can see her strength and determination will win through. I enjoyed going back in time with the lack of mobile phones, CCTV in its infancy and the use of typewriters - how archaic it all seems now. I haven’t read all of this series but now of course wish to go back and plough through them all.
My thanks go to Bonnier Books UK, Zaffre and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Whole Life Sentence’ written by Lynda La Plante in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
Detective Inspector Jane Tennison is promoted to Southampton Row and her request to join AMIT, the new Area Major Incident Team, is accepted although she’d previously been told not to bother as she’s a woman. Jane is given WPC Maureen Havers as her personal assistant and together they’re given the job of reading through the files of teenager Brittany Hall who disappeared five years ago. Her male colleagues are hoping that if they make her life difficult enough Jane will resign but she’s made of sterner stuff and won’t be beaten.
I’ve been completely engrossed by ‘Whole Life Sentence’, an all-consuming police thriller set in 1991 where mobile phones aren’t readily available and calls have to be made from those red boxes. DI Jane Tennison works in a misogynistic environment where her male colleagues do whatever they can to put her down. I like Jane’s character, tough and able to stand up for herself, and that of Maureen Havers who’s had no experience of working for a detective. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading this thriller as ‘Prime Suspect’ has always a favourite of mine on the television and in book-form and it’s been good to get involved in Jane’s early days when she has to fight for her right to be a detective inspector. I can highly recommend this thriller for its pacy writing and ability to keep my attention from the first page to the last.
I believe from my memory that I may have read a couple of books by this author but not for a while but being a fan of prime suspect (TV) I thought I'd give it a whirl.
Tennison what a tenacious character, flying the flag for females in a male dominant profession, faced by male masochist attitudes she maintains her
dignity and prowess an admirable character.
The writing was detailed, engaging and entertaining.
The sixth Lynda Is Plante book I have read and the first Dennison book I have read although I have bought the whole series along with another 18 books by Lynda Is Plante. Can't wait to read the rest of the Dennison series based on my enjoyment of this brilliantly written book. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to ARC this book.
After fighting her way up the promotional ladder, Detective Inspector Jane Tennison is ecstatic to have been posted to an elite team investigating non-domestic murders. Hoping that all of the years of sexism are behind her, she is infuriated to find that she is still being passed over for murder investigations having instead being given the cold cases of a missing teenager and an assumed suicide. Not one to go away quietly, Jane turns her full attention to the cases and soon realises that they are bigger than first thought.
Reading Whole Life Sentence was a bittersweet experience. As a long time fan of the Prime Suspect and Tennison series, this was the moment I had been dreading – the last book. Since Tennison, we have seen Jane leave the Metropolitan Police Training Academy in 1973 and now, over a decade later, she is about to become the detective we all know and love from the Prime Suspect series. Here, we are introduced to many of the characters that fans of the TV series will immediately recognise and it was hard to read without visualising the likes of Tom Bell and John Benfield.
Jane Tennison is, in my opinion, one of television’s (and crime fiction’s) greatest characters and Lynda La Plante has given her a fitting send off in Whole Life Sentence. As the books have progressed, we have seen Jane slowly moving towards the detective from Prime Suspect, and here we have that character. Determined and never frightened of trusting her own instincts, Tennison shows all the attributes we know so well as she investigates a case that nobody else seems interested in solving. Despite this, she is still having to deal with misogyny and colleagues claiming her discoveries as their own. It is not hard to see why she became such a tough cookie!
I would like to thank Lynda La Plante for what has been a truly engaging series, one that I know I will be revisiting in the future.
I adore Lynda La Plante’s writing, this book has great premise to lead onto other works. I enjoyed this book, experiencing how a case is built and an investigation happens, but I didn’t enjoy the book as much as I thought I would, purely because it takes on a different path from her usual books. I was so frustrated throughout for the sexist treatment Tennison experiences in the plot. I will definitely look out for more in the Tennison series, I’m looking forward to reading about Tennison’s cases.
Jane Tennison has finally got her much-deserved promotion and a place on one of the new AMIT teams that have been set up to investigate major crimes.
Unfortunately, the new team don’t seem to want a strong, capable woman in their ranks and Jane is sidelined to investigate the cold case of a missing teenager. But Jane won’t let them beat her and she determines to find out what happened to the young girl.
As Jane digs into the case and uncovers things that were not in the original files she knows that she is getting closer to finding the truth. But will the other DCI’s in AMIT let Jane have her first success in AMIT or will they continue to undermine her.
Full of the intrigue and tension you would expect from a Lynda La Plante book, this shows Tennison as she begins to become the feisty, intelligent woman we know.
Always a great, tense read from Lynda and this one was up there with the rest of them. I love the tensions running through this book and how the main character solves the crime. My thanks to netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.
Loved the story of Jane Tennison and how she battles against the misogynistic men who are not used to a woman being in the elite team but Jane is a tough and feisty woman who fights back. This is a gritty plot as she not only tries to wrap up a murder investigation but also has to deal with her team but with the help of her sidekick Maureen she manages to get control.
.Highly recommend for a fast paced detective story that keeps you wanting more.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
It has been a while since I have read a La Plante novel and I am challenging myself as to why. I thoroughly enjoyed this from start to finish and want to read more. It was a great page turner.
It follows Detective Jane Tennison as she remarkably manages to get herself into an elite team, where no woman has previously worked. It’s clearly a misogynistic team with thoughts already turning to how they can get her turfed out. Not least by allocating her a storage room as an office and a cold case, to keep her out of the way!
However, she is a tough cookie, spurned on by the challenge presenting itself, refusing to be riled and drawn into anything oughtn’t – even though this can be hard to do.
She makes her presence known, ensuring that there is provision for women’s toilets for starters… Her excellent detective skills, executed with due rigor from looking at the detail and following evidential lines, not the fast and loose style of her counterparts, enables her to evade the traps set before her and demonstrate why she should have a place on the team.
I was completely behind her from the outset. She outwits the circling vulchers with aplomb and dignity. An amazing and speed read.
Its hard to believe that this is the last in the Jane Tennison series, but I have enjoyed following her as she started out as a rookie WPC and everything she has gone through not least battling the misogyny and sexism within the force. There have been times when I have wanted to shout at her for some of her choices as her stubbornness to prove she was as good as her male counterparts could have ended her career but at the same time I could understand why she felt she had no choice. In Whole Life Sentence she faces her biggest challenge against her boss and colleagues yet, ones who did not agree with her promotion to DCI or her attachment to the newly formed Area Major Incident Team.
After her interview for permanent promotion, Tennison knows that her appointment to the AMIT team is not going to be smooth sailing. Her boss was on the interview panel, and he had already shown his feelings regarding women in the police force, but she was hoping for something a little more than a cold case to deal with. Added to this she is assigned an inexperienced WPC to assist her so at times she feels like she is having to do everything herself. They do eventually find a good rhythm and Tennison becomes a bit of a mentor, something she did not have herself at the start of her career. It is not long before she is also assigned an apparent suicide, but Jane does not believe that everything is as it seems, and she starts digging into things that clearly others would like her to stay away from.
With the two investigations there is certainly a lot going on in this book but its slower pace due to the nature of the investigations you have no problem following what is going on. What is certain is that her male counterparts are either trying to sabotage her career or take credit for her work. This time however she is prepared and as much as it annoys her she does not react in her usual way but with the aid of her WPC she ensures that she is protected from potential repercussions showing that she has now matured in her reactions and that she is determined to protect herself and her career.
Her work life may be a constant battle, but her private life seems to be finally looking better which I think goes some way to her new attitude. Whole Life Sentence is the perfect ending to this chapter of Tennisons life and career and now I feel that I have to catch up on what happened next by diving into the Prime Suspect series as I have become invested in her.
The last I the series of Jane Tennison books as Prime Suspect takes over. Jane reaches the heights of DCI and applies for the Major Incident Team. She is successful, but finds herself attached to a misogynistic team who try to sideline her to encourage her to leave by starting her off with a Cold case. How she copes is the thrust of the plot and a testament to how feisty and dogged Jane is. A superb plot and Lynda’s writing made this a real page turner for me and a fitting prequel to Prime Suspect. Definitely for procedural addicts as it can be read as a stand-alone. It has an authentic feel to it in time and place.