I listened to this novel as an audiobook and really enjoyed both the (rather scary!) plot and the (convincing!) narration. Good characterisation and a conclusion which makes rather impatient to read the next book in this new series!
I received the audiobook of this novel from NetGalley and I have voluntarily written an honest review.

This book takes about ⅓ of it to get going and then it's brilliant. It's the first in a series, so there's a bit of character setting to get through, but once you're through it, it's a really good read. It's fast-paced and some of the descriptions are just brilliant!

It's a UK detective, set around the Peak District and there's enough backstory to the characters to keep us going for quite a few books :)

Narration was clear and full of intonation, if a little slow. I had to speed up to 1.5x

An excellent dark start to a series.

The narration for me was excellent. I felt the characters were portrayed well.

Storyline is gripping, on the whole throughout. A little bit of 'lengthening' but not enough to detract from the overall enjoyment.

I feel that the creepiness of the story lends itself particularly well to an audiobook and am looking forward to the next in the series.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this ARAC which was very much appreciated.

A tense and gripping mystery featuring a compelling detective, DI Jake Sawyer, the type of flawed hero that can make or break a good detective story. Sawyer’s superpower is an inability to experience fear, even in the most threatening of circumstances and, like many damaged individuals, he has suffered a childhood trauma which remains unresolved. This gives rise to a number of interesting encounters and experiences during an investigation into a brutal murder of a teenage boy. In a separate storyline, a clairvoyant who appears to have unique abilities convinces an academic of his skills by passing a notoriously difficult scientific test run by his faculty at the university. The stories collide when a child is abducted by a man hell bent on revenge and the psychic tries to use this to increase his profile. The audiobook is skilfully narrated by Mike Rogers, whose acting skills and accents bring the story to life.

Thanks to NetGalley and the producer of this audiobook for the opportunity to listen and review this brilliantly narrated story.

Okay, so I now have another book boyfriend for the list… enter Jake Sawyer! I was instantly intrigued , right from that first train interaction.

I loved that the story involved him trying to intergrate back into his home town whilst building relationships back up to join the local police force.

This is hard to review without risking spoilers, but if you are looking for a new fiesty hero, this is your man, I’m so excited for book 2.

This has some horror elements, so I highly recommend the audiobook, the narrator was spot on and had me proper spooked at times!

just finished this book tonight. I loved it. The narrator was really good, played so many characters and nailed the various accents, you would think it was more than one person narrating. I loved Jake Sawyer and can't wait to read more of him, especially after that ending!!!! (No spoilers, I promise). This would make a great tv series! If you love a detective series, with a horrendous murder or two, then this is for you. 5 stars

First of all this was a NetGalley Audiobook I was fortunate to get.

However, bearing in mind these are the kind of detective mystery novels I usually really like, I have found this a real struggle.

First of all the narration by Mike Rogers wasn’t bad considering how much there was to read.

I felt overall that the story was far too descriptive, so much so that I often felt I loathe the focus of the plot!!

The main character is very likeable and I was able to picture this confident quirky detective who has personal issues to resolve ( don’t they all)

However the story was just so over detailed for a very basic story of revenge.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the opportunity to read this book, unfortunately it was way off the mark for me.
3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ rounded

Creepy crawly took a while for me to get into and I'm not sure why, the main character DI Jake Sawyer seems interesting but not enough for me to care about him and the narrator Mike Rogers just didn't have a strong enough voice for me, it was so soft that I found that iI missed chunks of the story as my mind wandered. the ending was wrapped up a little quickly for me too. maybe its a series that I will return too but maybe one i'd read rather than audio.

This book has often appeared in my social feeds, but I primarily 'read' audiobooks and this one was not available ...... until now!

The premise of this book made me eager to listen and it didn't disappoint. This is a very dark and disturbing thriller right from the start. The storyline is strong and the characters are interesting. I disliked Jake Sawyer to begin with but I thawed as the book progressed. His backstory is certainly interesting and explains why he is the way he is. I did find the pacing of the book a bit off. There were parts that were really fast paced and then things slowed down and there was quite a bit of padding. This is the reason for 4* and not 5. I am looking forward to listening to Book 2 when it is released on Audible, especially after that cliffhanger at the end of this one!

I enjoyed the narration by Mike Rogers.

DI Jake Sawyer returns to home town, although he hasn't officially started his now job he's asked to be an adviser on the case of .murders. Well drawn characters and plotting makes this and interesting read, Mike Rogers goes an excellent job narrating this book with clear voice and you knew which character was speaking. Thanks to W F Howes and Netgalley for this review audiobook.

I listened to the audio version, which is well narrated. Delivery is in keeping with the narrative and the character voices are clear. There’s a rather gruesome and graphic start which depicts the dark theme well. Jake returns to his hometown to investigate a series of murders and there’s tension and twists right from the start. Which should be all the ingredients for a strong psychological murder thriller, but overall it felt off somehow. Jake isn’t engaging, but I wasn’t rooting for him. The story is well constructed but somehow, it’s dull and it all fell a little flat. I finished it but wasn’t blown away.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for a review copy

Creepy Crawly was a great read—dark, clever, and unsettling in all the right ways. I listened to the audiobook version and the narrator really made it memorable, capturing the tension and pace perfectly while bringing each character to life.

The plot hooked me straight away. It follows a chilling series of events with a genuinely creepy atmosphere that builds slowly but steadily. The writing is sharp, and I appreciated the way the tension was layered without relying on obvious twists. Characters felt believable and flawed, which only added to the realism and made the more disturbing moments hit harder.

If you’re a fan of psychological thrillers with an edge of the unexpected and a slightly sinister undercurrent, this one’s definitely worth picking up. A solid four stars from me—and I’ll be keeping an eye out for more from Andrew Lowe.

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC.

The storyline in Creepy Crawly is definitely creepy, the opening scenes are pretty graphic and brutal, as DI Jake returns to his hometown to work a case where victims are being buried alive. I’m not exactly sure what fell flat for me, I didn’t warm to Jake at all, I empathised with him, but I didn’t like him, but I don’t always have to like an mc to be able to enjoy a book, then I struggled a lot to get to grips with the whole host of characters that appear throughout the book. As I say though there’s definitely a strong story, which does merit the 3 🌟 review. I just maybe didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

It also seems like this is another older title to be newly audiofied🎧

I enjoyed Mike Roger’s narration.

Huge thanks to W F Howes Ltd and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this ALC 🎧