Liar Liar (DC Stafford #3) by Sarah Flint
Published: 1st December 2017
Publisher: Aria
Pages: 304
Available in Paperback and on Kindle
Rating: 4/5
A faithful dog lies wounded beside the mutilated body of its owner.
A woman is discovered bound and gagged, dead in her own bed.
Both are police officers.
Both have a red rose at their side... worryingly more will follow...
Lies and accusations abound but who is behind the murders and why are the victims being targeted?
Charlie, Hunter and the team must find the killer targeting their own before another body is found.
Review
Liar, Liar is the third novel in the DC Stafford series by
Sarah Flint, following on from Mummy’s Favourite and The Trophy Taker. It’s the
first novel by Ms. Flint that I have read and I really enjoyed the story. Liar,
Liar focuses on a new crime for DC Charlotte Stafford or Charlie as she’s known
to her team and so I feel it can be enjoyed as a standalone novel. There are
inferences to things which have happened in previous novels but it’s easy
enough to pick the story in this book.
DC Charlie is counting down the hours until the end of her
last night shift when the call comes in that a man has been found stabbed and
attacked with acid on Tooting Bed Common, a man who is a serving police
officer. Anxious to help find the perpetrator of such a horrific act Charlie
and her team are quick on the case but it’s not long before another body is
found in an equally traumatised state. The second victim turns out to also be a
police officer so it looks like someone is targeting the Metropolitan Police,
which puts them all in danger.
I found this I well thought out plot with an interesting
take on the serial killer theme which is so popular. It’s not perhaps the most
fast-paced crime novel I’ve read as there were times when there was a little
too much description and not enough action going on. There were enough twists
and turns to keep me interested until the end and I didn’t find out who was
behind the crimes until it was revealed in the story which added to the
enjoyment. There were a couple of times the story felt a little anticlimactic and
if I’m honest the story didn’t end with the bang I was hoping it would.
DC Charlie is a hardworking and through police officer who
never takes the easy option when it comes to finding answers. She’s very
dedicated to her team and their closeness was portrayed in the story well. They
worked together, dividing the work up perfectly to get results quickly and effectively.
The only one who didn’t seem to gel with the others was Nick but that was
perhaps as he was the new boy.
Charlie’s relationship with Ben was interesting and is
perhaps a reason I will go back and read Ms. Flint’s first two novels as I’d
like to find out more about how they act together. I’m hoping her next book
will develop their relationship further.
Overall I found Liar, Liar to be an interesting read which
in places had me gripped. I loved the collection of characters which have been
created even if some of them aren’t the most savoury. If you’re a fan of Angela
Marsons, Patricia Gibney or Victoria Jenkins then you will enjoy Liar, Liar
with another strong female police detective as the lead character.
Thank you to Sarah Flint, Aria and Netgalley for providing
me with a copy to review and thank you for inviting me to be part of the blog
tour.
About the Author
Facebook: @SarahFlintBooks
Twitter: @SarahFlint19
Great review Joanne.
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to my turn on the Blog Tour, on December 10th.
Sarah has written an excellent guest post, for me to share as my feature.
Have a great weekend :)
Yvonne