The Kill by Jane Casey

The Kill
by Jane Casey

I read a lot of mysteries, but surprisingly I have not read anything by Jane Casey before. I’m not sure how I missed her over the years, but I am really glad I stumbled upon her books. The Kill is the fifth book in Jane Casey’s fantastic Maeve Kerrigan’s series. The books build upon each other, but you don’t necessarily need to read them in order.

Maeve Kerrigan is a young DC in the Metropolitan Police in London. She is smart, ambitious and strong, but she is also vulnerable, temperamental and flawed. Her partner and senior officer DI Josh Derwent is all rough edges, has the subtlety of sledgehammer, and has an unrepentant sexist approach that would have most women screaming in rage. Despite this, he grows on you and there is a fascinating chemistry between both characters that’s completely unexpected and just right.

The Kill has a really intriguing plot. It all starts when a police officer is found shot in is car in a part in a secluded part of a city park. What was he doing there? Was he alone? Was he killed because of something in his personal life? Or could he have been attacked because of something he was working on? These are the questions in Kerrigan and Derwent’s minds when they get another call: a second policeman is also found dead, and then another. Suddenly, the police go from being the protectors to needing protection less they fall prey to a relentless and vicious cop killer. No one knows where of how the killer will strike again or have any clues on how to stop him.

The pace of this book was just right with the perfect combination of mystery and character development. I loved how everything in the plot was connected. Looking back on it, I can see how all the clues were there in the smallest details pointing in the right direction, but it still left me guessing until the very end.

I have no hesitation in recommending The Kill for fans of complex mysteries with a hearty dose of character development.  Other similar mysteries you might enjoy are those by Robert Galbraith, Kelley Armstrong, Mo Hayder and Tess Gerritsen.