- Format: Kindle Edition
- File Size: 1683 KB
- Print Length: 498 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1658969049
- Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
- Publisher: Unputdownable (16 Mar. 2020)
- Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
- Language: English
- ASIN: B084TLRRPH
Synopsis
On Christmas Eve, DCI Mackenzie Jones is called to a shooting at a remote farmhouse. Ralph Mallender believes his father lies dead inside. When three more bodies are discovered, it’s clear a festive family gathering has turned into a gruesome tragedy.
At first it seems like an open and shut case: a murder suicide committed by Ralph’s volatile brother Cameron. Then new evidence makes Mack suspect the man who reported the crime is in fact the perpetrator.
But Mack isn’t the only one with a stake in the case. Private investigator Atticus Priest has been hired to get Ralph acquitted. That means unearthing any weaknesses in Mack’s evidence.
Irascible, impatient and unpredictable, Atticus has weaknesses of his own. Mack knows all about them because they share a past – both professionally and personally. This time round, however, they aren’t on the same side. And as Atticus picks at the loose ends of the case, everything starts to unravel in a way neither of them could ever have predicted…
Review
The House in the Woods is as dark and mysterious as the front cover suggests. DCI Mackenzie Jones, Mack, is called on Christmas Eve to a remote farmhouse where a family of four, the Mallenders, have been murdered. With the house locked from the inside it looks like an open and shut case of murder suicide, with the son, Cameron the killer. But, as the investigation progresses the eldest brother Ralph, who called the police the night of the murders becomes the chief suspect. With the trial about to begin, Ralph’s wife hires Private Investigator Atticus Priest to take a second look at all the evidence against her husband to help acquit him. With a checkered past, Atticus and Mack find themselves head to head in the courtroom, as the pressure builds towards the verdict.
Mark Dawson is a new author to me, but I’m sure many of you will be familiar with his bestselling John Milton Series or Beatrix Rose thrillers. The House in the Woods is the first book in a new series, featuring PI Atticus Priest. Priest, like many PI’s, is a disgraced detective, sacked from the job after a case gone wrong, a broken love affair and his subsequent downward spiral; the interesting point being Mack, his boss at the time, was his affair. Since leaving the police, he is down on his luck and sleeping next-door to his office with his dog. He does have a certain amount of charm though, with his rugged good looksand devil may care attitude, but in my opinion anyone who has twenty crates of books and loves his dog has to be a good person. Atticus is someone who will go the extra mile for his clients, and is known by the police for his intuition and doggedness, which shines trough in this book, and his search for the truth.
DCI Mackenzie Jones is the opposite to Atticus, at thirty eight she is successful DCI, married with two children. But not all is as it seems, her long hours and dedication to her job causes friction in her marriage, which is just recovering from her affair with Atticus, who she promised never to see again; and now they are working on the same case. Mack respects Atticus’s work, even though he crosses the line with his methods and may destroy her case against Ralph Mallender, in favour of the murder suicide scenario where Cameron is the killer.
Mark Dawson has written a book full of tension and suspense on many different levels. The prosecution case has Ralph Mallender in the dock, the eldest brother and the only member of the family not in the farm house that fateful evening. He had stormed out after a family argument but returned to clear the air only to see his father dead on the floor. Ralph says his brother Cameron, who has anger issues, is the shooter, and this is who his defence are putting forward as the real killer. Two brothers, one dead, one alive are on trial, and the tension rises as the evidence swings back and forward, in this car crash of a trial where nothing is as it seems. There is also the building up of the sexual tension between Atticus and Mack, a feeling of unfinished business that raises the temperature of the plot and adds an extra layer of drama.
The House in the Woods maybe the first book I have read by Mark Dawson, but it certainly won’t be the last. I found the writing to be skilled with an intelligent plot, gritty but realistic characters and engaging prose. The suspense and increasing tension had me gripped, my heart beating faster as the book raced towards it’s sinister conclusion, that has definitely left me wanting more of Atticus and Mack. An exciting edge of your seat crime thriller, and I can’t wait for the next instalment.
