Book info

• Title Dead Lock
• Author Damien Boyd
• Year 2018
• Genre Thriller

Early on a cold Somerset morning, ten year old Alesha Daniels is reported missing by her father, a violent alcoholic. Her mother, a known drug addict, is found unconscious, but it’s her mother’s boyfriend the police are keen to trace. As the hunt for Alesha gathers pace, a second local girl is taken, plunging another family into the depths of despair. Cutting short his holiday, DI Nick Dixon races home to join the Major Investigation Team, but no sooner has he identified a network of local suspects than they begin to show up dead. At odds with his superiors, Dixon is convinced the child abductions are anything but random, but nobody is prepared for the investigation to lead quite so close to home. Can Dixon and his team crack the case before all the suspects are silenced? And will he find the missing girls before it’s too late?

Thoughts

This book took the crime to the heart of our gang of protagonists, with a couple of abducted children in varying degrees of danger - one of whom is family of a member of the team. That meant the stakes were really high and I feel like this is the first time it’s been clear that our hero Nick Dixon is considered to be seriously good at his job. Obviously we know that he’s great having followed him through the series, but it’s never really been clear that anyone else has noticed how he goes the extra mile to get the job done and is thus revered for it. But this time, the pressure is on… a really interesting plot and also potentially, spoiler alert, the first time the main man got away.

Rating: 3 / 5