Book info

• Title Fatal Frost
• Author James Henry
• Year 2012
• Genres Mystery, Crime

May, 1982. Britain celebrates the sinking of the Belgrano, Princess Diana prepares for the birth of her first child and Denton Police Division welcomes its first black policeman, DS Waters - recently relocated from East London. While the force is busy dealing with a spate of local burglaries, the body of fifteen-year-old Samantha Ellis is discovered in woodland next to the nearby railway track. Then a fifteen-year-old boy is found dead on Denton's golf course, his organs removed. Detective Sergeant Jack Frost is sent to investigate - a welcome distraction from troubles at home. And when the murdered boy's sister goes missing, Frost and Waters must work together to find her... before it's too late.

Thoughts

I do like how the new writers in the Frost series have channelled the feeling of the original set of novels but I’m not totally sure this one lived up to my expectations. It had a great start to the story and a great end, but seemed to get lost along the way in the middle. There’s a lot of waffling around and waiting for things to happen.

I did enjoy the additional complications in Jack’s personal life though - dealing with the racism that is rife around the station, trying to work through his feelings for his mistress, whilst also working out what’s going on with his wife. And if you’ve read the Wingfield books, you’ll know where that’s headed but it still gives you a sucker punch when it happens. On to the next one!

Rating: 3 / 5