Book info

• Title Playing with Fire
• Author Kerry Wilkinson
• Year 2013
• Genre Thriller

Seven years ago Martin Chadwick set fire to a Manchester pub, not knowing a teenager was sleeping inside. Chadwick's release from prison is imminent, with journalists gearing up for a good old-fashioned media lynching. With the victim's father telling the papers he is out for revenge, DS Jessica Daniel is left to keep an eye on Chadwick and his fiery eighteen-year-old son. If that's not enough to keep her occupied, a private investigator is doing a fine job sticking his oar in, it looks like there's a schoolgirl suicide ring in operation, her car is working a little too well, and the endless rain continues to pound her northern home.

Thoughts

Another good entry in the Jessica Daniel series, although this one brought out some new reactions in me. Where previously, Jess has had a certain disregard for the rules to go with her hunches and it has tended to work out in the end, this time it felt so clear that she was wrong. Everyone was saying it, and I wasn’t keen on just how far over the line she went in her efforts to prove a point.

It was good to see the interactions between police department and private investigator, and to have two separate cases that overlapped but in the end remained separate with independently satisfying conclusions.

It was also fun to catch up with the characters again, to see Jess maturing and growing in her new relationship, and to find out how her friends were getting on too. I can sense trouble ahead, but for now it was a great ending for the story, and for this chapter in the DS Daniel series.

Rating: 3 / 5