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The Reckoning (2014)

by Rennie Airth

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Series: John Madden (4)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
21012128,003 (3.99)11
"The Second World War has ended, leaving a bruised and fragile peace. But this tranquillity is threatened when a shocking murder takes place in the Sussex countryside. Before long, police experts discover a link to another, earlier, killing hundreds of miles away ...While Scotland Yard detective Billy Styles struggles to find a link between these two murders, a strange twist of fate brings former Detective Inspector John Madden into the investigations. As the victim count rises it becomes clear that to catch this serial killer Madden, Styles and young policewoman Detective-Constable Lily Poole must act quickly. But Madden remains haunted by the mysteries at the heart of the case. Why was his name in a letter the second target had been penning, just before he died? Could the real clue to these perplexing murders lie within the victims' pasts? And within his own? With this stunning, atmospheric crime novel teeming with twists and moving between the 1950s, the First and Second World Wars, Rennie Airth, the author of River of Darkness, The Blood-Dimmed Tide and The Dead of Winter presents his greatest and most compelling novel yet"--… (more)
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» See also 11 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 12 (next | show all)
This book started out far too slowly, but if you skim the first 90 pages, the rest of the story makes up for it well enough. In real life murder investigations hit dead ends and get stalled often enough that I suppose this book presents a realistic picture of murder investigations as they really are, but reading about the part where the investigators are stuck is not really very engaging, especially for nearly 100 pages. The investigators themselves are a bit dense, which allows the reader to feel terribly clever for figuring out who the murderer is by ~100pgs before the characters work it out, which is great for the reader's self esteem, but makes the last 100 pages less exciting as we wait for the investigators to catch up.
I like the historical elements that Rennie Airth puts into his murder mysteries, though, enough that I forgave the structural problems in this novel for the interesting perspective Airth provides on WW1 field court martials. The characters are believable and likable, however slow they are at working out murder suspects and scenarios, and the female characters in this novel are well balanced, not caricatures. ( )
  JBarringer | Dec 15, 2023 |
This is the fourth book in the Inspector John Madden series, and its set about two years later than the last one. John is still retired and living in the country with his wife Helen. For those who haven't read the three other books in the series, please do so now. These mysteries are remarkable. Airth writes literary, awesomely plotted books, and my only complaint is that there aren't enough of them in this remarkable series. Madden served in the Great War and he manages to return to England like so many thousands and hundreds of thousands didn't. He is forever changed, but he comes back to his position as a DCI in Scotland Yard. So now a number of years later we see him at his country farm with Helen. His former Sergeant Billy Styles comes to visit him at home in the early fall of 1947. Billy tells John that there have been two execution-style killings - one in Scotland and one near London, both committed with the same gun. Billy tells John that a witness heard the second victim mention his name before he was shot. He asks John if he knows either victim. John can't, recall the people, but he tries to help Billy with the investigation, and the further they go into it, the more it looks like the murders are because of something that occurred in the Great War, and it was a shameful event that happened in France and one that John had been involved with. While they investigate, more bodies are found, and John and Billy with the help of a smart young WPC by the name of Lily Poole are in a race against time to try to figure out the motives behind the killings and stop the carnage. They are up against an extremely intelligent, ruthless and well-trained assassin. Gee whiz I wish there was more than one more book left in this wonderful series. Five is not nearly enough. ( )
  Romonko | Dec 5, 2019 |
This book started out far too slowly, but if you skim the first 90 pages, the rest of the story makes up for it well enough. In real life murder investigations hit dead ends and get stalled often enough that I suppose this book presents a realistic picture of murder investigations as they really are, but reading about the part where the investigators are stuck is not really very engaging, especially for nearly 100 pages. The investigators themselves are a bit dense, which allows the reader to feel terribly clever for figuring out who the murderer is by ~100pgs before the characters work it out, which is great for the reader's self esteem, but makes the last 100 pages less exciting as we wait for the investigators to catch up.
I like the historical elements that Rennie Airth puts into his murder mysteries, though, enough that I forgave the structural problems in this novel for the interesting perspective Airth provides on WW1 field court martials. The characters are believable and likable, however slow they are at working out murder suspects and scenarios, and the female characters in this novel are well balanced, not caricatures. ( )
  JBarringer | Dec 30, 2017 |
This book is number 4 of a series. The stories contain the same characters over a span of time from WW 1 past WW 2. Although the stories are separated by years, each crime related back to the first world war. All of the books contain a lot of narrative. ( )
  delta61 | Aug 5, 2016 |
I received an Advanced Reading Copy courtesy of GoodReads Giveaways.

A fun mystery that blends with historical fictions to appeal to a wide audience. There's nothing bubbly here - the murders are seemingly random at first, particularly ruthless, and only feed to an intense ending.

Any lover of historical fiction and mysteries will enjoy this work. I haven't yet read the other Rennie Airth books of the 'Madden' series (although I now will), but I had no problems following along with the characters and plot. My only criticisms are that I felt the book to be slightly overwritten - the character descriptions and dialogue were quite thorough - and it does get off to something of a slow start. However, this writing style will appeal to many other readers, so don't let that discourage you.

Overall a fun book, and definitely encourages further reading of Airth's material. Great character development and plot. ( )
  bdtrump | May 9, 2015 |
Showing 1-5 of 12 (next | show all)
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» Add other authors

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Airth, Rennieprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Mackenzie, Robert IanNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Ramirez, JasonCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Schlootz, EllenTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Taylor, MatthewCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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As he was fitting a new fly to his hook, Oswald Gibson looked up and saw two figures on the ridge above, both of them carrying what looked like fishing gear over their shoulders, long cylindrical cases of the kind that you could fit to two sections of a rod in.
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"The Second World War has ended, leaving a bruised and fragile peace. But this tranquillity is threatened when a shocking murder takes place in the Sussex countryside. Before long, police experts discover a link to another, earlier, killing hundreds of miles away ...While Scotland Yard detective Billy Styles struggles to find a link between these two murders, a strange twist of fate brings former Detective Inspector John Madden into the investigations. As the victim count rises it becomes clear that to catch this serial killer Madden, Styles and young policewoman Detective-Constable Lily Poole must act quickly. But Madden remains haunted by the mysteries at the heart of the case. Why was his name in a letter the second target had been penning, just before he died? Could the real clue to these perplexing murders lie within the victims' pasts? And within his own? With this stunning, atmospheric crime novel teeming with twists and moving between the 1950s, the First and Second World Wars, Rennie Airth, the author of River of Darkness, The Blood-Dimmed Tide and The Dead of Winter presents his greatest and most compelling novel yet"--

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