LJ Ross

I have started and abandoned this review more times than I care to remember and the reason for this is that nothing I write will even come close to how absolutely brilliant this book is. I'm already a fan of the DCI Ryan series but OH MY GOD Seven Bridges took my breath away, almost stopped my heart, made me gasp out loud, brought tears to my eyes, gave me goosebumps and left me completely thunderstruck.

I'm not going to write too much about the plot, other than what is mentioned in the show more blurb, but I have to share the moment I read the scene where the Tyne Bridge explodes. I was reading at my desk on my lunchbreak when I emitted an almighty gasp that made my colleague ask what the matter was. With tears in my eyes and a shaky voice I said 'the Tyne Bridge has just blown up'. For a heartstopping second, my colleague thought that I'd read a breaking news alert! You can't get more realistic than that in fiction! I can see this becoming the question you ask people at parties instead of (age dependent) where they were when Kennedy was shot or when Princess Diana died. Do you remember where you were when you were reading LJ Ross' book about the Tyne Bridge blowing up?

LJ Ross definitely found the golden ticket when she created DCI Ryan and his team; the storylines are outstanding but LJ Ross goes one better than 3D by creating four-dimensional characters that feel as real as you or me. I mean it goes without saying that everyone loves Ryan, but we also love Ryan's strong and sensible wife Anna, down to earth DS Frank Phillips who is always thinking of his stomach, DI Denise MacKenzie who has been through a lot and has finally found happiness and DC Jack Lowerson who is so lovely and just wants to find love (but he's clueless where ladies are concerned). I love meeting up with my old friends in Northumbria CID.

LJ Ross takes not just a step but a massive jump out of the 'cozy mysteries' genre into 'crime thriller' with this explosive instalment in the DCI Ryan series. Seven Bridges is darker, more dangerous and so very realistic that it is a Thriller with a capital T. I am absolutely certain that this will be the best book I read this year...how do I know this already, you ask...because it is THE BEST BOOK I'VE EVER READ!!!! There are simply not enough stars in the sky to award this book so I have to make do with giving it five stars.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion. show less

The most eagerly awaited sequel to Angel is here and I for one could not wait to read High Force. It had no sooner dropped on my kindle than I had read and devoured it, reading way past my bedtime but powerless to prevent myself from reading just one more chapter.

High Force picks up seamlessly where Angel left off, and if you've read Angel you'll know just what a jaw-dropping cliffhanger of an ending us Ryan fans were left with. Keir Edwards, aka 'The Hacker', returns to haunt Ryan after his show more escape from prison and continues his personal vendetta against Ryan by kidnapping one of his colleagues. In a game of cat and mouse, Ryan and the team investigate every possible lead in order to rescue their friend and colleague. With an ultimatum from The Hacker, they have a race against time to find his location before he claims another victim, one they care a lot about.

LJ Ross has another North East adventure in this amazing series, with some of my favourite local attractions featuring in High Force. There's High Force itself, although unlike the other books in the series it only features in the last quarter of the book. High Force is a spectacular waterfall in Teesdale where the River Tees plunges over the famous 295 million year old Whin Sill. I was also delighted to see Blanchland featuring in the book; it's one of my favourite villages to visit and I have been known to have a pint or two in The Lord Crewe Arms with its famous priest hole hidden within the fireplace of the adjoining hotel. Even though I know the locations well, they are so vividly described that even people who have never visited the area will be able to create an accurate mental picture.

Although each DCI Ryan novel could be read as a standalone, you would get the best Ryan experience by reading them in order. The characters become so familiar that you know everything about them and you care what happens to them. I would absolutely love to see the DCI Ryan series picked up for TV to bring these fictional characters to life, as I have to keep reminding myself that they're not real...but they are real in my head.

High Force is another outstanding book in the DCI Ryan series penned by the super-talented LJ Ross. Be warned before you read it: it is covered in virtual superglue so once you pick it up, it is impossible to put down. It felt like a few loose ends were tidied up in High Force but there are too many DCI Ryan fans (yes, we're all a bit in love with him) for this to be his last outing. Thankfully, LJ Ross shows no signs of stopping here (I hope) and manages to churn out her books in quick succession without scrimping on quality.

Miss this series and you will regret it. All of us book bloggers cannot be wrong (we never are).

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion. show less

Goodness! I am definitely enamored of this series! The mystery is excellently plotted and perfectly paced. You’ll have a feeling of knowing all of the characters – good and bad. You’ll love the good ones and hate the bad ones – and you’ll know why in each case. We are eighteen books into the series and I still look forward to each new book with as much enthusiasm as I did in the beginning. I love that the author deals with some very gritty social issues – in this case human show more trafficking – and she presents the subject in such a way that you learn something at the same time you are trying to puzzle out the mystery along with Ryan’s team. BTW – in case it matters to you – there is a lot about personal relationships within the book. It takes place around Valentine's Day. For me, those personal tidbits and relationships are what make reading the dark, gritty subject matter tolerable. If it was just a police procedural with no personal information on the investigators, I would have stopped reading the series long ago.

Twenty very scared young women are drugged and handcuffed in the hold of an old, beat-up fishing trawler bound for Scotland. Storm Edith is raging outside and the vessel is creaking and popping and the water is coming in so fast the ship cannot be saved. The four men who are their captors free the women and force them into the freezing water. They are ordered to swim for shore and stay together. Eighteen of the women and all four of their captors make it to the shore together. Two of the women are either dead or separated. The captors search the beaches and caves, but they find no sign of the two missing women.

The broken, bloated body of a young woman is found the next morning – in/near the wreckage of a fishing trawler. DCI Ryan and his team get the call to come to the scene and when they see the body – and notice the bruising on the wrists, they are sure they have more than just a drowning victim.

While Ryan’s team doesn’t know about the woman who is still missing, we do – and so do the kidnappers. What happens to that missing woman – and separately to the other eighteen women is our story. And – it is a doozie of a story. We meet some of the most despicable characters you’ll ever read. They are cruel, unfeeling, selfish, and … well, you name it and if it is bad, they fit. With delight, we watch Ryan and his team methodically follow the leads and dismantle this human trafficking organization. We also witness horrible abuse – and a sad death for a boy I’d hope could be rescued and redeemed.

I definitely recommend this book – and this series. It is an exciting, fast-paced read that will keep you interested from the first page to the last. I read it straight through in one sitting because I just couldn’t put it down – I had to know what happened next. I hope you’ll enjoy the book as much as I did. show less

This is a crime thriller, but it also contains a hint of the supernatural, occult, and macabre. As the only police officer on Lindisfarne, or also known as Holy Island, DCI Ryan is summoned to the scene of a suspicious death. A young girl has been found strangled and left naked in the ruins of the old Priory. Ryan was still on sick leave following an incident a few months before in which he was attacked by a serial killer, so his boss is reluctant to let him investigate. Little did either of show more them know that this would be the start of a challenging, and in some respects, life changing investigation for many of the Islands residents and is team. Places such as Lindisfarne, are covered with ancient myths, legends, spooky old Priories, along with being on a location along a stunning stretch of the north-east coast. Many people come to celebrate the summer and winter solstice, and it is during the winter solstice that the death occurs just a few days before Christmas. The author has managed to create a thrilling and chilling tale, which may be a bit short on the murder side but still manages to be delightfully gruesome. The victims are varied, the methods of death random and diverse and yet all seem to link back to pagan symbolism. I really liked this this about the book. It adds a touch of "madness" and a feeling to what might otherwise have seemed a straightforward domestic event. The murders themselves are not described in grotesque detail, but they didn't need to be. From the very first chapter, as the body count grows, as the true sense of the darkness which infected the small island community became crystal clear, I wanted to know more. It's an intriguing plotline, a good mystery, with a bad guy that you will just love to hate. The story leaves you with a sense that there is still more to come, making you look forward to the next book. show less