David Harsent

This first crime-suspense novel by an established poet and scriptwriter from Britain, David Lawrence, is remorseless and completely plausible, depicting gangland London with unflinching brutality. The protagonist DS Stella Mooney is a tireless pursuer of justice haunted by nightmares about a lost child and a woman who takes to the trenches of police work with startling stamina. Mooney, who relies upon psychiatric counseling, is a careworn child of poverty-ridden slums who knows intimately show more that world of utter drudgery and constant sordidness. She relives it in her mind non-stop.Her specialized knowledge of the dregs of society brings her up against the Tanners, sadistic purveyors of flesh who enslave women from Eastern Europe as hookers, and who are menaced by no less vicious crooks from the former Bosnia-Serbia, a crucible and cauldron for stone-cold killers and hard-core assassins of the worst kind.
This appalling clash of cultures, with rape-victim refugees as the center-piece of the well-paced drama, is captured by writer Lawrence with consistent sensitivity and an affectionate ear for the everyday living that helps comfort the law enforcement personnel during their daily grind. Mooney is both helped and hindered in her quest to bring down the Tanners by investigative journalist and busybody John Delaney, who tempts her to abandon her one solid relationship with her lover George. There are matters she cannot bring herself to discuss with George and John helps her vent her demons, though she distrusts his profession deeply.
Stella’s inbred assertiveness and blind ,dogged belief in herself, time and again causes her grief, attacked by a pet ape, abducted by a mad-dog killer, she seems invincible: either the victim of a death-wish or a woman determined that no man can best her at her job. Yet she is entirely believable as characterized by author Lawrence - as are her kindly cohorts and her ferocious foes. All too believable much of the time since THE DEAD SIT ROUND IN A RING has that echoing ring of authenticity and benefits from the soul of a somber, serious writer who really does care, and who very closely observes the teeming tumultuous lives around him, particularly the low-lives caught in their cruel acts red-handed and incorrigibly so. show less

This is a refreshing police procedural with fully developed characters, a lot of action and the plot takes some shocking twists that will totally surprise the reader who will have a hard time waiting to see what happens next. Fans who appreciate a complex murder mystery will want to read David Lawrence's tense thriller.

DAVID Lawrence has a host of best-sellers to his name, and no wonder — he tells a good story, fast-paced, with lively and believable characters: Cold Kill is no exception.

Set in London, he examines modern organised crime, including its links with global terrorism, and how difficult it is for the law to keep it in check.

The line between good and evil is blurred as security agencies torture and murder to get information that might save many lives: grim and a little pessimistic, Cold Kill show more is nevertheless a thrilling read. show less

I really enjoy the rhytm and language, i am not huge poetry reader but this felt like a voice speaking to me.