Black and Blue

A fantastic introduction to Harriet Blue. A well structured and well written story that offers action, thrills and spills. I enjoyed the clashing relationship between Harriet & Tox but found the behaviour and outright hostility of her fellow officers towards Harriet due to being teamed up with Tox, not by choice, to be less than believable and let the story down somewhat, hence the 4 stars.

Looking forward to the next in the series and hope that Tox will be a regular character.

The Narrator, Federay Holmes, is new to me but gave an excellent performance and was a pleasure to listen to so I hope she will reprise her role in the rest of the series.

"Black and Blue" by James Patterson is apparently a short story that introduces Detective Harriet Blue. I don't feel that the short story did the characters any justice. There wasn't enough time devoted to the character and plot to provide a true understanding of this newest character. Frankly, I came away feeling that she wasn't a character that I would be interested in reading about in future novels. I would have preferred a complete novel.

Black and Blue-James Patterson and Candice Fox, authors; Federay Holmes, narrator
Detective Harriet Blue goes by the name of Harry. She has a brother Samuel. They both came up the hard way. She is a good cop. He is a teacher at a university in Sidney.
When the book opens, Harry is stalking Ben Hammond. He escaped conviction for the rape he committed and she taught him a lesson. Harry wants to work on the case of a serial killer, the Georges River Killer, but she is thwarted at every turn, and she believes it is because she is female.
She is teamed up on a case with a cop who is considered Toxic and that is indeed his nickname. His real name is Tate Barnes, but Tox Barnes, as he is called, apparently as a youngster, only 7 years old, had show more committed a murder, a murder of a mother and child. As hard as it is to believe someone only 7 was guilty of such a crime, it is harder to believe that he would be ostracized for it so many years later, but the force rejected him because of it. They do not believe he has a right to be a cop, but he happens to be a good one, even if he makes his own rules and works alone much of the time. Although those on the force resented his past, and punished any officer willing to work with him, one has to wonder if their present way of treating him, and those working with him, did not also leave a lot to be desired. He was gruff, however, and made it hard to like him. Perhaps it was a defense mechanism.
Harry and Tox successfully worked together to heroically solve their case and a case that other cops were working on. They stopped a very sick woman, Hope Stallwood, from continuing to murder the victims who stood in the way of her effort to rewrite her own life. She had no conscience and felt no remorse for her vicious crimes. She was very angry and very disturbed.
In the surprise ending, it seems there were others who were unexpectedly discovered to be very disturbed. Mental illness is often undiagnosed or unobserved, but it lurks in the minds of many who do evil things. show less

Detective Harriet Blue arrives at a murder scene certain this killing is the work of the Georges River Killer, a serial killer preying on young women. However, Detective Tate Barnes, first on the scene, assures her it is not. Nevertheless, Harriet, determined to bring the Georges River Killer to justice, isn’t so certain.
But their investigation takes an unexpected turn when the disappearance of a retired couple sailing down the coast becomes part of the young woman’s murder case.

Harriet Blue is a tough cop, but is that enough to bring down a predator and take a serial killer off the street?

Gritty, packed with action and a fast-moving plot, this BookShots tale will keep the pages turning toward an ending that readers simply won’t show more see coming. show less

I had a great time reading this one. It was fast paced with an interesting plot twist, and it was frustrating situation that the main character was put in. So, seeing how she would work her way out of it pulled me all the way through this title. The reason I gave this a 4 over 5 star was cause of the ending now really ending. I found this character Harriet Blue is from a trilogy of novels as well and the second book in the trilogy comes after this Bookshot.

Harriet (Harry) Blue is a feisty detective working on sex crimes investigations in Australia. She is going to investigate the murder of Claudia, who was washed ashore. Is this one of the Georges River killings? Why is the task force for the Georges River murders not letting Harry know what they know? This is the tale of greed and murder.

short prequel to Never Never, sets up the story well.