The Murderer's Son: A Jackman and Evans Thriller

I have read the other Joy Ellis books, but not in sequence so I have just caught up on the first one and it was still a good read.

Joy carries you expertly through the clues. The characters also have enough depth to help you know who they are

I enjoyed this book but did find it hard going sometimes! "Full of twists" I'm not sure of that .

I enjoy Joy Ellis's books but this is the first I've read in the Jackman and Evans series. What a great read it was.The gruesome discovery of a body leads to a young man confessing to the murder which has echoes of an old murder case. The man claims he is the son of the famous murderer Francoise Thayer but is he? He suffers from some memory loss. With the aid of a psychologist, Jackman and Evans try to piece together the truth about what has happened and solve the mystery of whether Daniel really is the son of a murderer and if he is the real killer.Lots of twists and turns here and I was hooked from start to finish. I like the characters particularly Marie Evans and Orac and look forward to reading the rest now in this gripping series.

I have long been a fan of Joy Ellis and have read every one of her Nikki Galena series, so I was expecting good things when I started this book and I was not disappointed! This is the first in the DI Jackman and DS Evans series and it’s always interesting to read about the main characters in the initial book of a series and I took to this pair straight away. DI Rowan Jackman is an interesting character, he comes from quite a privileged upbringing, is highly intelligent and has a degree in anthropology. He is younger than DS Marie Evans who is in her forties and is a widow. She’s a keen motor cyclist as was her late husband. She’s much more of an intuitive copper who has that ‘gut feeling’ for things. They pair perfectly!The book starts with a horrific double murder from the 90’s (and hooked me straight away - which I love) then comes back to the present with a young man confessing to a murder. He is convinced he is the son of the woman who committed the gruesome murder that opens the book. The police, however, are not so convinced that he’s committed the crime.There is quite a bit of psychology in this book and that also makes it a winner for me.I’ve only given four stars for two reasons, firstly I guessed who the murderer was quite a bit before the ending and secondly because I wasn’t sure of the reason for what seemed to be an aside story involving two other police officers and part of that little sub-plot was a bit far-fetched, in my opinion. However, I was very close to awarding five stars and I already have the second book in the series lined up to read!

Daniel doesn't know what happened, he can't remember. He believes he is a murderer, that he is the son of Francoise Thayer, an evil, murderous woman with an insatiable bloodlust.With his belief regarding his mother, he believes he suffers from an inherited condition like Thayer and confessed to Jackman of the murder of a local woman.Another body is found, and again it coincides with one of Daniel's fugue states.An eminent psychologist is brought in to create a profile of the killer, he believes that Daniel is innocent.Skye, Daniel's girlfriend is of the same opinion.A third body is found, and suspicion of Daniel increases.Good to the last page.

Having read other Joy Ellis crime books, was looking forward to !pre of the same. This is a good book but was very slow to start and get going, once or twice I nearly gave up by it all comes together on an excellent conclusion. It is worth persevering with as it ended differently to the ideas I had in my head

Enjoyed the story but sadly solved the plot before halfway through. I will probably read the next one which hopefully will have a less obvious murderer