The Crossing (Detective Louise Blackwell, 1) Paperback – February 14, 2020

Really enjoyed this first book in the series. Busy storyline that keeps you wondering. Character development was great. Looking forward to more by this author.

I managed to read this in a single, longish session. The story is inventive and easy to read. Not many degressions, which can make a book tedious.

With its unique story line and fast pace, this book will keep you on your toes from page one to the end, and it's so easy to keep track of the characters and plot. Very enjoyable and interesting. Glad I already bought book 2!

I'm glad I gave this book a second chance. I had started reading it earlier, but couldn't get into it. It picks up steam however and really delivers. Looking forward to next in the series.

The protagonist is banished to a backwater posting after, it’s revealed, a troublesome incident involving the dispute over the death of a suspect.In Weston-super-Mare, discovery of an elderly homicide victim with unusual, inexplicable injuries, begin Detective Blackwell’s travails, as the book alternates between the investigation and the perpetrator, grinding to a perilous, soggy confrontation.

Wonderful story, realistic heroics and real career problems that many people endure. Great stories make you dig deep and find some empathy for the madness of your murderer. Add in the ocean, rough weather, tight communities and some religious elements, brings you a long evening read. Heat the kettle or grab a bottle. I can't wait to read the next.

I enjoyed getting to know Detective Louise Blackwell.She’s a complicated character with a great backstory and lots of unresolved issues.

This is a great story which is well written and is hard to put down. It has a great plot with a lot of tense moments. I couldn't figure out who was the bad guy on why until the ending.

This was my first Matt Brolly book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I like his flowing story-telling and his descriptions of each character. I was completely hooked and I read the book in about 6 hours. I highly recommended reading it.

Un excellent livre d ’enquete, humain et bien construit, avec plusieurs caractères bien décrits et une course contre la montre haletante. Vivement le prochain livre

The author tried to write a very realistic police procedural but ended up with a bland story. The story could've been wrapped under 200 pages but the author padded with a lot of fluff which I just kept skipping after a few chapters. I understand the author might have wanted to make it a slow burn but the lack of thrill makes it boring largely. Coming to the story, a killer is killing people associated with a church however, in the end it isn't clear why he picked specifically those people because he had problem with only one person. I don't think I'm going to return to this series

薄闇のなか警部補ルイース・ブラックウェルは殺人犯のシルエットを見つけた。後ろから同僚の警部補ティモシー・フィンチが「やつは銃を持っているぞ！」と叫んだので躊躇せず引き金を引いた。ところが死体をみると犯人は丸腰だ！　フィンチは「すまなかった」と言ったがそれまで。彼女は譴責を受けて左遷。時が経ち風の便りでフィンチが警部に昇進したことを知りルイースはわだかまりをもったまま新しい相棒と組んで勤務していた。そのうち女性惨殺死体が発見されて以前のフィンチと関わった被害者に似た様子に既視感に襲われた。そのとき思いがけずフィンチから着信があって「いまさらなんで？」だったが、どうやらフィンチはあれ以来ずっとルイースのことを気にかけて遠くから見守ってくれていたようだった。そうした背景で話が進むが、章をめくるたびに新しい人物が現れてなにやらややこしいことをし始める。読み手としては振り回される感でいささか面白くないがこうした連中がルイースの周りを廻って次第に関わりを持ってくるのか、と読み進める。やがてフィンチが上級職として捜査チームに入ってきてルイースは穏やかでなはい。それでもやはりというか作者の手に乗せられて最後は緊迫した逮捕劇でページをめくる手がとまらなくなる。手練れのしっかりした作品で☆５つかなあ、というところだが気を持たせたフィンチが結局たいした役割を果たさず、タイトルのCrossing海峡も島がそれほど大切な舞台だったのか？それとも別の意味を懸けていたのか？など少々面倒な展開なので☆４つ。

This book showed up at a time when I had no idea what to read next. I liked it. Most books of this genre are basically the same, different characters, sometimes, different locations sometimes but basically the same idea; I can't read these forever; gotta explore something else, but they're great, up to a point. :)