Risk of Harm by Lucie Whitehouse #review @LWhitehouse5 @4thEstateBooks

Title: Risk of Harm
Series: Robin Lyons #2
Author: Lucie Whitehouse
Publisher: 4th Estate

Synopsis:

Robin Lyons is back in her hometown of Birmingham and now a DCI with Force Homicide, working directly under Samir, the man who broke her heart almost twenty years ago.

When a woman is found stabbed to death in a derelict factory and no one comes forward to identify the body, Robin and her team must not only hunt for the murderer, but also solve the mystery of who their victim might be.

As Robin and Samir come under pressure from their superiors, from the media and from far-right nationalists with a dangerous agenda, tensions in Robin’s own family threaten to reach breaking point. And when a cold case from decades ago begins to smoulder and another woman is found dead in similar circumstances, rumours of a serial killer begin to spread.

In order to get to the truth Robin will need to discover where loyalty ends and duty begins. But before she can trust, she is going to have to forgive – and that means grappling with some painful home truths.

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My review:

I really enjoyed the first in the Robin Lyons series, Critical Incidents [read my review here] so I had high hopes for the second, Risk of Harm. I’m glad to say I wasn’t disappointed!

Risk of Harm combines an engaging, emotive plot with the same great cast and deeper character development as we get to know Robin, daughter Lennie and Robin’s colleagues a little better…

Some of this novel I found upsetting to read, as it deals with racism in a frank (but sensitive) way. I don’t want to give too much away, but I really liked how various elements of this novel came together as the book went on. The plot is intriguing and engaging and I wanted to know ‘who did it’, but I also really enjoyed getting to know Robin as a character better, as well as her family.

Robin definitely has her flaws, and this is clear from her risky decisions, as was also evident in book one, but she’s still likeable – she’s just a human being at the end of the day, torn between family and her work. It’s a complex novel, with lots of characters and plot developments, but it’s still easy enough to follow and kept me wanting to read on. I’m already looking forward to book three!

Rating: 4/5

Many thanks to 4th Estate, who provided a copy of this novel on which I chose to write an honest and unbiased review.


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