A Cut For A Cut by Carol Wyer

Today I’m joining the blog tour for book two in the Kate Young series by Carol Wyer, A Cut For A Cut. My thanks to Emma Welton of Damppebbles Blog Tours for the invite and to publisher Thomas & Mercer for the advance copy. Here’s what the book is about:

About the Book

DI Kate Young can’t trust anybody. Not even herself.

In the bleak countryside around Blithfield Reservoir, a serial murderer and rapist is leaving a trail of bloodshed. His savage calling card: the word ‘MINE’ carved into each of his victims.

DI Kate Young struggles to get the case moving—even when one of the team’s own investigators is found dead in a dumpster. But Kate is battling her own demons. Obsessed with exposing Superintendent John Dickson and convinced there’s a conspiracy running deep in the force, she no longer knows who to trust. Kate’s crusade has already cost her dearly. What will she lose next?

When her stepsister spills a long-buried secret, Kate realises she’s found the missing link—now she must prove it before the killer strikes again. With enemies closing in on all sides, she’s prepared to do whatever it takes to bring them down. But time is running out, and Kate’s past has pushed her to the very edge. Can she stop herself from falling?

My Thoughts

If there is one thing you can guarantee when picking up a thriller by Carol Wyer, it’s that you are about to go on one hell of a bumpy ride. A Cut For A Cut is book two in her Kate Young series, and is a tense, high stakes read which kept me completely rapt. This isn’t your straight forward police thriller, at last Kate is not your average Detective Inspector, for reasons that become apparent in the reading, but with a mixture of mystery, heart thumping action and a more than generous dose of conspiracy and corruption, the stories really do stick in your mind long after the final page.

This time around we find Kate and her very select team on the hunt of a vicious serial rapist and murderer. Whilst we are never present during the act itself, the repercussions are keenly felt, and the abhorrent nature of the acts is clear from the reactions of the team and the emotional impact on the families. this case has a personal connotation for Kate too, bringing her far too close to memories from the past. You feel the frustrations of the team as they hunt down their suspect, and the tension that builds between them adds to the jeopardy that is already inherent in the story. The narrative focus moves between the investigation, Kate’s personal life and, to a more sinister degree, the point of view of the killer, whose own motivations start to become clearer the more you read and progressively more disturbing too. There are scenes which will make you uncomfortable – they should – but they are not over stressed or used to gratuitous effect, just to explain, but not excuse, what comes to be.

Now for many reasons, one of which being you will miss a good book otherwise, I would definitely recommend that you read book one before venturing further into Kate’s world. There are threads in this story which begin with An Eye For an Eye and whilst this is a self contained story, and enough of the background to Kate and her investigations is revealed, it will mean so much more read in order. There is a secondary element to this story, one which is extremely personal to Kate, but one which also needs to be followed carefully to allow you to draw your own conclusions and fully understand the implications of what is going on. It’s interesting to see Kate’s reactions, torn between what is right and discovering the truth.

As always Carol Wyer has created some brilliant characters. Kate Young has a few, how should I put it, unusual character quirks that might make your brows furrow a touch, but they do really ring true and I can picture someone with the intensity of emotions that she feels acting in this way. I don’t think we got to know as much about her immediate team this time around, much of the focus falling on the relationship between Kate and her estranged sister, but each of their personalities still shone through and I had a clear and vivid picture of each in my head as I read. The pacing is just right, the tension and anxiety building as we know an attack is imminent, the bits that remain unsaid about the killers motivations playing out in my head making me more intent to get to the end to be proven right (or possibly wrong …)

A tense, gripping read that left me with a whole host of unanswered question and a real hunger for the next book in the series. Definitely recommended.

About the Author

USA Today bestselling author and winner of The People’s Book Prize Award, Carol Wyer’s crime novels have sold over 800,000 copies and been translated into nine languages. A move from humour to the ‘dark side’ in 2017 saw the introduction of popular DI Robyn Carter in Little Girl Lost, and proved that Carol had found her true niche. Carol has been interviewed on numerous radio shows discussing ‘Irritable Male Syndrome’ and ‘Ageing Disgracefully’, and on BBC Breakfast television. She has written for Woman’s Weekly, Take A Break, Choice, Yours, Woman’s Own and HuffPost. She currently lives on a windy hill in rural Staffordshire with her husband, Mr Grumpy…who is very, very grumpy. When she is not plotting devious murders, she can be found performing her comedy routine, Smile While You Still Have Teeth.

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