Devil’s Way by Robert Bryndza

Today I am delighted to share my thoughts on the latest Kate Marshall novel from Robert Byrndza, Devil’s Way. I love this series and have really enjoyed catching back up with Kate and Tristan. My thanks to the author for the advance copy for review. Here’s what it’s all about:

About the Book

THE TRUTH HIDES IN THE DARK

Kate Marshall’s investigation into a young boy’s disappearance sends her down an unexpectedly twisted path in a riveting thriller by multi-million bestselling author, Robert Bryndza. 

When Private Investigator Kate Marshall is rushed to hospital after being pulled into a riptide current in the sea, the near-death experience leaves her shaken. During her recovery, she befriends Jean, an elderly lady on the same ward. Jean tells the harrowing story of how her three-year-old grandson, Charlie, went missing eleven years ago during a camping trip on Dartmoor.

By the time Kate is well enough to go home, she’s agreed to take on the case, but when Kate and her trusty sidekick Tristan start to look at the events of that fateful night, they discover that Jean has a dark past that could have put Charlie in jeopardy.

Was Charlie abducted? Or did he fall into Devil’s Way? A rushing river that vanishes into a gorge close to where they were camping.

When Kate and Tristan discover that a social worker who flagged concerns about Jean and her daughter was found brutally murdered shortly after Charlie vanished, it makes them question everything they thought they knew about the family…

Filled with twists and turns, Devil’s Way is the fourth Kate Marshall novel and the most gripping and satisfying yet!

My Thoughts

I do love this series and with Devil’s Way Robert Bryndza has given us a book that is teaming with mystery and unanswered questions, but which also pulls at the heartstrings somewhat. With Kate’s latest case involving a young boy who has been missing for more than a decade how can it not? A chance meeting after a near deadly accident leads to Kate meeting the boy’s grandmother Jean who asks her to find out once and for all what really happened to young Charlie all those years ago. Tragic accident or something more sinister? With no body and the evidence trail being beyond cold, this is one mystery that will take everything Kate and Tristan have got, and it’s a case that really does not disappoint.

I really do like the character of Kate. She is flawed and damaged, beaten down by her past, but she is not entirely broken. Anyone who has followed the series will know that she has a very dark history, personal demons that she has to deal with in a daily basis and every day can feel like an uphill struggle. With a terrible misjudgment on her part nearly costing her life, this book takes on a very different tone. Her son is studying overseas, she no longer has her best friend and neighbour for support, and much of life seems overwhelming for Kate which adds a layer of personal conflict to an already challenging case. There is little to lose in this particular investigation as events occurred some eleven years earlier, but the emotional pull of a family tragedy really does take its toll and that is captured perfectly in the story, the author reflecting the complexity of the case in Kate’s own struggles.

There is a deep emotional core to this book. You can feel that something ominous is about to happen from the very beginning, and there is a real sense of impending tragedy in the way the author has framed the story. But it is the mystery – the not knowing – which really captures the imagination. it doesn’t help that all of the characters involved in the investigation, from the family to the police who headed up the case, have some kind of shady past making their testimony hard to accept. That said, with one possible exception, there is a sense of them seeking redemption and wanting to right a past wrong, even if the conclusion to the case seems inevitable. There are a few scenes in this book which speak to the tragedy of the whole case, and ones which really did sadden me. Not the expected breakdown of Charlie’s family after his disappearance, but a reveal that comes as part of the investigation and that proves to be a crucial turning point in getting to the truth.

This is perhaps a slower paced book than its predecessors by virtue of the case they are investigating. It doesn’t make it any less compelling, and the mixture of characters both infuriate and amuse in equal measure, the partnership between Kate and Tristan being one of the real winning elements of the series. You do get a real sense of place from the book, the isolation of the location from which Charlie disappeared and that is one of the author’s real skills, being able to take readers to the heart of the scene, even if it is purely a work of imagination. I felt the cold of the stream, the wealth of possibilities for what could really have happened to Charlie and it helped to keep the mystery, and the tension, alive. Definitely recommended, especially for fans of the series.

About the Author

Robert Bryndza is best known for his page-turning crime and thriller novels, which have sold over five million copies.His crime debut, The Girl in the Ice, was released in February 2016, introducing Detective Chief Inspector Erika Foster. Within five months, it sold one million copies, reaching number one on the Amazon UK, USA, and Australian charts. The Girl in the Ice has sold over 1.5 million copies in the English language, and it has been sold into translation in 30 countries. It was nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award for Mystery & Thriller (2016), the Grand Prix des lectrices de Elle in France (2018), and it won two reader-voted awards, The Thrillzone Awards for best debut thriller in The Netherlands (2018) and The Dead Good Papercut Award for best page-turner at the Harrogate Crime Festival (2016).

Robert has released five more novels in the Erika Foster series, The Night Stalker, Dark Water, Last Breath, Cold Blood and Deadly Secrets, which have all been global bestsellers. In 2017 Last Breath was a Goodreads Choice Award nominee for Mystery and Thriller.Most recently, Robert created a new crime thriller series based around the central character Kate Marshall, a police officer turned private detective. The first book, Nine Elms, was an Amazon USA #1 bestseller and an Amazon UK top five bestseller, and the series has been sold into translation in 18 countries. The second book in the series is the global bestselling Shadow Sands, and the third book is Darkness Falls.Robert was born in Lowestoft, on the east coast of England.

He studied at Aberystwyth University and the Guildford School of Acting and was an actor for several years but didn’t find success until he took a play he’d written to the Edinburgh Festival. This led to the decision to change career and start writing. Before switching to writing crime, he self-published a bestselling series of romantic comedy novels. Robert lives with his husband in Slovakia and is lucky enough to write full-time.