The Fourth Victim

Author – John Mead.  Born in the mid-fifties in East London, on part of the largest council estate ever built.  I was the first pupil from my local secondary modern school to attend university.

I have travelled extensively during my life from America to Tibet.  I enjoy going to the theatre, reading and going to the pub.  It is, perhaps, no surprise that I am an avid ‘people watcher’ and love to find out about people, their lives, culture and history.

Many of the occurrences recounted and the characters found in my novels are based on real life incidents and people I have come across. Although I have allowed myself a wide degree of poetic licence in writing about the main characters, their motivations and the killings that are depicted.

Social Media Links –

Amazon Author Profile: https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B07B8SQ2ZH

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnMeadAuthor

Goodreads Profile: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17891273.John_Mead

Publisher – The Book Guild

Pages – 244

The Blurb –

Whitechapel is being gentrified.  The many green spaces of the area, which typify London as a capital city, give the illusion of peace, tranquillity and clean air but are also places to find drug dealers, sexual encounters and murder.

Detective Sergeant Julie Lukala doesn’t dislike Inspector Matthew Merry but he has hardly set the world of the Murder Investigation Team East alight.  And, it looks as if the inspector is already putting the death of a young female jogger, found in the park with her head bashed in, down to a mugging gone wrong. The victim deserves more.  However, the inspector isn’t ruling anything out – the evidence will, eventually, lead him to an answer.

Today is my stop on The Fourth Victim blog tour many thanks to Rachel’s Random Resources for the opportunity.

My thoughts – This is an interesting police procedural, the research undertaken is obvious by the author is obvious as it feels very authentic.  How the chain of command with a police force works, the handling of the case and everything written is thorough.  The story follows the murders of three girls with no apparent link to each other.  Matthew Merry is bored with his job and this could be his last case in this role, but with the help of his DS he finds out that this might be the most complex and disturbing case he has ever worked on.

Expert help is enlisted by the police force to enable Merry and Lukala to catch this erratic and dangerous killer, but will they be a help or hindrance to them both?

An enjoyable read with unexpected twists.  The author also includes helplines at the end of the book for the issues raised within (I’m not going to say the exact issues, as I don’t want to give away the story)

Purchase Links –

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fourth-Victim-John-Mead/dp/1912575361/

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-fourth-victim/john-mead/9781912575367

This book counts towards my British Book Challenge