Tag: New Series

I always look at the first book in a new series like the pilot of a television show. The author has to introduce all of the characters, give them at least a little bit of backstory, and write a plot that grabs the reader and hooks them for however long the series lasts. I would think that would be a challenging task. Fortunately, the new Detective Megan Thomas series mostly delivers.

I liked Megan. She suffers from almost crippling self-doubt due to past trauma (more on that later). As a result, she has to find her footing personally and in her new assignment. She’s feisty and tenacious, which sometimes leads to conflict with her superiors. Although, it was difficult to determine if that was due to Megan’s personality or for some other reason.

The members of her unit are unique individuals, and I could see the beginnings of a good working relationship between all of them. I did think a couple of them got short shrift; one did not have much to do, and another made some pivotal discoveries but then seemed to get sidelined a bit. Regardless of that, the chemistry is there to build upon in later books.

The plot is twisty, with two different cases running concurrently. The reader is led through both, wondering if they ever converge (I’m not tellin’). But both are fully realized, and the investigations are well-described and thorough.

The only thing that felt stilted was Megan’s past trauma. It seemed to exist in a vacuum, and its sole purpose was to give her a reason to be broken. There was no other tie to anything, which made it seem contrived. I would have liked to have seen it play more of a part, or come full circle somehow.

But that’s trivial. I liked the author’s writing style, and the plot did have me guessing more than a few times. I will undoubtedly be looking to read more of Detective Megan Thomas’s investigations.

Author Bio:

Susan Wilkins also writes as S.J. Wilkins. Susan worked for years in television drama, wrote for shows including Casualty, Heartbeat, Coronation Street and Eastenders and created the London-based detective drama South of the Border.

Her gritty, Essex-based gangster trilogy – THE INFORMANT, THE MOURNER and THE KILLER – has been compared to Martina Cole and Kimberley Chambers and described as “blazingly brilliant” (Sunday Mirror). IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ME, her fourth book, is a twisty psychological thriller, featuring police detective Jo Boden, an ambitious cop still grieving for a murdered sister.

For 2020 a completely gripping new series from Susan introduces the tough and determined Detective Megan Thomas. For fans of Ann Cleeves, LJ Ross and Mari Hannah, this will keep you hooked from the first page to the last. Writing as S.J. Wilkins, A KILLER’S HEART – a tense and timely political thriller, is now available on Kindle.