DEADLY FORCE by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

4* Refreshing intro to a police procedural set in the UK, but some slightly irritating quirks and style - maybe those will grow on me, as I enjoyed the tale despite them.

I wasn't lost in this tale despite being new to the series. What I didn't like were the 'they work but they're made-up words' that peppered both narration and dialogue, and weren't limited to the Porson character, who I found unbelievable for a law enforcement type in 2026. The guy wasn't offensive per se but seemed to be lacking self-awareness and general awareness with some of what he came out with.

That aside, it was a decent enough tale. One where I got to quite like Slider, but thought some of the other characters, especially the female cop brought in to use - unknowingly or not  - her feminine assets, inorganic and unnecessary. The storyline was sad, with a seemingly pretty decent person dying. That the guilty parties didn't fall over each other to make a deal, didn't quite seem believable. Prison was going to be hard for all concerned, so that'd have seemed the thing they'd seek to do in my book, no pun intended. I'm not sure the guilty parties were believable in these days of surveillance, clocking in, signing into systems, cameras at road junctions, Ring doorbells, cctv, dash cams, etc. Go back 15 years, and yes, I could see it happening. Just not so sure in 2026. But, it was readable and I'd read more of this series.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Severn House, an imprint of Canongate Books Ltd, for my reading pleasure.

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