This is the second instalment in the Detective Preach Everson series, continuing where the first ‘Written in Blood‘ book left off.

This time, Preach is investigating the murder of the high school quarterback. He can draw a lot of parallels between this kid’s life and his own at the same age, which makes the case hit particularly close to home.

During the investigation, Preach must also deal with romantic strife after reconnecting with his high school crush and finding balance with his girlfriend now that she’s qualified as a prosecutor. Personally, I felt that this aspect of the novel was unnecessary and a bit awkward as it didn’t show Preach off in a remotely good light, making it harder to root for him as a character. It also overshadowed the fact that a teenager has been murdered and his body dumped, something that nobody seems particularly distraught over!

The pacing in this novel is quite slow and leads me to think that some of the characters and issues introduced in this book will reappear in later instalments in the series as a common thread, for example the gentrification of small town America that is mentioned multiple times.

The mystery itself is quite compelling and with enough red herrings to keep you guessing. I enjoyed the different POVs in this book, giving the perspectives of characters from very different backgrounds within the narratives.

I recommend this book for fans of police procedural novels and murder mysteries.

About the Author

Layton Green writes in multiple genres and is the author of the bestselling Dominic Grey series, as well as other works of fiction. His novels have been nominated for multiple awards (including a finalist for a prestigious International Thriller Writers award), optioned for film, and have reached #1 on numerous genre lists in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany. The fourth Dominic Grey novel, The Shadow Cartel was a #2 overall bestseller on Amazon UK.

In addition to writing, Layton attended law school in New Orleans and was a practicing attorney for ten very long years. He has also been an intern for the United Nations, an ESL teacher in Central America, a bartender in London, a seller of cheap knives on the streets of Brixton, a door to door phone book deliverer in Florida, and the list goes downhill from there.

Layton lives with his wife and children in North Carolina.

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