HOPE TO DIE
by David Jackson
When the victim seems perfect, is it the perfect crime? The gripping new serial killer thriller, from the runaway bestselling author of CRY BABY.
On a bitterly cold winter's night, Liverpool is left stunned by a brutal murder in the grounds of the city's Anglican Cathedral. A killer is on the loose, driven by a chilling rage.
Put on the case, DS Nathan Cody is quickly stumped. Wherever he digs, the victim seems to be almost angelic - no-one has a bad word to say, let alone a motive for such a violent murder.
And Cody has other things on his mind too. The ghosts of his past are coming ever closer, and - still bearing the physical and mental scars - it's all he can do to hold onto his sanity.
And then the killer strikes again . . .
As snow falls in Liverpool a middle-aged woman is bashed repeatedly by a man with a lump-hammer, a violent murder which seems motiveless, and it won’t be the last…
HOPE TO DIE is book 2 of the Nathan Cody series and our hero already has more than the usual personal trauma in his backstory. Cody has suffered - physically and mentally - not least at the hand of a cut-happy sadistic maniac a year or so earlier. Losing his toes and his partner’s life has left Cody living a sleep deprived hell that he keeps from his colleagues. After being reunited with DS Megan Webley - an ex of his - Cody finds a confidant who has had her own brush with near death.
We are on the hunt for a hunter, an elusive serial killer that’s not easy for the reader to ‘guess’ (I didn’t) but you’ll have fun trying. From the opening crime and Cody’s backstory you might be expecting a violent serial killer thriller, and you’d be right, but it’s also a police procedural with plenty of light. The banter between the coppers is funny and believable. In fact, many of the characters are good company. HOPE TO DIE could make a great TV thriller. I’m sure Jackson’s Cody series will prove to be a popular, and it deserves to.
About David Jackson:
David Jackson is the author of a series of crime thrillers featuring New York Detective Callum Doyle. His debut novel, Pariah, was Highly Commended in the Crime Writers Association Debut Dagger Awards. Jackson's other series of crime novels is set in Liverpool.
When not writing fiction, David spends his time as a lecturer in a university science department. He also gives occasional workshops on creative writing. He lives on the Wirral peninsula with his wife and two daughters.