5 Stars from me ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
For me, starting a new book that I’ve been desperately waiting for is akin to the delicious anticipation of a first kiss. And the timing is everything, because I can only experience it once, do I delay, do I dive in? Well, needless to say I jumped in with both feet and re-immersed myself in the warm embrace of Matilda Darke’s world.
The temptation here is just to say “look it’s a really f***ing good series, just read it” but I will try and be a tad more articulate.
Having said that, Michael Wood is such a ‘go to’ author for me that he literally could scrawl ‘sossiges‘ in blue crayon on a beer mat and I’d be there with the hoards screaming ‘bravo, bravo!’
In Last One Left Alive Matilda is desk bound in an airless office and missing the hustle and bustle of being part of a team, she takes every opportunity going to inveigle herself back into the main room and the cut and thrust of an investigation.
This book sees a slightly different Matilda, she seems lighter in some way, quicker to snap and quicker to crack a joke – her anxiety appeared to be taking a back seat and she had a more assured confidence in her actions. But along with her new role comes new responsibilities and she has some heart breaking decisions to make.
It’s hard to put into words how happy it makes me to be reading about Matilda, Christian, Sian and the wider team, they are all so well defined and rounded as individuals that it honestly feels like being among friends.
In true Michael Wood style, this one does not shy away from difficult subject matter. What it does do though is hide the depth of research and introspection that is required to deliver a storyline and scenarios of this calibre. So much reading and investigation must have taken place but Wood has enough humilty to just include what is needed for the story rather than ‘well I had to read and learn all of this therefore I will now show off everything I know on the subject’.
The story – brilliant, I loved the lower tempo in this one, and Matilda’s new demeanor. That’s not to say it was slow because it really wasn’t, reading this book was a little like sliding down a grassy hill on a battered tea tray knowing there was likely to be a prickly ole hedge to smack you in the face at the bottom.
Superb.
Please do yourself a favour, read the DCI Matilda Darke books in order:
The Fallen
For Reasons Unknown
Outside Looking In
A Room Full of Killers
The Hangman’s Hold
Victim of Innocence
The Murder House
Stolen Children
Time Is Running Out
Survivor’s Guilt
The Lost Children
Silent Victim
Making of a Murderer
Below Ground
Last One Left Alive
Last One to Die
Clearly not one to be bored, Michael has also released some audio books – so if that is more your thing then take a moment to look them up too.
Blurb: DCI Matilda Darke is back. And it might be her most personal case yet. Pre-order the most intense new thriller yet from Michael Wood!‘Matilda Darke is the perfect heroine’ Elly Griffiths
FIVE PERFECT MURDERS
DCI Matilda Darke receives an anonymous email from someone claiming to have committed the perfect murder. Experience tells her this isn’t possible, but as she investigates, she discovers a killer questioning everything she’s ever known.
HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT
Now, Matilda is on the trail of a murderer who targets the most vulnerable people in society. Apart from ‘With Sympathy…’ cards, hand delivered to the family of his victims, he leaves no trace of his crimes.
A KILLER’S DEADLY GAME
As the threat escalates, and those closest to Matilda are targeted, she finds herself isolated and alone in bringing down her opponent before it’s game over. After all, there can only be one winner in this game of cat-and-mouse, and the clock is ticking…
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