Author : Graham Smith
Pages : 322
Publisher : Bloodhound Books
Publication date : April 25, 2017

When Jake Boulder is asked by his PI friend to help investigate the vicious murder of Kira Niemeyer, he soon finds himself tracking a serial killer who selects his next victim in a most unusual manner.

As the body count rises, Boulder has to work with the police to identify the heinous killer before more lives are taken. What ensues is a twisted game of cat and mouse, that only Boulder or the Watcher can survive. But who will it be?

Watching the Bodies has been sitting on my Kindle collecting dust since publication day and I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to finally get around to reading it! This is the first book I’ve read by Graham Smith and I can already tell you that it won’t be my last.

Let’s start with our protagonist. Jake Boulder isn’t a police officer or detective. He’s just a guy who works in a bar called The Joshua Tree. He has commitment issues, a narcissistic mother and a temper that boils right underneath the surface, ready to ignite before you get the chance to say “Oh, Jake, take me away!”. He’s intelligent, perceptive and determined but not exactly the man you take home to meet your parents. Still, that whole dark and brooding thing he has going on totally got my pulse racing and he makes an excellent narrator.

His best friend Alphonse is a private detective and a whizz at all things IT. When he’s hired to investigate the murder of Kira Niemeyer, he quickly enlists the help of Jake. I really enjoyed the banter between these two. Their longtime friendship is a thing of beauty.

Now, this killer, The Watcher, is something else. Not only does he have the most unusual way of choosing his next victim, he also has a novel approach to deciding how they die. Genius! The Watcher is on a mission. He wants to go down in history and he will stop at nothing to achieve that.

Watching the Bodies is one of the best crime fiction thrillers I’ve ever read and a brilliant start to a new series. I could point out that maybe the ending wasn’t exactly what I’d been expecting but then I’d just be nitpicking. However, if the author’s aim was to leave the reader wanting more, then he totally succeeded in that and I absolutely can’t wait for the next instalment!

This fabulous Jake Boulder thriller was published on April 25th.

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