Deadly Cry by Angela Marsons

Author : Angela Marsons
Title : Deadly Cry
Series : DI Kim Stone #13
Pages : 400
Publisher : Bookouture
Publication date : November 13, 2020

| ABOUT THE BOOK |

In a busy shopping centre, a little girl clutches a teddy bear, clinging to it in the absence of her mother, Katrina. Hours later, Katrina’s body is discovered in an abandoned building. For Detective Kim Stone, it looks like a quick, functional murder. But Kim’s instincts tell her there’s more to this senseless murder than meets the eye. What was the motive for killing a young mother out shopping with her child?

Days later, a second victim is found in a local park, her neck broken just like Katrina’s and her six-year-old son missing.

But with her colleague, Detective Stacey Wood, working on another unsolved crime and a member of the team grieving the loss of a close relative, Kim is struggling to make inroads on what is fast becoming a complex case. And when a handwritten letter from the killer lands on Kim’s desk addressed to her, and pleading for help, she knows time is running out to bring the little boy home alive.

| MY THOUGHTS |

It’s incredibly hard to wrap your head around the fact that Deadly Cry is the 13th book in the DI Kim Stone series. It’s beyond a doubt stupendously impressive for any long running series to get this far. What’s even more impressive is that at no point does this series seem to become stale. One might expect that Angela Marsons will be running out of ideas by now but hell no!

First of all, obviously, there is DI Kim Stone and her team. These characters are like family. When they are happy, we are happy. When they are sad, we are sad. When they hurt, we hurt. Stacey is counting down the days to her wedding but not everything is going as planned. Someone is grieving the loss of a family member. And Kim really, REALLY, needs a side project.

But it’s hard for any of them to deal with the things that are going in their personal lives when pretty much all their time is taken up by a truly complicated investigation. It all starts with the discovery of a young mother’s body. It’s obvious she’s been murdered but why? This quick and functional death looks completely senseless and DI Stone can’t for the life of her figure out what possible motive there could be. The investigation takes a whole other turn when a second body is discovered a few days later and a six year old boy goes missing. Meanwhile, Stacey is working another case that becomes more intriguing with every step.

Plenty going on in this instalment to keep me utterly captivated from start to finish. There is something extremely unputdownable about all the books in this series. Once you pick one up and start reading, there is absolutely no way you’ll stop before you turn/swipe that final page. Deadly Cry is no different. It’s such an addictive read, well-paced throughout and I just flew through it. Considering how badly my reading has been going lately, that’s one of the biggest compliments I can give it right now. There are fascinating insights, one of which I can’t quite discuss as I feel it would be too spoiler-ish but it turned into a truly interesting look at certain dynamics. I know, I can’t possibly be any more vague than that but if you read it, I’m sure you’ll understand what I’m talking about. Also really interesting, the addition of a graphologist. I must admit I’m slightly sceptical about how whirls and loops and dotted i’s or crossed t’s on a page can in any way provide information about the kind of person who wrote these specific words on that page but I still found it fascinating to read about.

I was, as seems to be the norm lately, totally unable to figure out who the killer was. Plenty of twists, red herrings and surprises will do that to a person. The ultimate reveal definitely caused one of those “wait, what?!” moments. So, another fantastic plot. Another book in the series with great characters and brilliant writing. Another absolute treat and in these weird times we are living in, a comfort in a way. And for me, at least, the perfect escape.

I don’t know how Angela Marsons does it but she does, time and time again. I’ve said it before and I’ll gladly say it a thousand times more : as long as she keeps writing these books, I’ll keep reading them. Bring on book 14!

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