I am delighted to share my review today for Hunters Secret by Val Penny. This is the first time I have read a book by this author and I am looking forward to reading the earlier books in the series.
My huge thanks to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for my spot on the Blog Tour and for arranging my e-copy of Val’s latest book.
I am still quite busy at the moment and I am not on Social Media very much at the moment, so any shares would be massively appreciated.
This is the first time I have read a book by this author and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I do think I would have enjoyed it even more if I had read the previous novels in this series, although saying that it does work very well as a stand-alone.
So where to begin… this is a story with a past and a present and more than a few coincidences that make this is a very compelling read. The past is when two young friends discover a body, they then report it but the body then vanishes.
The present is 30 years later, very much a similar setting of a body that disappears after it being reported. The reason it is connected to an old case is down to DI Hunter, he was one of the young boys responsible for the discovery years earlier.
As the title suggests, this book has a secret, it is one of many and as the story progressed the full complexity is fully explored. I really liked the way the author created double and mistrust from the outset and it added a certain amount of excitement to the investigation. Working out the goodies from the baddies was interesting, to say the least, I do love it when you get the odd rogue thrown in for good measure. Secrets within the criminal world is an obvious thing, but sometimes this can cross over and that’s when things get really interesting.
I found there were quite a few characters to get my head around, and this is why I think I would have enjoyed the book more if I had started the series from the beginning. There is an obvious team camaraderie at work in the story as there is some very good banter between characters. They have friendships that are built up in a workplace and then also on a social level, I think this is something that is built up over several books. So as well as getting to know the coppers, I also obviously had to get to know various other characters. This did mean I slowed my reading, it is something I do enjoy every now and again.
I thought the story was great, it was intriguing and I really enjoyed the twisty journey I was taken on. I also really liked the more personal side to some of the characters, its not all about work!
I do wish I had read this series from the beginning before I jumped straight into book 5, and I would advise other readers not to do what I did! This is a cracking read that falls into police procedural, crime and is intriguing and has a dark plot to it. I really enjoyed it and I would definitely recommend reading it.