A Dark Redemption: A Carrigan and Miller Novel, Book 1

Mr Sherez introduces a relatively standard set up by pairing together two very different police officers (think Morse and Lewis or innumerable other examples and you won’t be far wrong). The story is however better than that premise suggests, and as DI Carrigan and DS Miller investigate a series of deaths in London they become involved in the world of refugee child soldiers who have fled to the UK from conflict in Africa.



The tale involves the twists and turns that you would expect in a good crime novel and certainly there were twists which I did not anticipate. If that were all, the book would be a decent three stars. It drops one through the editing.



At times A Dark Redemption reads like a self published Kindle story, and I was surprised to see that it’s published by Faber and Faber. There were two particular issues which annoyed me. First, Mr Sherez seems to have no faith in the power of his adjectives. Nothing is simply described as ‘old‘ or ‘blue‘ or ‘deep’. Rather, it is ‘old like ….’, ‘blue as …‘ or “deep in a way which reminded …’ The repeated use of simile becomes a distraction.



Second, and more fundamentally, the dialogue is at times unconvincing, particularly when non-native English speakers are supposedly talking. Characters use words and phrases which real people just do not use.



Both of these issues could have been corrected relatively easily by a decent editor, but as it stands they distract from what would otherwise be a pretty solid listen.

First book by this author, it will not be the last.

If you are a fan of Jo Nesbo then give this a try.

really enjoyed this book and happy to have come across another author as good as Val Mcdermid and Peter James

A well paced novel that has good twists and turns. Sets characters up well to continue into another story. Feels like the first of many so lacks that certain something that comes with knowing the characters well - looking forward to number 2 and have a feeling 3 will be even better.

This book is not just another detective story it reflects on the horrors of war and the impact it has on those who get caught up in it. It is very emotive and the story builds nicely till its climate.

Carrigan and Miller were beginning to grow on me by the end of the audio and although I only rated this work as a 3, it wont stop me buying the next book in the series.



So,let's just say it was an enjoyable read, with a lot of scope for creating a cracking series.