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quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
As the world sinks deeper into recession, London is rocked by a terrorist attack that cripples the city. Detective Inspector Cass Jones is busy investigating a series of apparently linked student suicides when Special Branch calls on him: they need his help to find a very unusual suspect.
As if that wasn’t enough, Cass is given a message from beyond the grave, with three words – “They took Luke” – written by his brother before he was brutally murdered, Cass Jones once again feels the world tilt beneath him. He knows who ‘They’ are – Mr Bright and the shadowy Network – and he knows that his dead brother has given him the task of finding the baby, his nephew, stolen at birth.
As Cass tries to divide his time between his two legitimate investigations and his private one, it’s not long before he discovers links where none should be. The mysterious Mr Bright is once again pulling his strings, and there’s nothing Cass Jones hates more …
… so this time he intends to pull back.
It’s six months after A MATTER OF BLOOD and DI Cass Jones is still dealing with the repercussions. The investigation into corruption at Paddington station is about to move to trial but Jones’s remaining colleagues don’t trust him and he’s been put on light investigations.
Cass and his new sergeant, Armstrong, are assigned to look into a spate of student suicides where the victims all left the message ‘Chaos in the darkness’. One of the victims is the sister of a protection officer assigned to the Prime Minister and their case dovetails into the investigation of a deadly terrorist attack on London. It soon becomes clear to Cass that Mr Bright and the Network are somehow involved with both but he’s distracted by a message from his brother, left before his murder – “They took Luke”. Determined find his nephew, Cass decides to take the fight back to Mr Bright. But Mr Bright has influence everywhere and Cass is going to need all his wits just to survive …
The second in Sarah Pinborough’s Dog-Faced Gods Trilogy is another tightly plotted, dark mix of horror and police procedural that keeps you turning the pages from start to finish.
Cass Jones remains a terrific character. He could so easily slip into cliché given his drug habit and cynicism, but the events in A MATTER OF BLOOD have shaken, if not cowed him. Determined to deny that he sees the Glow in some people, he’s gradually forced to confront the fact that there’s something supernatural going on. I enjoyed the uneasy relationship between him and Armstrong and particularly the way he compares Armstrong to his recently murdered colleagues.
There is much more information on Mr Bright and the Network here but Pinborough skilfully alludes to things without clunky exposition and so that there’s plenty of room for interpretation. I particularly enjoyed the infighting between the various Network circles and the different agendas at play.
There’s a lot of plot with the different investigations but Pinborough keeps them spinning nicely, the murders are grisly and chilling and there are enough red herrings and twists to keep you guessing. She does particularly well at drawing them together at the end. If I was nitpicking then some of the swearing – particularly the f-bomb - feels a little forced but it really didn’t affect my enjoyment and I can’t wait to read the concluding book.
The Verdict:
The second in Sarah Pinborough’s Dog-Faced Gods Trilogy is another tightly plotted, dark mix of horror and police procedural that keeps you turning the pages from start to finish. There’s a lot of plot and this book gives much more information on the shadowy Network and their agenda. All in all it was a gripping, page-turning read and I can’t wait to read the conclusion to the trilogy.
As the world sinks deeper into recession, London is rocked by a terrorist attack that cripples the city. Detective Inspector Cass Jones is busy investigating a series of apparently linked student suicides when Special Branch calls on him: they need his help to find a very unusual suspect.
As if that wasn’t enough, Cass is given a message from beyond the grave, with three words – “They took Luke” – written by his brother before he was brutally murdered, Cass Jones once again feels the world tilt beneath him. He knows who ‘They’ are – Mr Bright and the shadowy Network – and he knows that his dead brother has given him the task of finding the baby, his nephew, stolen at birth.
As Cass tries to divide his time between his two legitimate investigations and his private one, it’s not long before he discovers links where none should be. The mysterious Mr Bright is once again pulling his strings, and there’s nothing Cass Jones hates more …
… so this time he intends to pull back.
It’s six months after A MATTER OF BLOOD and DI Cass Jones is still dealing with the repercussions. The investigation into corruption at Paddington station is about to move to trial but Jones’s remaining colleagues don’t trust him and he’s been put on light investigations.
Cass and his new sergeant, Armstrong, are assigned to look into a spate of student suicides where the victims all left the message ‘Chaos in the darkness’. One of the victims is the sister of a protection officer assigned to the Prime Minister and their case dovetails into the investigation of a deadly terrorist attack on London. It soon becomes clear to Cass that Mr Bright and the Network are somehow involved with both but he’s distracted by a message from his brother, left before his murder – “They took Luke”. Determined find his nephew, Cass decides to take the fight back to Mr Bright. But Mr Bright has influence everywhere and Cass is going to need all his wits just to survive …
The second in Sarah Pinborough’s Dog-Faced Gods Trilogy is another tightly plotted, dark mix of horror and police procedural that keeps you turning the pages from start to finish.
Cass Jones remains a terrific character. He could so easily slip into cliché given his drug habit and cynicism, but the events in A MATTER OF BLOOD have shaken, if not cowed him. Determined to deny that he sees the Glow in some people, he’s gradually forced to confront the fact that there’s something supernatural going on. I enjoyed the uneasy relationship between him and Armstrong and particularly the way he compares Armstrong to his recently murdered colleagues.
There is much more information on Mr Bright and the Network here but Pinborough skilfully alludes to things without clunky exposition and so that there’s plenty of room for interpretation. I particularly enjoyed the infighting between the various Network circles and the different agendas at play.
There’s a lot of plot with the different investigations but Pinborough keeps them spinning nicely, the murders are grisly and chilling and there are enough red herrings and twists to keep you guessing. She does particularly well at drawing them together at the end. If I was nitpicking then some of the swearing – particularly the f-bomb - feels a little forced but it really didn’t affect my enjoyment and I can’t wait to read the concluding book.
The Verdict:
The second in Sarah Pinborough’s Dog-Faced Gods Trilogy is another tightly plotted, dark mix of horror and police procedural that keeps you turning the pages from start to finish. There’s a lot of plot and this book gives much more information on the shadowy Network and their agenda. All in all it was a gripping, page-turning read and I can’t wait to read the conclusion to the trilogy.
