Unspoken Truths
To finish off the week, I am republishing my review of Unspoken Truths which was originally posted in 2018.
About the Book
In
Unspoken Truths, DI Gus McGuire and his team navigate a complex web of
intrigue, espionage and murder. Set in Bradford, Manchester and on Saddleworth
Moor, Gus is pushed to his physical and psychological limits.
First a
rural train between Manchester and Bradford is deliberately derailed by a
vehicle with a boot filled with drugs, then a woman’s tortured body is
discovered in Keighley. When Gus’ brother-in-law goes missing, the
investigation becomes personal. As he battles against the storms of the Beast
from the East, Gus must uncover the links between the dead woman, a
pharmaceutical company in Manchester and a research facility in Northern
Cyprus, as well as the disappearance of his brother in law. With the body count
increasing, Gus sets Compo loose on the Dark Web - how will Gus react when he
discovers that things are not as they seem?
Meanwhile,
DS Alice Cooper faces extreme danger in prison and, as the evidence piles up
against her, Gus and his team’s loyalties are pushed to the limit.
Can Gus
stop the blueprint for a deadly bio weapon from falling into the wrong hands?
Can he solve a series of murders and track down a psychotic killer? Never
before has Gus faced such a demanding test.
Review
This is the 5th DCI
Gus McGuire book I’ve read and I would recommend reading these in order, not
only because they are a fantastic series and it would be a shame for you to
miss out on any of the other books, but also because it does help with the back
stories of the characters. We join the
team in this book following on from the previous book Uncommon Cruelty.
Without giving too much away
for those readers that haven’t read the previous books, we join Gus and his
team as we come to terms with the loss of two team members for differing
reasons.
They are sent to investigate a woman’s
murder and find a tortured body. On
investigating this it transpires that this could be connected to a train
derailment between Manchester and Bradford.
Are these two incidents connected?
To add to the mix we also have Gus’s
EX brother in law who has also goes
missing. This means that he has to deal
with his sister and his ex wife constantly harassing him as to what Gus is
going to do to find him. Added to that
and thrown into the mix of investigations they have to deal with the weather
that was called “The Beast from The East”, a vicious story that caused chaos
and mayhem to the roads and public transport system around the Manchester,
Bradford and Saddleworth areas earlier on this year.
From a personal point of view
the storm was that bad, it cut our estate off due to the massive snow drifts
that came in (see pics below).
 |
| This is the mound of snow that had to be removed to try and us all off the estate. The snow was that deep it meant that some cars were buried in it. My daughter loved it as she got to go climbing over the mountains of snow and had a few snow days from school |
 |
| This and the one below are from the top of the estate if you can manage to see it at all. The snow on the left of the picture was covering people’s front doors. |
 |
| This and the one above are at the top of the estate if you can manage to see it at all. The snow on the left of the picture was covering people’s front doors. |
We follow the investigations
and follow the procedures of a dark web search by the techie geek Compo, with
the help of the newcomer Taffy.
It was good to read a Gus
McGuire book set in and around Manchester including the train station
Manchester Victoria where I travel to and from every week day, along with the
remote are of Saddleworth Moors that is not far from my house.
This made it even more enjoyable for me as I
love books set in and around the areas I know so well.
We also follow Alice Cooper and
what is happening to her since the ending of the previous book, some of the
descriptions that were used made me wince through the thought of what was
happening and the pain that Alice was going through.
It was a different story this
time following Gus and the remaining members of his team as they conducted the
investigation, and also a little bit more of the back story regarding Alice and
her early career before joining Gus. Lots of twists and turns in the book and
enough of a mystery to be able to keep you guessing as you were reading.
All in all I found this to be
an enjoyable book and found that the majority of the loose ends were tied up
nicely. It was nice to see more of Compo
and Taffy working together and shows that this could be a nice partnership
should they be given the opportunity to work together again.
I am looking forward already to
the next book.
About the Author
Liz
writes crime fiction books set in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The DI Gus McGuire
series is gritty Northern noir with a bit of Scottish thrown in. She is
currently researching for a Ph. D in creative writing at Leeds Trinity
University. As part of her Ph.D she is researching how the teen killer’s voice
is portrayed in the adult crime fiction novel with specific reference to the
influence of teen social media usage, with a view to writing a crime fiction
novel around these issues.
Liz also
teaches creative writing, specialising in crime fiction and is a regular
panellist at literary festivals throughout the UK. She enjoys reading her
work at Open Mic and Noir at the Bar events. She was chosen to be one of the
spotlighted authors at the Bloody Scotland crime writing festival in
2016. She is the lead blogger for the well renowned crime fiction blog
The Crime warp which reviews contemporary, mainly UK based, crime fiction,
comments on current issues around the genre and creative writing in general and
interviews authors on a regular basis.
She is
available to comment on current issues around creative writing in general and
crime fiction in particular and to speak at local and national festivals and
conferences.
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