ShortBookandScribes #BookReview – One for Sorrow by Helen Fields

I am thrilled to be sharing my thoughts about One for Sorrow by Helen Fields today. It is magnificent! My thanks to Avon for the proof copy of the book. It will be published in paperback, eBook and audiobook on 3rd March.

One for sorrow, two for joy
Edinburgh is gripped by the greatest terror it has ever known. A lone bomber is targeting victims across the city and no one is safe.

Three for a girl, four for a boy
DCI Ava Turner and DI Luc Callanach face death every day – and not just the deaths of the people being taken hostage by the killer.

Five for silver, six for gold
When it becomes clear that with every tip-off they are walking into a trap designed to kill them too, Ava and Luc know that finding the truth could mean paying the ultimate price.

Seven for a secret never to be told…
But with the threat – and body count – rising daily, and no clue as to who’s behind it, neither Ava nor Luc know whether they will live long enough to tell the tale…

With twists and turns you’ll never see coming, prepare to be gripped by this devastatingly good thriller. Perfect for fans of Stuart MacBride and MJ Arlidge.

I’m a huge Helen Fields fan and it’s always a cause for celebration when a new Luc and Ava book is published. One for Sorrow is horrendous and shocking and it’s pure BRILLIANCE!

First off, what a start to a book. Totally unexpected, I couldn’t believe what I was reading. Then I was thrust straight into the story of a bomber terrorising Edinburgh’s streets, their reasons testing the Murder Investigation Team to their limits as they try to work out how and why. These are dangerous times and each day the team put their lives on the line in the pursuit of knowledge and justice.

Fields is the master of misdirection, leading the reader innocently down paths like a lamb to the slaughter. Many times as I read this book I thought I had it cracked only to find I was wrong. The plotting is fantastic, bringing together expertly the police aspect, and Ava and Luc’s own lives, with the storyline of the bomber. This is a consummate storyteller at work here.

I was thrilled to find the fascinating and quirky Dr Connie Woolwine from Fields’s standalone novel, The Shadow Man, making an appearance, and of course the return of DS Lively and Detective Superintendent Overbeck. Alongside Luc and Ava, they are such memorable characters and they make these books so special. I feel like I know them well. I never know if there will be another Luc and Ava book, and Helen Fields does like to keep us guessing, but I’m always hopeful, never more so than after finishing this book (*bites fingernails and waits, agonisingly, for news*).

I don’t think any words can do justice to just what a spectacular crime thriller One for Sorrow is. I’d just say read it and see for yourself……while I go off and cry in a corner.

Helen Fields studied law at the University of East Anglia, then went on to the Inns of Court School of Law in London. After completing her pupillage, she joined chambers in Middle Temple where she practised criminal and family law for thirteen years. After her second child was born, Helen left the Bar.

Together with her husband David, she runs a film production company. Perfect Remains is set in Scotland. Helen and her husband now live in Los Angeles with their three children and two dogs.