Reviews

The Insider by Mari Hannah

laura_jager's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

gailm's review against another edition

5.0

An excellent follow up to the first Stone and Oliver. The author has good knowledge of police procedures. And there is a good outcome to this book which has left the door open to develop the pair further.

robert_vardill's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

4.25

jmatkinson1's review against another edition

4.0

The situation is so bad that the SIO has resigned and David Stone is brought in to lead the team ably assisted by Frankie Oliver. For Oliver the fourth murder is particularly resonant as the victim was called Joanna, the same name as her sister killed many years earlier. Determined not to allow another killer to evade justice Oliver is driven to find this man but by doing so she places herself right in his sights.
Mari Hannah has a way of writing books that are completely rooted in their setting. The Northumbria police cover a huge geographical are and their investigations lead them into contact with Newcastle and Gateshead. However it is when writing about the bleak but beautiful countryside that Hannah show a complete understanding of the people and their environment. Yes, this is a standard police procedural but there's nothing wrong with that. Personally I found it a little slow to get started but the last quarter of the book is both a restless pace and completely engrossing.

channyp's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Started very slow but picked up towards the end

wendoxford's review against another edition

4.0

Enjoyed the latest Mari Hannah...Serial killer on their patch when Stone & Oliver take over mid-investigation. Ratchets up the suspense brilliantly with great plotting.
I find the family & colleague interaction a bit of a wrinkle on the page. I can see it grounds the characters and gives them (and us) a context but much of it jarred with me against the "detecting". Backstory doesn't really need so much exposure.
All very visual. Think this, and first in series would translate well to TV

thebooktrail88's review against another edition

5.0

This is a cracking read from start to finish. Mari Hannah really does seem to just get better and better as this outing for Stone and Oliver really cements them in the readers mind and in the North East literary landscape!

Don't think that the above gets in the way of a plot - no sirree - you might not want to read this on a train though! You'd think a local and remote railway line was safe, that the bridges over the Northumberland rivers were nice places to look....well they are normally. In this novel, they're crime scenes and places with hidden secrets. (There's a particular legend which was really fascinating!)

Oliver and Stone are back with a vengeance and even though this is only book two, I feel I really know them now. There's lots of character development here, banter and an insight into their work ethics which was very interesting. There's an added frisson when someone seems to be tailoring them from the inside. Added tension all the way.

Recommended!!

syren1532's review against another edition

4.0

Someone is strangling women - the fourth victim has been found near a railway station. DI David Oliver and DS Frankie Oliver have just been given the case as the original SIO has suddenly decided to retire. They have to get u to speed with the cases quickly and also try and win over the existing MIT. All the women are successful, ambitious professional women but that seems to be the only connection between the victims. Then the killer targets someone close to the team. Fantastic read from start to finish - love the partnership between Oliver and Stone. Look forward to book three.

Thanks to Netgalley, Orion and Mari Hannah for the ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

emma_bookaholic's review against another edition

5.0

Omggg this book was amazing! Very enjoyable read, some twists and turns but done well and I wanted to keep reading to see what happens.

cpachet's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This book was agonizingly slow for me. Maybe I’ve had other more pressing things to do and that’s slowed down my read, but I wasn’t interested enough at first to elevate this to “couldn’t put it down”. In the end, the plot and characters make it worth a read but it felt like enough content for an episode rather than a season. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Violence, and Death