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lisamshardlow's review
5.0
There’s a serial killer who is targeting domestic abuse offenders on the loose. This is DC Maggie Jamieson’s toughest case yet. The police suspect the killer to be Probation Officer Lucy Sherwood, who has a connection to all of the victims. When the next domestic abuser is killed, and this time it’s Lucy’s husband, Maggie and her team must race against time to try to solve the murders before another person dies.
This was absolutely gripping from start to finish! It was also very harrowing, disturbing, and difficult to read at times as well, such as the scenes of abuse and violence. Told mainly in third person, each chapter tells us different character perspectives, including the domestic abusers. I had some serious hatred for a few characters in this book, and I was glad when it moved on to someone else, but I just couldn’t stop reading. I wanted to know what was going to happen next! And all the way through I was kind of hoping that the serial killer would succeed and not get caught. Also I really did not see that ending coming at all - it was SO good! The author worked as a Probation Officer for 18 years, and it clearly shows that she has a lot of knowledge and experience of the subject matter.
I read many different genres, and I very rarely read crime fiction but I’m really glad I read this. I was very pleasantly surprised at how it grabbed me straight away and didn’t let go until the end - and maybe not even then, as this is the start of a series which I fully intend to read the rest of. I really don’t think that there was anything that I didn’t like about this. I give it 5 out of 5 stars.
I highly recommend this to anyone who loves contemporary crime fiction, mysteries and thrillers, detective stories, and police procedurals.
This was absolutely gripping from start to finish! It was also very harrowing, disturbing, and difficult to read at times as well, such as the scenes of abuse and violence. Told mainly in third person, each chapter tells us different character perspectives, including the domestic abusers. I had some serious hatred for a few characters in this book, and I was glad when it moved on to someone else, but I just couldn’t stop reading. I wanted to know what was going to happen next! And all the way through I was kind of hoping that the serial killer would succeed and not get caught. Also I really did not see that ending coming at all - it was SO good! The author worked as a Probation Officer for 18 years, and it clearly shows that she has a lot of knowledge and experience of the subject matter.
I read many different genres, and I very rarely read crime fiction but I’m really glad I read this. I was very pleasantly surprised at how it grabbed me straight away and didn’t let go until the end - and maybe not even then, as this is the start of a series which I fully intend to read the rest of. I really don’t think that there was anything that I didn’t like about this. I give it 5 out of 5 stars.
I highly recommend this to anyone who loves contemporary crime fiction, mysteries and thrillers, detective stories, and police procedurals.
kellyvandamme's review
5.0
Today, I’d love to talk to you about Dead Inside, Noelle Holten’s debut novel. I loved the premise of Dead Inside and I “knew” Noelle as a blogger, so I was thrilled to be approved for the eARC through NetGalley. Now with a website called “CrimeBookJunkie”, a career as probation officer on the one hand and PR / SM manager for Bookouture on the other, one would assume Noelle Holten knows all about crime and has an extensive list of all the magic ingredients it takes for a crime thriller to be a success. Knowing something, and bringing that knowledge to fruition, though, is something else entirely. So, frankly, to my mind, this could go either way. And so I was delighted to find myself totally absorbed in this book, loving the execution just as much as I loved the premise. Noelle had me smile, she had me well up, she put me through all the feels, and I loved every bit of it.
Lucy is a probation officer and as such she’s responsible (among other things) for preventing that the criminals in her care commit the same (or other) crimes again. Some of those criminals are guilty of domestic abuse. But what very few people realise, is that Lucy herself is a victim of domestic abuse too. She of all people should know better, shouldn’t she? And she does know better and she is in fact well aware of what her husband is doing to her. But there’s her step-daughter to consider, she can’t just leave the little girl to fend for herself, and what about her career, what would her colleagues say, her superiors? She’s damned if she does and damned if she doesn’t, so for the time being, she’s staying put. That entire scenario, Lucy’s inner turmoil, that feeling of being damned either way, felt very, very real and all too plausible. Admittedly, I have zero personal experience with this, something I thank my lucky stars for every time I read a book like this one, but Lucy’s thoughts and feelings are so realistic, and I do believe that in the same circumstances, I might well have the same thoughts and experience the same feelings. To me, what was even worse than the physical abuse, was the insidious psychological abuse, and the effect the physical abuse has on Lucy’s mental state. This is related rather stoically, almost devoid of emotions at times, and therefore all the more striking. This got under my skin so badly, I can’t even tell you.
In the meantime, there’s DC Maggie Jamieson, trying to find the person killing off domestic abusers. One of her superiors secretly wonders if these casualties can really be called victims, and whether the culprit shouldn’t be praised instead of hunted, and I tend to agree. No, obviously I don’t endorse murder! But I do confess to having a few wayward “good riddance” thoughts. This storyline is suspenseful, shocking at times, and I caught myself thinking along with Maggie and her team, trying to find the person responsible for the rather heinous murders, so when the perpetrator was comprehended it didn’t come as a huge surprise, but it was a satisfying reveal nonetheless. I especially liked that some background info was provided afterwards, explaining the killer’s motive and opportunity, but not in a pedantic way.
Overall, this is a very intense crime thriller, tackling a difficult theme with the utmost respect. I can’t wait to see what Noelle Holten comes up with next, and what DC Maggie Jamieson will have to face in the future! Highly recommended!
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the free eARC. All opinions are my own.
Lucy is a probation officer and as such she’s responsible (among other things) for preventing that the criminals in her care commit the same (or other) crimes again. Some of those criminals are guilty of domestic abuse. But what very few people realise, is that Lucy herself is a victim of domestic abuse too. She of all people should know better, shouldn’t she? And she does know better and she is in fact well aware of what her husband is doing to her. But there’s her step-daughter to consider, she can’t just leave the little girl to fend for herself, and what about her career, what would her colleagues say, her superiors? She’s damned if she does and damned if she doesn’t, so for the time being, she’s staying put. That entire scenario, Lucy’s inner turmoil, that feeling of being damned either way, felt very, very real and all too plausible. Admittedly, I have zero personal experience with this, something I thank my lucky stars for every time I read a book like this one, but Lucy’s thoughts and feelings are so realistic, and I do believe that in the same circumstances, I might well have the same thoughts and experience the same feelings. To me, what was even worse than the physical abuse, was the insidious psychological abuse, and the effect the physical abuse has on Lucy’s mental state. This is related rather stoically, almost devoid of emotions at times, and therefore all the more striking. This got under my skin so badly, I can’t even tell you.
In the meantime, there’s DC Maggie Jamieson, trying to find the person killing off domestic abusers. One of her superiors secretly wonders if these casualties can really be called victims, and whether the culprit shouldn’t be praised instead of hunted, and I tend to agree. No, obviously I don’t endorse murder! But I do confess to having a few wayward “good riddance” thoughts. This storyline is suspenseful, shocking at times, and I caught myself thinking along with Maggie and her team, trying to find the person responsible for the rather heinous murders, so when the perpetrator was comprehended it didn’t come as a huge surprise, but it was a satisfying reveal nonetheless. I especially liked that some background info was provided afterwards, explaining the killer’s motive and opportunity, but not in a pedantic way.
Overall, this is a very intense crime thriller, tackling a difficult theme with the utmost respect. I can’t wait to see what Noelle Holten comes up with next, and what DC Maggie Jamieson will have to face in the future! Highly recommended!
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the free eARC. All opinions are my own.
btpbookclub's review
4.0
This is a brilliant debut and start to a new series which I am looking forward too – DC Maggie Jamieson series.
This story will have you guessing and turning those pages to find out answers. A great team working together to solve the mysterys. Fast paced. I enjoyed reading it. There is plenty going on throughout which draws the reader in. A real who dunnit story. Brilliantly written.
A well deserved four stars from me, highly recommend. I cannot wait to see where the rest of this series takes us.
This story will have you guessing and turning those pages to find out answers. A great team working together to solve the mysterys. Fast paced. I enjoyed reading it. There is plenty going on throughout which draws the reader in. A real who dunnit story. Brilliantly written.
A well deserved four stars from me, highly recommend. I cannot wait to see where the rest of this series takes us.
zooloo1983's review
5.0
o I closed the page and I messaged Noelle straight away and said OMFG!! Yes, she got one, well, in fact, she got quite a few! It is always so intense and slight nerve-wracking not only for the author but for the reader when it is a book you are reading of someone you have been getting to know. What if you don’t like the book? What if you don’t think that they have what it takes? To be honest I am more nervous about my review not doing it justice than I was reading the book!!!!!
Well, let me tell you something! She nailed it! And if you were not sure, she hammers it home over and over just to make a point that you know she nailed it!
Dead Inside is not always an easy ride or read, where we are facing domestic abuse in so much detail you find yourself scream loudly at the book. (Just don’t do this if you are reading outside you might get some funny looks!) Certain events in the story were so heartbreaking for some characters, and you wonder why people stay. So many different reasons are banded about in the book but there are no right or wrong reasons.
Although this is the Maggie Jamison series, this was by far the Lucy show! This woman stole the limelight and ran away with it. She captivated my heart, through her strength even at her lowest moments. Her kindness shone through and helped someone at the end make a relatively difficult decision to atone. You can understand her reasoning for a lot of things and you just want to wrap her up in cotton wool and never let anyone hurt her. There was one scene with Lucy that almost destroyed me. The emptiness she felt, I felt. My heart literally broke in a million pieces. This is the power that Noelle and her writing will have over you!!
Maggie, well I quite liked her, a secret stick of dynamite. We are only given hints to her past that haunts her and a case called the Raven. All in good time we know a little bit more, and I can tell she is a force to be reckoned with. She sees things slightly different to everyone else and times she can be blunt and not care and others she is sympathetic and caring, the balance seems just right.
And yes there are a whole host of names from the blogging world which made me smile. One I might not be able to look at the same way lol.
I do not want to say anything about the plot bar what is in the blurb. Even then I did not read it when I picked up the book, I went in completely dark I didn’t want anything to ruin my enjoyment of this book. I didn’t want to read anything that could potentially be a spoiler.
You really wouldn’t know that this was a debut book, I felt like Holten has already crafted her skill and her darkness and that she has been doing this for years. I was completely absorbed by her writing. I couldn’t be distracted when I was reading Dead Inside and I did not want to be. She knows how to make you care and how to make you hate with all the venom that you can in your heart. Because she definitely got all the emotions from me! I spent a lot of the time raging before my heart ached for some characters. There is no remorse for some people and it was palpable in scenes where they were oblivious to their actions and the pain being caused…in walked my anger to the room!
There are different threads running parallel throughout the book kept you on the edge of your seat. It didn’t get confusing, just when something was happening in one thread you would be teased by the chapter switching to a different character, a different scenario and would lead you to speeding through the book to find out what was going on. I felt like I had a satisfying ending to the Dead Inside, I don’t think I could ask for anything better….oh wait I can! Not to bloody end! I seriously didn’t want it to end! It really is like being on your favourite rollercoaster and never wanting the ride to end. You may know how it will end but it’s not without surprises throughout the journey. It is fast paced, especially with the short snappy chapter that keeps you just that little bit on edge as you wait for the next revelation, the next incident and the next time you might need to scream.
As wrong as this sounds, a book about domestic abuses and serial killers, but I bloody loved it! I loved it so much so, that I have pre-ordered the next book in the series Dead Wrong and I can’t wait to see Maggie Jamieson again and Dr Kate Moloney. The dynamic between these two was fab. I just hope we see Lucy again! Plus there might be another familiar name in the next book #justsaying. It is definitely in my top books for the year!!
Please do yourself a favour and buy this book! Put an afternoon aside and devour the words in front of you because you will not want to put the book down once you have started.
Well, let me tell you something! She nailed it! And if you were not sure, she hammers it home over and over just to make a point that you know she nailed it!
Dead Inside is not always an easy ride or read, where we are facing domestic abuse in so much detail you find yourself scream loudly at the book. (Just don’t do this if you are reading outside you might get some funny looks!) Certain events in the story were so heartbreaking for some characters, and you wonder why people stay. So many different reasons are banded about in the book but there are no right or wrong reasons.
Although this is the Maggie Jamison series, this was by far the Lucy show! This woman stole the limelight and ran away with it. She captivated my heart, through her strength even at her lowest moments. Her kindness shone through and helped someone at the end make a relatively difficult decision to atone. You can understand her reasoning for a lot of things and you just want to wrap her up in cotton wool and never let anyone hurt her. There was one scene with Lucy that almost destroyed me. The emptiness she felt, I felt. My heart literally broke in a million pieces. This is the power that Noelle and her writing will have over you!!
Maggie, well I quite liked her, a secret stick of dynamite. We are only given hints to her past that haunts her and a case called the Raven. All in good time we know a little bit more, and I can tell she is a force to be reckoned with. She sees things slightly different to everyone else and times she can be blunt and not care and others she is sympathetic and caring, the balance seems just right.
And yes there are a whole host of names from the blogging world which made me smile. One I might not be able to look at the same way lol.
I do not want to say anything about the plot bar what is in the blurb. Even then I did not read it when I picked up the book, I went in completely dark I didn’t want anything to ruin my enjoyment of this book. I didn’t want to read anything that could potentially be a spoiler.
You really wouldn’t know that this was a debut book, I felt like Holten has already crafted her skill and her darkness and that she has been doing this for years. I was completely absorbed by her writing. I couldn’t be distracted when I was reading Dead Inside and I did not want to be. She knows how to make you care and how to make you hate with all the venom that you can in your heart. Because she definitely got all the emotions from me! I spent a lot of the time raging before my heart ached for some characters. There is no remorse for some people and it was palpable in scenes where they were oblivious to their actions and the pain being caused…in walked my anger to the room!
There are different threads running parallel throughout the book kept you on the edge of your seat. It didn’t get confusing, just when something was happening in one thread you would be teased by the chapter switching to a different character, a different scenario and would lead you to speeding through the book to find out what was going on. I felt like I had a satisfying ending to the Dead Inside, I don’t think I could ask for anything better….oh wait I can! Not to bloody end! I seriously didn’t want it to end! It really is like being on your favourite rollercoaster and never wanting the ride to end. You may know how it will end but it’s not without surprises throughout the journey. It is fast paced, especially with the short snappy chapter that keeps you just that little bit on edge as you wait for the next revelation, the next incident and the next time you might need to scream.
As wrong as this sounds, a book about domestic abuses and serial killers, but I bloody loved it! I loved it so much so, that I have pre-ordered the next book in the series Dead Wrong and I can’t wait to see Maggie Jamieson again and Dr Kate Moloney. The dynamic between these two was fab. I just hope we see Lucy again! Plus there might be another familiar name in the next book #justsaying. It is definitely in my top books for the year!!
Please do yourself a favour and buy this book! Put an afternoon aside and devour the words in front of you because you will not want to put the book down once you have started.
trisha_thomas's review
3.0
"As sh@# as the criminal justice system can be," she narrowed her eyes into slits, "it's not my place to mete out whatever punishment is due."
This is a well written and interesting book about men who hate and abuse women and how each woman handles it differently. It's told from multiple POV - almost too many at first. It's told from a few abusive men's POV, a few police and criminal pathologist POV and quite a few victim POV. You go through days of drinking and sex and meandering through life and abusing everyone around them (or trying to hold them back). It's an abnormally small amount of people and they all feel connected.
I didn't feel like the 'who done it wasn't a huge surprise as the author had done a good job of dropping hints and info along the way but the violence and the awful hate for women was pretty rough to read. It was a pretty good but tough read.
This is a well written and interesting book about men who hate and abuse women and how each woman handles it differently. It's told from multiple POV - almost too many at first. It's told from a few abusive men's POV, a few police and criminal pathologist POV and quite a few victim POV. You go through days of drinking and sex and meandering through life and abusing everyone around them (or trying to hold them back). It's an abnormally small amount of people and they all feel connected.
I didn't feel like the 'who done it wasn't a huge surprise as the author had done a good job of dropping hints and info along the way but the violence and the awful hate for women was pretty rough to read. It was a pretty good but tough read.
verumsolum's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
3.5
This is one of the rare books that I felt like DNFing. The beginning of the book felt very slow to me, and there felt like a lot of information dumped. In some ways it felt like the author inverted the traditional maxim and had the motto "Tell, don't show." I also found it difficult to keep characters straight from one another, at times. Once it got going, the pace was a lot better, though. But I can not imagine myself ever picking up book 2 in the series (and that is rare for me).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Infidelity
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders
thegeekybibliophile's review against another edition
5.0
Three men were murdered, and they all had two things in common: a history of domestic violence and Probation Officer Lucy Sherwood. DC Maggie Jamieson and her team are in the midst of their investigation when Lucy's husband becomes the fourth victim. Is it all a terrible coincidence, or is Lucy a killer? The team needs to solve these crimes, and soon... before someone else turns up dead.
I've had the pleasure of reading several unputdownable crime thrillers since I started book blogging, and I've come to have high expectations for novels in this genre. I want several characters who seem shady enough to be a viable suspect. I want to be shocked when something unexpected happens. Most importantly, I want to be surprised when the killer is revealed.
Holten's spectacular debut easily met all those expectations.
Dead Inside is a well written story told from multiple points of view, which I enjoyed because I like to get into the head of several characters. Getting into the heads of the abusive men in the story was disturbing at times, but the realistic portrayal of them was necessary to the story, in this reader's opinion.
I was somewhat taken aback to find myself feeling a momentary glimmer of sympathy after reading one of the victims final thoughts. That is something I wouldn't have thought possible as he had done something pretty awful in a previous chapter. I rarely feel anything other than disgust for such an unlikable character. For an author to make me feel compassion, instead, is quite impressive. Well done. Very well done!
The ending blew me away, knocked me off my feet, and now I'm dying to read book two of the series. I can't wait to see what comes next for DC Jamieson!
If you love crime thrillers and you're looking for a new author to read, I highly recommend this book... and I hope you love it as much as I did!
I received an advance reading copy of this book courtesy of Killer Reads via Netgalley.
I've had the pleasure of reading several unputdownable crime thrillers since I started book blogging, and I've come to have high expectations for novels in this genre. I want several characters who seem shady enough to be a viable suspect. I want to be shocked when something unexpected happens. Most importantly, I want to be surprised when the killer is revealed.
Holten's spectacular debut easily met all those expectations.
Dead Inside is a well written story told from multiple points of view, which I enjoyed because I like to get into the head of several characters. Getting into the heads of the abusive men in the story was disturbing at times, but the realistic portrayal of them was necessary to the story, in this reader's opinion.
I was somewhat taken aback to find myself feeling a momentary glimmer of sympathy after reading one of the victims final thoughts. That is something I wouldn't have thought possible as he had done something pretty awful in a previous chapter. I rarely feel anything other than disgust for such an unlikable character. For an author to make me feel compassion, instead, is quite impressive. Well done. Very well done!
The ending blew me away, knocked me off my feet, and now I'm dying to read book two of the series. I can't wait to see what comes next for DC Jamieson!
If you love crime thrillers and you're looking for a new author to read, I highly recommend this book... and I hope you love it as much as I did!
I received an advance reading copy of this book courtesy of Killer Reads via Netgalley.
melkirkman's review against another edition
3.0
Dead Inside by Noelle Holten is a book about domestic violence. It shows views from both the perpetrators, the victims and the law enforcement involved in the various cases. The main character is Lucy, a probation officer working with a team centered around domestic violence. Lucy is good a keeping her home and professional life secret but it all comes to a head when her worlds collide.
An interesting read and I loved the ending. This book may be triggering to readers who have witnessed or experienced domestic violence.
An interesting read and I loved the ending. This book may be triggering to readers who have witnessed or experienced domestic violence.
dduaneroche's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-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? Yes
4.0
wiseard's review
3.0
Decent-ish detective novel. Overall engaging story with good characters for the most part. The killer was way way way out there though, at least with how little emphasis was placed on their skill.
The police part though suffers. There's a good depiction of a UK police team with somewhat solid understanding of how things are supposed to work. But there's very little actual police work done and some gaping holes (I was especially bothered by the general questions actually asked of the shrink and the way the substance was flat out ignored for so long - that should've been basic policing).
As mentioned overall it shows promise so I'm willing to give the next book in the series a chance.
The police part though suffers. There's a good depiction of a UK police team with somewhat solid understanding of how things are supposed to work. But there's very little actual police work done and some gaping holes (I was especially bothered by the general questions actually asked of the shrink and the way the substance was flat out ignored for so long - that should've been basic policing).
As mentioned overall it shows promise so I'm willing to give the next book in the series a chance.