A review by skrau
Splinter in the Blood by Ashley Dyer

4.0

I've read my share of female-led British police procedural thrillers, and this one was well-plotted and certainly flaunts the author(s)' forensic expertise, without feeling too pedantic about it. There were a few little things about the characters that felt sort of odd (the references to vapes and gaming did not seem natural, in a way that kept throwing me off - a little "how do you do fellow kids", for a start); but, and without giving details but this is still probably a spoiler:

Spoiler

while I did not predict the culprit, and fell for the red herring (which, if I naturally do that instead of spotting it, means the twist is good), I did at one point question if it would be a certain kind of person, based on something that the killer was NOT doing that seemed important, especially having read so many stories of women being murdered in fiction and real life, that it surprised me that none of the detectives seemed to think it significant. The lack of it was refreshing though,

and hopefully I haven't ruined it for anyone, because I think this is worth the read for other people who like this genre.