“In both instances here, that person knew exactly what they were doing, and showed a high level of anatomical knowledge. And they were intending to inflict pain on their victims.”
“Which makes it personal,” said Gardner.
“Impunity”, by Ray Clark
I’m delighted to join the Blog Tour for “Impunity” by Ray Clark. Many thanks to publishers The Book Folks and of course the author for organising the tour and gifting me a copy of the book.
The story:
When Chloe Harrington, daughter of eminent transplant surgeon Sir Michael Harrington, dies outside Bramfield police station, her cause of death is unknown. But her post mortem reveals that something truly horrifying has occurred — both her kidneys have been removed. DI Stewart Gardner and DS Sean Reilly from the Leeds Central Major Investigation Team are brought in, and their investigation leads them into the murky world of organ trafficking.
But when another victim is discovered, it seems that something more personal is at play. Will Gardner and Reilly be able to unearth the killer, and more bafflingly, the motive?
My thoughts:
“Impunity” by Ray Clark is the tenth book in the DI Gardner series, and the first I’ve read. The story really starts with a bang, with the discovery in the middle of the night of a young woman outside small-town police station Bramfield. She dies before an ambulance can arrive, and it soon becomes clear that something very nasty has happened to her — both her kidneys have been removed. The (unlikely!) coincidence soon emerges that she is none other than the daughter of a transplant surgeon, and the team work hard to investigate all angles, including the possibility of organised crime and organ trafficking.
Unusually for a crime novel, a month goes by after the killing with no strong leads; to the point where Gardner and Reilly’s DCI declares it a cold case and pulls the duo away to work on other cases. But three months later they’re back in the thick of it when another murder occurs, in the same macabre manner, and with a victim they know only too well…
I enjoyed getting to know the detective duo of Gardner and Reilly, and this book was easily read as a standalone despite the series being so well established. The plot kept me hooked until the end, with the most intriguing thing being the motive for the killings and why they occurred in such a terrible way. Despite the potential for organised crime, the path leads us closer to home, and the final resolution was both exciting and satisfying. Overall, this is an enjoyable read for crime thriller fans, and another series I’ll plan to read more from!
Pages: 285
Published: 16th May 2023
Rating: 🐈⬛🐈⬛🐈⬛.5/5
Purchase links:
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C5DDXT3G
US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C5DDXT3G
CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0C5DDXT3G
AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0C5DDXT3G
About the author
Ray Clark is an award-winning, Yorkshire born author, and creator of Northern Crimes – a series of gritty, murder mysteries set in and around Leeds, featuring detectives Gardener and Reilly, and published by The Book Folks. Influenced by Graham Masterton – and a grandmother who didn’t mind the young Ray watching gory horror films – Ray began his career as a writer in 1995 with a book about Masterton published with an introduction by Peter James. Since then, Ray has penned two supernatural thrillers and several collections of cross-genre short stories before moving on to police procedural fiction – with a slice of horror – in his Northern Crimes series. Over the last forty years Ray has also spent considerable time in the music industry working both in the UK and Europe as a guitar vocalist and with a number of bands. These days, Ray divides his time between writing books and working live on the music scene, while also helping to raise money for the Oesophageal Patient Association, a charity he feels quite close to.
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