*I received a free copy of this book with thanks to the author and Zoé of Zooloo’s Book Tours. The decision to review and my opinions are my own.*
Blurb: Three bodies, one suspect. That suspect is you…
When the unidentified corpse of an apparent suicide victim is found hanging above a complex pattern of forty photographs of children, Detective Inspector Jonah Pennance of the Met’s specialist Sapphire Unit is brought in to investigate.
A post-mortem reveals the suicide was murder, and Pennance realises he knows the man. But as the body count rises, all the signs point to a care home in Kent – a place that Pennance is all too familiar with.
The problem is the only person connecting the victims is Pennance – and he has a solid motive for wanting them dead… Can Pennance prove his innocence?
Perfect for fans of Ian Rankin, Stuart MacBride, and Peter James Blood Sentence is the first book in the explosive series featuring Detective Inspector Jonah Pennance.
This story thrusts the reader immediately into the action with a prologue from the perspective of a potential victim, and I was immediately hooked.
We then follow the main character, DI Jonah Pennance, as he plunges into the twisted trap designed just for him, forcing him to relive and reveal all of the dark secrets from his past; secrets he has tried to supress even from himself.
What ensues is a series of brutal murders: psychologically terrifying and humiliating; horrific without being gory. Between that and the potentially triggering issues of child pornography, paedophilia and child sexual abuse, this story is not always an easy read emotionally. It is, however, an excellent police procedural – well-written, with believable characters and a gripping plot that is part medical thriller, in addition to the childhood mystery, espionage-esque action, political intrigue and suspense.
While there is plenty going on as the plot twists, the author never loses his firm grip on the characters and carries the reader with him effortlessly from beginning to end.
I was left desperate for to join Jonah on another case, and yet intrigued as to how that would unfold given his deeply personal history with this last one! I can’t wait to find out where the author is heading with this series and will be following his new releases avidly (and possibly also adding some of his previous releases to my tottering TBR tower!).
Highly recommended to anyone who loves a police investigation that is strongly character-driven and somewhat on the dark side.
‘The instant Pennance stepped over the threshold the smell hit him.
– Keith Nixon, Blood Sentence
Decaying meat.
Like at the rear of an abattoir, where the discards ended up before disposal.
Pennance always aimed to experience every facet of a crime scene, no matter what that entailed. He paused a few feet inside and breathed in deeply, battling his body’s desire to gag as the putrid stench caught the back of his throat, as if someone had scraped rotting flesh across his lungs. The fingers of the reek were that powerful, that penetrating, they reached inside him the moment he opened his mouth. He felt eyes on him, glanced over his shoulder. Both uniforms were watching him, each expression a classic shocked question mark.
Keith Nixon is the best-selling author of sixteen novels and one million words in print, including the Margate based Solomon Gray series of over 250,000 copies in circulation and reached no.1 on Amazon in the UK, US, Canada and Australia.
Keith lived near the gritty seaside town of Margate, where many of his novels are based, for 17 years before relocating to the edge of the Peak District with his family where he lives today. Keith works in a senior sales role within a high-tech industry and has regularly travelled all over the globe. His novels are published by Gladius Press and Bastei Lubbe (German)
Follow him at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/keithnixonauthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/keith_nixon/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/knntom
Website: keithnixon.co.uk
Blood Sentence is available right now on Amazon.
Don’t forget to stop by the other blogs on this tour (see the poster below for details) for more great content and reviews!
Bookshine And Readbows 
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