Blog Tour: Say Your Prayers (Book 1 in the DI Sterling Series) – Lorraine Mace

*I received a free ARC of this book, with thanks to the author, Headline Accent – Hachette and Anne Cater of Random Things Blog Tours. The decision to review and my opinions are my own.*

Blurb: THERE’S NO REST FOR THE WICKED . . .

Detective Inspector Paolo Sterling is urgently called away from court when a young woman’s mutilated body is found dumped in a car park.

As the post-mortem begins, he is horrified to discover that the victim was the lead witness who failed to appear in court just days earlier. And, at the same time, a connection to another ongoing case is revealed and, suddenly, DI Sterling realises he is on the hunt for a depraved and senseless serial killer.

Delving further into the investigation, Paolo and his team find themselves embroiled in a terrifying underworld that has unexpected links to Paolo’s life. And, when the lines between professional and personal blur, Paolo is forced to confront his worst nightmare. But how far will he go to protect those he loves? And what will he have to sacrifice to do so?

Say Your Prayers is the first in the D.I. Sterling Thriller series, and if the others are all as gruesomely gripping as this one is then I can’t wait to read them!

There is a lot of graphic and potentially triggering content in this story, so those of nervous disposition might want to steer clear, as the storyline includes paedophilia and child abuse, domestic abuse, rape, and very violent death. The reader is hooked straight in from the start, with a scene from the killer’s point of view, and we keep getting snippets of that perspective laced throughout Paolo’s investigation of the crimes, giving us inside information ahead of the police as the case plays out.

There is a really good balance throughout of Paolo’s personal and professional life, as he has to juggle catching a serial killer with the trials of raising a teenage daughter, a hostile ex (or two!), a handful of old school ‘friends’ stirring up legal trouble, a missing witness and a womanising new partner. So, loads of excitement, intrigue, secrets and lies!

I felt really pleased with myself at guessing one of the killer’s secrets before it was revealed, but working out who it was was far more challenging… I had only narrowed it down to three possibilities by the time D.I. Sterling had sussed it out. But then it is a race against time, with extremely high stakes, and I was on the edge of my seat right through to the finish line.

This is a very well-written, dark, police procedural, with compelling character development that made me want to find out more, even after the case was wrapped up. I’ll definitely be picking up a copy of Rock-A-Bye-Baby and can thoroughly recommend this series/author to fans of James Patterson, Karin Slaughter and similar, looking for a new disturbing thrill-read.

”Sterling. Okay, where? Right, about fifteen minutes. Yep, we’re on our way.’
He put the phone back in his pocket. ‘Seems like our chat with Lisa Boxer will have to wait. Turn around when you can; we’re heading to Gallow’s Heath. Remember just after you’d joined the team, they found a woman’s body that looked like a lump of butcher’s meat?’ At Dave’s nod, Paolo continued. ‘They’ve found another one.’
– Lorraine Mace, Say Your Prayers

About the author

Born and raised in South East London, Lorraine lived and worked in South Africa, on the Island of Gozo and in France before settling on the Costa del Sol in Spain. She lives with her partner in a traditional Spanish village inland from the coast and enjoys sampling the regional dishes and ever-changing tapas in the local bars. Her knowledge of Spanish is expanding. To stop her waistline from doing the same, she runs five times a week.

Author of the D.I. Sterling series of novels, Lorraine has been engaged in many writing-related activities. For over twelve years she was a columnist for Writing Magazine and has recently stepped down from writing two columns for Writers’ Forum and also her role as head judge of the magazine’s monthly fiction competitions in order to concentrate on her own writing. She is currently writing two standalone psychological thrillers for Headline Accent.