A Tapping at My Door: A gripping serial killer thriller (The DS Nathan Cody series)

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I wished, she was the first victim and Cody could add that to one of the reasons for being so morose. The targets are co-workers, the killer’s signature is a variety of dead birds but the culmination is the brilliance of the story. DS Nathan Cody, recovering from a traumatic experience while working undercover is partnered with an ex-girlfriend on the hunt for this killer which leads to old memories they would both rather forget to resurface.

DS Nathan Cody, just back to work after an undercover mission that went horrifyingly wrong, is put on the case. This book doesn’t lie within the police procedural genre, though it is a team of officers investigating the murders, Jackson focuses more on the narrative than any procedure. Disturbed by a tapping at her back door, and in a move as stupid as going to the basement in a horror film, Terri Latham goes to investigate finding a raven is responsible for the noise. But overall the narration and the story propel the reader to a climatic ending, making this a worthwhile read.In fact most of the characterisations are excellent – from Cody’s damaged and troubled soul to the almost motherly concern of his chief, DCI Stella Blunt, and the common sense of Webley. I wanted to hold out to the end, since it took awhile to figure out who was the mass murderer; but it was work, and rather unsatisfying when it got there. S. of A, Jackson has stayed closer to home with this one, setting it in his native city of Liverpool. The idea of multiple murders accompanied by exotic clues felt exploitative to me, especially when the setting for the crimes was so realistic.

This was a 'deal of the day' book, so at least I didn't waste a credit, but I did waste 11 hours of my life on this dross. But then I am convinced the author thoughts, shit, how on earth do I pull this together: why is my killer using birds? It is a very tense read that had me shouting out things like, NO WAY and OMG, that is how wrapped up I was in the story. Lording over all of this is DCI Stella Blunt (yes, that is the actual surname that Jackson decided upon) who slams a lot of doors and bellows at a lot of people and does whatever else one would expect from a grumpy DCI in trope-land.This explains his shortish temper, particularly with local reporter, suffers with insomnia and has a hint of recklessness about him but again, David Jackson doesn’t overplay these issues, they are there and clearly a concern, not least to Cody himself, but he does work as part of a team and there are minimal lone wolf moments.