SYCAMORE GAP - Book review

LJ Ross’s second DCI Ryan novel Sycamore Gap was published in 2015, several years before two deranged dullards actually felled this famous tree. It is a sequel to her Holy Island bestseller.

It begins with a Prologue: in 2005 on 21 June, the Summer Solstice. The murder of a woman is committed alongside the Roman wall by an unknown man.

Then, ten years later on the same date a female skeleton is discovered buried in the Roman wall itself. Ryan and his team are brought in to investigate.

Ross has deservedly garnered a vast readership with her mix of gruesome murders, personable detectives and humour. ‘...she carried an enormous designer handbag that Mary Poppins would have been proud of’ (p14). There’s also believable police procedural detail and apt social commentary: ‘It was easy to talk about restorative justice and the value of rehabilitation when the damage and destruction had never hit too close to home’ (p149).

Finding the murderer is not easy – and there is a second one before long. The team – older, experienced Phillips and bright and brave MacKenzie with Ryan – work well together and there are moments of charm, friendship and compassion. Ryan is still plagued by the awful murder of his sister. There is a lingering threat from the far-from-moribund black magic Circle. And Ryan’s relationship with Anna hits a few speed-bums during the case. The final pages speed towards a suspenseful denouement.

Not surprisingly, while this murder case is wrapped up satisfactorily, there are sufficient hints of more future trauma aimed at Ryan and Anna, doubtless in book three, Heavenfield.

LJ Ross’s twenty-fourth DCI Ryan Berwick is due out in November.

Editorial comment - for the benefit of writers:

Ryan puts his hands in his jacket pockets (p11). We don’t see him removing them yet he ‘shoved his hands in the pockets of his jacket’ again on p12.

Ryan refers to the discoverer of the skeleton as Colin (p13). Yet his name isn’t seen to be revealed to him before this.

‘I’m sure that’s it,’ he nodded (p204). That sentence should end with a full stop. He nodded – as separate sentence. Or it could have been written as ‘I’m sure that’s it,’ he said and nodded...

HOLY ISLAND - Book review

LJ Ross’s debut novel Holy Island was published in 2015, and since then she has published another twenty-one DCI Ryan mysteries, as well as books in other (shorter) series. Prolific, averaging two books a year. Holy Island has garnered over 50,000 reviews on Amazon, most being favourable.

The DCI Ryan books centre round the north-east of England, an area rich in history, castles, landmarks and beautiful scenery. Living in the area and knowing it, the book added an added interest for me – and legions of north-easterners.

It’s December, close to Christmas, on Holy Island, and the weather is cold and bleak – and a young islander called Lucy Mathieson is found murdered, her naked corpse left like a sick sacrifice in the ancient Priory.

As it happens, DCI Maxwell Charles Finley-Ryan is on leave on the island following a traumatic case that brought him close to a breakdown. As the murder has suggestions of a pagan sacrifice, Dr Anna Taylor is brought in from Durham to assist Ryan.

The narrative is omniscient, so within a scene the reader jumps from one character’s thoughts to another. While this technique is frowned upon by many, it’s a legitimate way of conveying tension between characters and involving the reader. The main thing is that at no point does the ‘head-jumping’ cause confusion.

This was a page-turner and a quick read, with several apt metaphors, and enough varied characters to hold the interest. It does not fall into the cosy crime bracket. The interaction between Ryan and his team works very well. In classic style, the relationship between Ryan and Anna begins with antagonism from both sides, yet they gradually appreciate the strengths and knowledge of the other, and perhaps inevitably their situation turns romantic. There are a number of suspects to keep you guessing; and two more murders occur before the case is resolved.  The Epilogue provides quite a shock, signifying that the ripples from this case may taint Ryan’s life later on...

A remarkably successful first novel.  I’m certainly inclined to read the next book in the series, Sycamore Gap.