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

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He focuses on the people and their stories rather than what they are doing in their minutia of police work.

Edgar Allan Poe’s stature as a major figure in world literature is primarily based on his ingenious and profound short stories, poems, and critical theories, which established a highly influential rationale for the short form in both poetry and fiction. It is an engrossing read with a detailed story that the author wraps up beautifully with a rather unexpected explanation. There is a gruesome torture scene later in the book, which reminded me of my avoidance of male-authored crime novels which seem to do this more often than female-authored books. To be honest, this is like a child's version of a crime novel compared to Connolly's magnificent Charlie Parker series. I felt very protective of him right from the start, rather like DCI Stella Blunt, and wanted to shout "NOOOOO!

So obviously I bought the first one because as I’m sure you all know by now, there should be a law against starting a series anywhere else but with book one. I don't think it's wise to compare one author to another because in the end, it's a matter of taste and personal preference which one you prefer; however, right on the front cover of this book, there's an excerpt from a review by the Guardian. Which is why, even though I think 'A Tapping At My Door' was a four-star read, I don't want to read any more of this series.

This is a very good start to a new series and successfully introduces the characters in this blood curdling thriller. 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. There is also a lot of great suspense, with the author building fear and tension cleverly, by making you care about even minor characters that we meet briefly. Full disclosure - I'll happily watch some derivative, third-rate procedural, but if I spend my time on reading, I expect it to be at least of Simenon standard. It so doesn't work when you read it that the author skips the whole episode and just says it's happened, because no powers of writing could make the scenes work.

Then a killer strikes, thus killing two birds with one stone (sorry couldn’t resist that one, and also the consequent loss of formerly allocated point for crimes against ravens). He can’t sleep, has a quick temper and flares up very easily, especially with the local reporter and he acts recklessly with little regard for his safety.