A young man is found dead at his computer in an Internet cafe; cause of death is hard to work out. His mother anticipated the news. The manager of the Internet cafe dies while under police observed hospital care. What do these things have in common? Whose the killer? Was this lad in too deep with bad company? Is the owner of the Internet cafe really all that bad?
Whatever It Takes is the second novel in the DCI Jane Birchfield series, however I hadn’t read the first instalment prior to being given a copy of this to read. Luckily the references to previous cases are few and far between (but intriguing enough to make me order myself a copy of the first book!) and don’t make it a difficult book to read or follow at all as characters are described well and relationships are clear from the start.
I really enjoyed this; I love the character of Jane! She’s so resilient and I really feel for her but do wish she would be home a little more (I really enjoy characters that I feel like I could give a bit of a talking to but will still have a soft spot for!).
Sometimes when male writers create a female lead they can get it a little bit wrong, but I feel that by not writing in the first person has been a positive move as it allows for more flexibility when giving chapters focusing on other characters.
There were some dark parts in the plot but luckily they weren’t particularly graphic meaning that they could be glossed over by the reader, which is a nice option to have in a crime thriller and makes me enjoy Wilson’s writing style and structure even more.
Author Biography
Wilson is a Jack of all trades, having been a journalist in a news paper, postman, HR officer, director, actor, playwright and now published author. The first book of Wilson’s was Every Reason (the first DCI Jane Birchfield novel) was published in 2016 and the follow up to Whatever it Takes isn’t far off being printed (yey!). Wilson was a Manchester lad but now lives of the Isle of Wight (I’m very jealous!) where he finds the sea is the perfect muse and best place for dog walks.
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