Ragdoll By Daniel Cole

[amazon_link id=”1409168743″ target=”_blank” ][/amazon_link]’Ragdoll’ is the first book by Daniel P Cole in a new exciting series and is hailed as one of the exciting debuts to look forward to in 2017 and I wholeheartedly agree with this as I’ve spent the last couple of nights sitting up into the early hours reading this grisly tale.

A body is discovered with the dismembered parts of six victims stitched together, nicknamed by the press as the ‘Ragdoll’. Assigned to the shocking case are Detective William ‘Wolf’ Fawkes, recently reinstated to the London Met, and his former partner Detective Emily Baxter. The ‘Ragdoll Killer’ taunts the police by releasing a list of names to the media, and the dates on which he intends to murder them. With six people to save, can Fawkes and Baxter catch a killer when the world is watching their every move?

The story starts off by introducing us to crime from a number of years ago, when a man who has apparently killed children by setting them on fire has been found not guilty, much to the disgust of the detective in the case William Wolf Fawkes, who goes mad at the court case and is distraught that this killer is getting away with it all. Haunted by his failings with the legal system, Wolf then launches into a deep depression. Fast forward years later and a body has turned up, disturbingly the body is made up body parts from other bodies and the hunt is on to find the other victims. In the midst of trying to solve the missing body parts, a list has been released to the press, to Andrea, who is Wolf’s ex wife giving the names and the dates of the upcoming victims and Wolf’s name is the last victim. As Wolf investigates the Ragdoll murder, he is also trying to stay alive and keep one step ahead of the murderer.

I absolutely loved this story, the beginning of the book has such a great introduction setting the scene perfectly for this fast paced and thrilling story. The story is seen through many perspectives from the team investigating the murders to the next victim and these many insights to the story and these all made for fascinating reading. The main character, Wolf is reminiscent of Jo Nesbo’s popular’s crime detective Harry Hole, minus the alcohol problem, he’s a dark and troubled man who gets emotionally involved in the cases he works on. As he counts down he on his last days, he reflects on what he would have done differently. Other supporting characters is Baxter, his sidekick, an excitable young woman who’s in awe of the grisly murders, she’s sharp with quick wit and despairs of her new partner Edmunds who has just moved from fraud. He’s a quiet, determined young man, who’s lack of expertise in murder cases make him an easy target for bullying but he’s determined to prove his worth.

The story is so cleverly written that it’s impossible to put it down, with many twists and potential suspects, there’s never a dark moment in this gruesome tale. With every grim discovery, there’s a light hearted injection to soften the blow, ‘Ragdoll’ is a monstrously addictive tale, with a shocking ending that is most definitely one of the big debuts of 2017. I loved it!

You can pre-order [amazon_link id=”1409168743″ target=”_blank” ]Ragdoll from Amazon [/amazon_link] and will be available to buy from good bookshops from 23rd February 2017.