Don't Turn Around: A dark, thrilling, page-turner of a crime novel: Volume 1 (Detective Jennifer Knight Series)

If you’re looking for a brand spanking new crime-wave breaker, then look no further than the obsessive-compulsive, Detective Constable Jennifer Knight – a determined wearer of killer heels with an 'intuition' like no other on the force.During her daily routine, Jennifer is called to interview a suspect known to her from long ago. The crime he’s accused of is out of character, so she conducts the interview with the suspect, who is starting to behave rather strangely whilst in custody. As the investigation progresses and alarming comments are made, Jennifer is left wondering if there is something sinister than a knife attack is at work.The interview disturbed her (well, it certainly disturbed me), but she dismisses it and she goes home to her neat, but empty house. It's not long before she receives silent phone calls, progressing to a distinct feeling of being watched - she’s a trained police officer, she can cope – can’t she? Well, that would depend on who’s watching, wouldn’t it...In the meantime, she attends other scenes of crime. Similarities between individual cases her mother investigated many years ago start to brew, and Jennifer feels someone is taunting her. She’s trying to think straight: is it a copycat, or is she just being paranoid?She needs to trust her own instincts to achieve results, as someone IS watching, someone who lets us hear their side of the story during a few sinister visits to their past – it's a voice that is expertly executed by the writer (excuse the pun).Guesswork will only get you so far with this one; it has a brilliant ending that couldn’t have been better if it had been wrapped up with a bow – I would go as far as to say it’s a TV series just waiting to be made.It's a perfectly atmospheric, paranormal crime-thriller and I can't wait for the next instalment!(My thanks to the publisher for providing an E-Book copy via Netgalley for review. But as you can see, I loved it so much I purchased it anyway!)

I enjoyed Caroline Mitchell's other series about Ruby and was hoping for a similar level of enjoyment from this series but I found it unexpectedly, and disappointingly, based on the paranormal and not written with the same skill or depth. It is not that I dislike paranormal novels, I just like to get what I paid for "a dark, suspenseful crime" which is definitely not what this is..Repeated references to an earlier problem at work made it feel like I should have read an earlier novel despite this being listed as the first in a series of 3. It took far too long to get the details and understand some of Jennifer's motivation.Jennifer's character wasn't well enough developed, she has OCD tendencies and has to clean her house for hours before going into work - it wasn't consistent, she's then going to bed with her make up on leaving mascara streaks on pillow, and apparently more besides.. nope.. doesn't fit.It's like the paranormal twist was an afterthought because you had an idea you couldn't find any other way to resolve and you needed an ending.Ethan? Just no! He's a probationer to CID, your bosses secret extramarital son 😂, he's into the occult yet Jennifer makes no comment despite her "hidden" ability, then he's really running a secret police department for supernatural crimes.. even I, as a medium/seer/psychic, baulked at that it's ridiculous.. ideas like that belong in the cozy supernatural mysteries genre not in a serious crime genre.Will, who dismisses all comments about voices and visions suddenly understands?! Nope.. sceptic's question everything.. they're like conspiracy theorists, even absolute proof won't win them round..The biggest issue of all.. "the killer".. I don't want to spoil it for others so I won't say more than.. nope!! It doesn't work.I just wish I had not bought the set as I really don't want to read them but am stuck with them.. when I choose to buy paranormal it's got to be much better written than this.. I am so disappointed as I really thought the author was capable of so much more than this.

What do you get if you fuse a crime story with a supernatural element? The simple answer is: a totally riveting read from top author Caroline Mitchell, a former police officer. The heroine of the story DS Jennifer Knight, has long been plagued by voices inside her head, and some of her colleagues think she is mad. How she learns to come to terms with her special skills, is as much the basis for the story as the baffling series of killings plaguing the small costal town of Haven. In the hands of a lesser writer the story could easily become ridiculous, but the exceptionally talented Ms Mitchell uses her vast experience to guide her readers through the mystical maze in this first book of a series. Did I enjoy it? Let me just say that I've already added the next two books to my Kindle library.

This spine chilling detective thriller starts with a series of crimes which all point to a copy cat killer. Yet there is something supernatural involved, as revealed in the strange voices Jennifer Knight hears in various suspects. This is the Grim Reaper, a voice from the past, a cold-blooded ruthless killer, back from the dead to exact revenge. With echoes of the past and possession, the case is linked to a series of historic crimes, which involved Jennifer’s mother (also in the police force) but I loved the way it unfolded. Frank was pure evil but charming and manipulative too. Like Hannibal Lector, he was the type of man you would want to encounter in real life!