When the body of a man is found the morning after a demonstration by a group of protesters known as Anonymous, Kate Riley and Zain Harris from the Police Crime Commissioner's Office are called in to investigate. Discovering that the body is covered in strange pustules, fear strikes when it is revealed that the man could be a victim of a lethal virus; potentially, anyone who has come into contact with the victim could be a carrier. The body is soon identified as that of a senior civil servant with strong government connections. As another person goes missing, the race is on to find an antidote whilst also trying to discover the motive behind the attack.
With recent events in Salisbury, the idea of someone being infected with a potentially lethal virus is very topical, and it was this that drew me towards reading the book. I found the premise a fascinating one and enjoyed reading about the precautions that needed to be taken due to them not knowing what had caused the death. The descriptions of the body are graphic and helped to explain the need to ascertain exactly what happened before the public were informed.
The two lead characters, DCI Kate Riley and DS Zain Harris, are an intriguing pair and I liked how their investigation styles were very different yet complemented each other. I did find, however, that the plot of the book was often slowed down by the references to their back stories. Whereas I often find this useful, especially if you haven't read the previous book in the series, here, I found it distracted me from the main plot. I felt that Kate's back story, whilst obviously a fascinating one, was a bit of a 'red herring' in this book. I found myself wanting to know more about the mysterious character who was watching her, only to find that the story was not resolved in this book.
I did enjoy reading First to Die, but I definitely feel that this is one where I should have read the first in the series prior to reading this.
With recent events in Salisbury, the idea of someone being infected with a potentially lethal virus is very topical, and it was this that drew me towards reading the book. I found the premise a fascinating one and enjoyed reading about the precautions that needed to be taken due to them not knowing what had caused the death. The descriptions of the body are graphic and helped to explain the need to ascertain exactly what happened before the public were informed.
The two lead characters, DCI Kate Riley and DS Zain Harris, are an intriguing pair and I liked how their investigation styles were very different yet complemented each other. I did find, however, that the plot of the book was often slowed down by the references to their back stories. Whereas I often find this useful, especially if you haven't read the previous book in the series, here, I found it distracted me from the main plot. I felt that Kate's back story, whilst obviously a fascinating one, was a bit of a 'red herring' in this book. I found myself wanting to know more about the mysterious character who was watching her, only to find that the story was not resolved in this book.
I did enjoy reading First to Die, but I definitely feel that this is one where I should have read the first in the series prior to reading this.