Parker Bilal - The Trenches
3.5 ⭐
Genre: Crime, Mystery, Thriller, Fiction
Pages: 420
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Canongate Books
Date Published: 7th July 2022
Massive thanks to Canongate for a copy of the book to read and review.
Book Blurb:
When a woman rescued by a fishing boat off the coast of Grimsby disappears without a trace, it turns out to be only the beginning of a dark investigation. Crane is soon contacted by another woman when she receives a letter out of the blue from her estranged son, not seen since he left to become a fighter for Islamic State. Drake is called in and forced to go back to his old stomping ground to infiltrate the underground network that took Jason abroad.
Meanwhile, Drake's old partner investigates the brutal murder of a journalist that appears to have worrying ties to a previous case. While Crane is in pursuit of the mystery woman, Drake finds himself drawn further into the company of a dangerous group as terror and organised crime intersect.
My Review:
I read the blurb of this book and
from it, this looked like an amazing crime/thriller book with plenty of twists
and drama. However, I was left disappointed after about 200 pages. The book started
so well, gripped me at the very beginning and then went nowhere. The end of the
book was very anticlimactic, too. This book had so much potential, including
such an interesting storyline where terrorism meets organised gang crime but it
just didn’t take that potential to its fullest. It just fell flat at the end.
The story starts with Crane
talking to a couple who get a strange and unexpected letter from their son, Jason,
who left to become a fighter for the Islamic State years ago. Drake and Crane
then both go undercover to find out whether Jason is back in the UK. Whilst working
on this case Drake is also trying to unravel what happened in the past, in the
case that caused him a lot of pain, including losing his job. He still wants to
find out who is responsible and wants to write wrongs to rights. Drakes's ex-police
partner also currently investigating a very suspicious murder that might be
linked to the case Drake is trying to unravel.
At times, especially by the end
of the book it seemed that there are so many different leads, plots and characters
dropped in this book but none of them followed up properly. Additionally, there
wasn’t much of a link between most of the characters and the crimes that were
thrown into this story. Some of the characters are also introduced but then never
mentioned again, or their relevance to the main investigation and storyline is
not explained. Furthermore, it seemed that the main storyline of Jason is put
into the back of Drake’s mind whilst he is worrying about the past
investigation.
I liked Cranes chapters as they
are the ones that worked on their case with Jason and were not side-tracked. I
felt that Crane’s chapters were the ones that kept the story moving and
together. Drakes’ chapters just dragged and I wish it added something more to
the story. I especially hoped that somehow the case that he was working on in
the past was connected to his case now and I was waiting for that plot twist
that never actually came.
Overall: It is a good book that
had so much potential plot and story-wise. Something that started as a really
good book just fell flat at the end. It seemed that the potential wasn’t used
at all. I would like to read the author's other series and see if I like them,
as his writing is something that I did enjoy. The book itself read very well
and the main characters were perfectly developed. For me, it was just a plot
that wasn’t developed to its true potential this time in this book. I still
recommend this book to readers who like crime and thrillers, as it is a great
read with very interesting main characters Drake and Crane.
About the Author:
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