I’m absolutely chuffed to bits to be sharing my review for the eagerly anticipated second book in the Washington Poe series, Black Summer by M. W. Craven as part of the blog tour. Many thanks to Beth Wright of Constable for the invite and for copy of the book for review.
About the book
After The Puppet Show, a new storm is coming . . .
Jared Keaton, chef to the stars. Charming. Charismatic. Psychopath . . . He’s currently serving a life sentence for the brutal murder of his daughter, Elizabeth. Her body was never found and Keaton was convicted largely on the testimony of Detective Sergeant Washington Poe.
So when a young woman staggers into a remote police station with irrefutable evidence that she is Elizabeth Keaton, Poe finds himself on the wrong end of an investigation, one that could cost him much more than his career.
Helped by the only person he trusts, the brilliant but socially awkward Tilly Bradshaw, Poe races to answer the only question that matters: how can someone be both dead and alive at the same time?
And then Elizabeth goes missing again – and all paths of investigation lead back to Poe.
Black Summer is available to purchase now – Amazon UK
My thoughts
Oh my word, where the heck do I begin with this story. Honestly I am totally lost for words and I’ll apologise to anyone who knows me because after I read The Puppet Show (Book 1) I never shut up about it, my daughter read it and even my 81 year granny-in-law read it because I raved about it so much and I’m doing the same with Black Summer. It’s soooooo good.
It’s great to be back with Poe and Tilly, they’re like a special drop of medicine. No matter what kind of situation they find themselves in, the chemistry these two have will bring a smile to anyone’s face. Poe is quite charming, he’s determined but he doesn’t always like to play by the rules and Tilly is extremely clever, very socially awkward and doesn’t have any filter when it comes to sharing personal information but they work so well together and are a complete joy to read about.
In Black Summer Poe and Tilly find themselves with a very difficult case on their hands. When Elizabeth Keaton vanished, Jared Keaton her father was sentenced to life for her murder with the help of Poe’s testimony. Now Elizabeth has materialised as if from nowhere throwing a complete spanner in the works. Poe was convinced Jared killed his daughter but how can she be alive and dead at the same time and to make matters worse, Elizabeth goes missing again.
I honestly think I spent maybe 3/4 of this book with my mouth hanging open, especially at the beginning of the book. What a way to open, I’ll not say anymore but oh boy. I’m not sure how Mr Craven comes up with these plots, he maybe has a warped mind or maybe he is just very very clever but wow, I salute him. There isn’t a page where I wasn’t totally invested in the story and the characters and I really couldn’t see where this story was taking me. Each twist and turn was a surprise.
I could probably ramble on and on telling you how good Black Summer is so I’ll just let you find out for yourselves, obviously after you’ve read The Puppet Show if you haven’t already and if you haven’t, then why not? It’s super good too.
Black Summer could be read as a stand-alone but I definitely recommend The Puppet Show first, not only is it a cracker too but it gives you a real feel for the characters and they are just brilliant.
So to everyone I know and buy Christmas presents for, guess what you’re getting?
It's all about the books 