Marginalised by previous antics, Sam Shephard, is on the bottom rung of detective training in Dunedin, and her boss makes sure she knows it. She gets involved in her first homicide investigation, when a university student is murdered in the Botanic Gardens, and Sam soon discovers this is not an isolated incident. There is a chilling prospect of a predator loose in Dunedin, and a very strong possibility that the deaths are linked to a visiting circus…
Determined to find out who’s running the show, and to prove herself, Sam throws herself into an investigation that can have only one ending…
I'd like to thank Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for inviting me to be a part of this blog tour and Orenda Books for my ecopy of The Ringmaster to review.
Regulars of the blog will know that I am a huge supporter of Karen Sullivan at Orenda Books who is a champion of authors and readers alike. And boy does she have talent at spotting some great books that introduce us readers to authors we may never have heard about and Vanda Symon is one such author that I can safely now add to my ones to read list.
As someone who likes to read books in series in order I had every good intention of reading Overkill, the first book in the New Zealand set series featuring up-and-coming detective Sam Shepard, before moving onto reading and reviewing The Ringmaster but once again my plans were foiled due to the thing that pays the bills... work!
But you don't have to worry if you haven't read the first book as The Ringmaster can be read as a standalone as there's enough snippets dripped in to provide you with Sam's personal and professional background to enable you to follow her move to Dunedin. It's clear to see that she's not everyone's favourite copper and that some think she got the job without due merit but it's clear to see that Sam is determined to prove her doubters wrong.
As soon as I finished reading the prologue it was clear that there was a serial killer on the loose but yet the murder of a young student seems completely random and doesn't seem to fit any pattern with any other unsolved murders. Even when Sam does pick up possible links to unexplained deaths around the same time that a travelling circus was in town, the clues just seem to be a bit too obvious as if the killer is taunting them and throwing them a few red herrings.
It was clear to see that Sam was a determined young woman who is fighting to prove herself a capable detective but she's definitely got a fight on her hands to get others to believe in her. I loved her feisty character, she may be short in stature but she's not afraid to stand her grounds although maybe she's a little too headstrong and acts before she thinks which gets her into a spot of trouble or two. I liked the fact that we got to see a vulnerable side to her character, it makes her all the more real and someone that you wanted to get to know. My heart literally broke for her when she's put in an unimaginable situation with Cassie and there's only one action she can take which is the last thing she wants to do.
Although the police aspect of the storyline is the main focus, I also enjoyed the more personable side of getting to know Sam and seeing what make her the person she is. Her family are only briefly mentioned but it's clear that they have a somewhat fractured relationship and aren't entirely happy with her career choice. However it's clear that she has one true supporter in her flatmate Maggie who I assume also featured in the first book as it's mentioned that she has also moved with her to Dunedin. Maggie was another character that I instantly warmed to, she's the type of friend who is there for you in the good times and the bad.
I can't help myself but whenever I read a crime novel I just have to try and play amateur detective so when a certain character arrived in town I immediately had my doubts as to his true intentions. But I have to confess I was wrong about him and my radar should have been looking in a completely different direction all along... well played Vanda Symon you completely threw me for a loop and I didn't see that one coming! My heart was in my mouth dreading the outcome so I guess my only slight niggle was that it did feel a little of an abrupt ending, I would have personally maybe liked maybe a chapter more to follow up on the events/outcome but maybe that's just me.
I've now got a few days away so I think I'm going to make Overkill my next read and go back to the beginning to get to know Sam Shephard a little more. Let's hope it's not too long a wait before we get a third book in the series.
Thanks so much for this blog tour support Sharon. So pleased you enjoyed it x
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