My posts recently have been focused on the launch of my latest novel, Borderline. Now that has been and gone, it’s time to turn my attention to the works of other authors.
I first encountered Jo Callaghan last year with her debut novel, In the Blink of an Eye. If you’ve not come across it before, I can strongly recommend it. For me, it was the best book I read in 2024 – and if you haven’t any idea what it’s about, do check out my spoiler-free review.
Earlier this year, I was due to see Jo at a launch event for the paperback of Leave No Trace at Waterstones in Nottingham. On the afternoon we were due to drive down, I fell ill and had to pull out. My partner and I had pre-ordered a book, so I called Waterstones to ask if there was any chance they could get it signed. As I’d met Jo and was connected to her on social media, I also messaged her asking if she could sign the book for my partner. This wasn’t an entirely selfless act. I prefer reading on Kindle, and my partner prefers a physical book, so it made sense for her to get a signed copy.
As it turned out, Jo didn’t get my message until after the event. Which was okay by me. I’d just thought I’d give it a try and hope for the best. If it didn’t happen, I was okay with that. We’d just call at Waterstones next time we were in Nottingham and pick our copy up – signed or not.
This, it seemed, wasn’t good enough for Jo. She said she’d send me a signed copy. Which was incredibly kind of her. Only it turned out that I’d misunderstood, because she didn’t send just one copy over, she sent two – one for each of us, our messages very much personalised.
I need to be ill more often.
Here’s the blurb:
One detective driven by instinct, the other by logic.
It will take both to find a killer who knows the true meaning of fear . . .
When the body of a man is found crucified at the top of Mount Judd, DCS Kat Frank and AIDE Lock – the world’s first AI detective – are thrust into the spotlight with their first live case.
But when they discover another man dead – also crucified – it appears that the killer is only just getting started. When the Future Policing Unit issues an extraordinary warning to local men to avoid drinking in pubs, being out alone late at night and going home with strangers, they face a hostile media frenzy. Whilst they desperately search for connections between the victims, time is running out for them to join the dots and prevent another death.
And if Kat and Lock know anything, it’s that killers rarely stop – until they are made to.
As we were due to go on holiday, we saved the book until then and both devoured our copies pretty much at the same time.
When you’ve read a book that’s really had an impact, there’s a danger the subsequent books will be something of a let down. That’s particularly true if the novel introduces new ideas and approaches, which In the Blink of an Eye most definitely did. That originality is part of what made it so special. So, when you get on to book 2, the originality, the specialness, is surely impossible to repeat. And, of course, that was true to an extent with Leave No Trace.
As a reader, I already knew about Lock and how it worked. I’d already experienced the dynamic between it and Kat – not to mention the relationships between the rest of the team members. But what Jo Callaghan has done here is not rely on just doing the same again. There is a natural progression that adds depth to what has gone before.
In the first book, the team were working on cold cases. This time they have a crime that’s very much current, which adds a new dimension to the way the investigation progresses. The presence of a reporter means the project also gets a lot more exposure than it had before – or that any of the participants wanted.
Lock has developed as well. It is programmed to learn, so change is inevitable, but its technological capabilities are extended as well, creating further opportunities for it to assist in the investigation. And that’s all I’ll say about that part, because I don’t want to spoil the fun.
The previous book had dealt with grief, which still plays a part here. Again, it’s more of an evolution rather than going over old ground, and the awareness of grief and the need to tell people how you feel while you still can was an important message, along with the need to show love and kindness. There’s a particular moment towards the end of the book in which Lock’s enhanced abilities are used in a way that, frankly, had me in tears. Again, that’s something to find for yourself.
Far from being a disappointment – or even a difficult second album – Leave No Trace was even better than its predecessor. And the ending left me desperate to find out what happens next, so the third in the series, Human Remains, has been bumped up the pile. I won’t be reading it immediately, but it won’t be long before I get to it.
And I won’t be pulling a sickie this time.
If I have piqued your interest in the book and you want to know more, click on the image below for the Amazon link.
