“Blunt Force” is the sixth book in Lynda La Plante’s ‘Jane Tennison’ series, the prelude books to ‘Prime Suspect’. 

 

Having followed Jane’s progress throughout her early career, I’m always interested to see what challenge the author has next for her. No matter what case she is given to solve, her unique problem solving and dogged determination can often be detrimental to her desired rise in ranks but she never leaves a case not fully solved, dotting all the i’s and crossing all the t’s. Her people skills are a joy to read, whatever their rank she isn’t frightened to tackle any misogyny or put her point across regarding any suspicions she may have of the case. 

 

Now although this book is part of the ongoing series, this was a bit different to La Plante’s normal style of writing, since predominantly there was only one plot throughout and that was the brutal murder of Charles Foxley. No previous sub plots to tie in, no interweaving threads the other officers are working on. Subsequently this makes an ideal standalone and actually read like a real ‘whodunnit’. Only at the end of the book do we read a couple of scenes that sees some justice being dealt, leftover from the previous book “The Dirty Dozen”, which was actually quite satisfying. 

 

I really did enjoy this book and loved the intense concentration on the one case only, the eccentric world of theatrical agents and their clients and the less than salubrious world of BDSM. Highly recommended for fans of the series or one off visitors to La Plante’s writing. 

 

#BluntForce - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️