Buried (Detective Jack Warr #1) by Lynda La Plante | Blog Tour Review

Published by Zaffre
Available in ebook, audiobook & hardback (2 April 2020) | paperback 17 September 2020
384 pages
Source: Copy for review via Netgalley

ABOUT THE BOOK

SOME THINGS SHOULD REMAIN BURIED . . .

The gripping first book in a brand new thriller series by the Queen of Crime Drama, Lynda La Plante.

DC Jack Warr and his girlfriend Maggie have just moved to London to start a new life together. Though charming, Jack can’t seem to find his place in the world – until he’s drawn into an investigation that turns his life upside down.

In the aftermath of a fire at an isolated cottage, a badly charred body is discovered, along with the burnt remains of millions of stolen, untraceable bank notes. Jack’s search leads him deep into a murky criminal underworld – a world he finds himself surprisingly good at navigating. But as the line of the law becomes blurred, how far will Jack go to find the answers – and what will it cost him?

In BURIED, it’s time to meet DC Jack Warr as he digs up the deadly secrets of the past . . .

MY THOUGHTS

It’s Buried’s publication day. Congratulations to Lynda La Plante and thanks to Tracy Fenton for the invite to take part in the tour and to the publisher for the Netgalley review copy.

Anyone who watched the TV series ‘Widows’ back in the 1980’s and who has read the earlier books by Lynda La Plante will be familiar with the name of Dolly Rawlins. Dolly was married to Harry Rawlins, the mastermind of many robberies. Buried is not exactly a sequel to the series and is the start of a new series in its own right, but there is a continuation of sorts from the storyline of the previous books with familiar names. Don’t worry if you haven’t read or heard of any of the previous stories, this can easily be read without prior knowledge as sufficient back histories are given.

This new series features Jack Warr, a DC with the Met’s Serious Crime Squad who, with his girlfriend Maggie has moved from Devon to London to further advance Maggie’s career as a doctor. Jack is a restless character; attractive and charming he is extremely good at his job when he puts his mind to it but he just seems to coast along.

However, when a burned body together with fragments of burnt bank notes known to be from an unsolved train robbery of over 20 years before are discovered at a cottage in the grounds of a property with connections to Rawlins, Jack is tasked with investigating both current and historic crimes and when his personal life is turned upside down, he unexpectedly ends up with a foot on either side of the law.

Never underestimate a woman! The group of women in this story bear witness to that – they are resourceful and clever and I enjoyed seeing how their story would unfold and what the conclusion would be.

Jack is very much someone who follows his instinct, unlike his DCI, Simon Ridley, a methodical man who does everything by the book. This leads to the two of them clashing with Jack wanting to follow certain leads whilst Ridley insisting that he should look elsewhere.

It took a while for me to warm to Jack and I did wonder at times why his partner Maggie put up him with him. At times he was arrogant and selfish and at others a lost soul however one thing he had going for him was his ability to think outside of the box, unlike his hapless colleague DC Anik Joshi who was probably one of the most useless DCs in crime fiction.

Buried has a fast pace, and although there are many characters which can be confusing to start with, I soon got to grips as to where everyone fitted in. The plot is twisted and complex with a conclusion that leads to an exciting premise to Jack’s character in book 2. An extremely good start to a new series.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lynda La Plante was born in Liverpool. She trained for the stage at RADA and worked with the National theatre and RDC before becoming a television actress. She then turned to writing – and made her breakthrough with the phenomenally successful TV series Widows. Her novels have all been international bestsellers. Her original script for the much-acclaimed Prime Suspect won awards from BAFTA, Emmy, British Broadcasting and Royal Television Society as well as the 1993 Edgar Allan Poe Award. Lynda has written and produced over 170 hours of international television. Lynda is one of only three screenwriters to have been made an honorary fellow of the British Film Institute and was awarded the BAFTA Dennis Potter Best Writer Award in 2000. In 2008, she was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for services to Literature, Drama and Charity. If you would like to hear from Lynda, please sign up at www.bit.ly/ LyndaLaPlanteClub or you can visit www.lyndalaplante.com for further information. You can also follow Lynda on Facebook and Twitter @LaPlanteLynda.