Bad Blood By D.C. Brockwell

It would be hard to write a review without talking about some the events of the first two stories in this series, so if you haven’t had the pleasure of meeting Nas already in No Way Out and Bird Of Prey, I would strongly recommend reading them first to get up to date with all her history.
With two extremely successful high profile cases under her belt and despite a tendency to do things her own way, Nasreem Maqsood has been promoted to DS with the inevitability that she has to split up from former partner DS Terrence Johnson. He is not far away though, and he and DI Arjun Gupta still feature in this story. Also still there is Chief Supt Bukhari, put there as DCS Clive Adams’ replacement to keep an eye on Nas and stop them all from getting too close to the truth about certain matters. So Nas finds herself with a new partner straight from training with no experience at all. As soon as I started reading, I found myself thinking what a vile and self-centred woman DC Alicia Weekes was. Despite being ex-army, she clearly had no respect for authority, starting off by addressing other officers as “Detective” instead of by their hard-earned rank, back chatting and insubordinate to her senior officer and supervisor Nasreen and being pretty rude to her all round. I wondered how someone with a big drink problem, PTSD and clear personality flaws could have made it through the police recruitment assessment, let alone coming straight into CID without any on the job experience. Nas’s department was definitely short-staffed on the day they picked Weekes! She doesn’t even value her young daughter, going out on a bender the night before having her to stay. So poor Nas already has a millstone around her neck before she even gets assigned to a truly awful murder case. She is sent, together with her unwilling protégé, to view a very grisly crime scene. Quickly identified as Myles Jackman, a man has been dragged repeatedly around a car park by a pick-up truck, losing most of his skin, face and a limb in the process. The brutal killer has filmed the whole thing and left a cut out from a group photograph on the body. Initial investigations uncover a whole stack of possible suspects since Myles was a very unsavoury character. When a second body is discovered with a different murder weapon but a similar photo exactly one week later, Nas has no option but to assume the victims were related in some way. These are incredibly nasty deaths, their prime suspect is no longer in the frame and there is a good chance they only have a week to prevent Shadow killing again â€" if they are lucky.
Once again there two separate stories running concurrently and linked together by Peter Franks, the Met police Assistant Commissioner who is masterminding a highly controversial scheme for the Home Secretary and the Met Commissioner of Police Harry Thomas. Called Project Cleansweep, it is basically an alternative to getting drugs legitimised. Franks’ plan is to control all the drug dealing in the country by selecting a handful of dealers to run each area who will grass on all their rivals. With the other dealers rounded up and arrested, and with only chosen suppliers stocking his warehouses, in this way his group will control the importation and supply of drugs, and when the time is right they will reveal their success story to the public. The whole thing was very nearly destroyed by Lennox Garvey but with his demise and the only witness silenced, the plan is getting back on track and significant arrests are already being made. There may be loose ends left from the original Rothstein case though and Harry Thomas is a worried man. And that in turn makes some very dangerous people extremely nervous indeed.
The characters were well described and easy to get to know but I hated Weekes who really spoiled things in places. She deserves respect for having served her country and sympathy for being an amputee, but the prosthetic leg she has is very expensive and super hi-tech and allows her to run, kickbox, drive and even kick in doors, so she is far more fortunate than most who find themselves in the same position and struggle to find work or a normal life with a false limb.
There is a lot going on in this book to keep the reader well occupied in an interesting and emotive plot, with plenty of red herrings, gory crime scenes and twists in the story. Overall this was a very good read which flowed effortlessly and kept me engrossed right up to the thrilling and explosive ending.
I can't wait to see what happens to Nas next, although I hope Weekes becomes a much nicer character in the future. With three hits now in this series Duncan Brockwell is most definitely here to stay!! 5*
Kindle Edition If you like to get your teeth into a gritty crime thriller which keeps you guessing all the way through - this is it!

Newly promoted Sergeant Nasreen Masqood lands the case of a brutal murder at the same time as she lands a new partner. Alicia Weekes, and the animosity is palpable. When another murder follows the first which muddies the water for where they thought it all pointed, can the put aside their differences and work together to find the guilty party?

Yet again, I've found myself unable to resist a book mid-series but I'll happily return to the first two purely based on this one being such a great read! The violent murders didn't bother me overly much (I'm so squeamish!) as the investigation demanded my attention. The dynamic between the two detectives is fascinating and most definitely added another layer to this enigmatic read. There is always something happening, making it a very hard book to put down - I read way beyond the time I should have been in the land of nod! Thrilling, exciting, gripping and left me desperate to read more from this author. A novel which easily earns a full house of stars and a firm recommendation. Crime, Mystery I always wonder if the next book in a series will be as good as the ones that went before and in this case the answer is a resounding yes.

This is the 3rd in The Met Murder Investigations and Nasreen is back with a new partner Alicia Weekes. Weekes is a former soldier and this is her first position since coming out of the army.

They don’t start off well and there is definite tension between the two women. Not a good thing when they are assigned a particularly gruesome murder to investigate and there are signs that there may be more to follow. How will they resolve their differences?

I’m a fan of this series of books. They are well written and leave you guessing until the end. There is a thread of a back story running through the books but even with that this would be able to be read as a stand-alone. But don’t miss out. Read the other books first. You won’t be sorry. 5*
Bad Blood Grisly, Gripping and a Great book.

One of my favourite fictional characters, Nasreen Maqsood, is back, and this time she is with a new partner, Alicia Weekes. Alicia is ex military and more than ready to prove herself.
However, this creates immense tension between the two women from the start and to say the relationship between these two women is tense is putting it mildly.

Can they work together to solve the murders.

They really do need to work together, as the numbers are rising and time is of the essence. To add to what is going on, In the background is a continuing drug story which continues to deepen.

With grisly descriptions and twists that will put you in a spin, the storyline will keep you guessing right up until the end.
This is a brilliant read.

This is the third in the series by this author and although this can be read as a standalone, I highly recommend the first two in the series. Bad Blood Bad Blood is book three in The Met Murder Investigations. I love how the author didn’t hold back on the gruesome scenes- yeah I’m weird like that lol

Nasreen has a new partner- Alicia Weekes. Can these two get past their differences to find a murderer?

I thought this was a really well written, gripping read. Bad Blood

This killer takes no prisoners...
Recently promoted to Detective Sergeant, Nasreen Maqsood is given the case of a brutalised body found dead in a car park. When they discover the victim was dragged around the car park by a pick-up truck and the killer recorded the murder, Nasreen realises she has her work cut out. She also has a new partner, Alicia Weekes, and the two detectives don’t get on.

When the victim is identified, the case takes an interesting turn but when a second murder takes place, it sends them down a different track.

Can Nasreen and Weekes put their differences aside, and work together to stop a vicious killer with a sinister agenda before they strike again? Bad Blood

DS Nasreen Maqsood is enjoying her new promotion .. until she meets the new partner that's been assigned to her .... DC Alicia Weekes. Like oil and water .. they don't really get along.

Maqsood and her team are called out to investigate the death of a man found in a car park. He's been tied with rope and then dragged behind a moving vehicle. The killer recorded the murder and left it for the police to find.

Once identified, Maqsood and Weekes start interviewing family, friends, co-workers and they think they have found a motive. But then another body is found...

This time it's a woman found tied to a tree .... she has been killed with a cross bow. Again, the crime has been recorded.

And that is far from the other bodies ... each more horrifically killed then the last. No clues, no evidence, so who wants these people dead .. and why.

The detectives are going to have to put their difference aside to solve this crime ... hopefully before another body falls.

The action is non-stop. the plot is intricate with many and varied suspects. Character development is super-charged between the two women detectives. The author has very cleverly found a way for the women to solve their own issues with each other. The conclusion is surprising, to say the least.

Although third in the series, this one is easily read as a stand along. I do recommend reading in order, to pick up all those nuggets that make these characters jump from the pages.

Many thanks to the author / Bloodhound Books for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
Crime, Mystery Bad blood

When a man is found brutally murdered in a car park, with a photo of his face gun around his neck, nastwen suspects he won't be the only victim.
Not only that but she has a new partner to deal with. Alicia Weekes is ex military. She saw 5 colleagues get blown up and lost her lower leg in the process. The 2 women do not hit it off.
As the bodies start to increase, so does the friction between the 2 women as they disagree on tactics.
The deaths in this are quite inventive and quite gruesome.
As this is the third book in a series, there's another story running alongside with a great twist at the end.
Its not enough to need to have read the previous 2.
This is yet another wonderful, fast paced action filled book. Duncan nails the interaction between the women and his characterisation of all the characters is spot on. There's a mix of all walks of life. I'd highly recommend this and all the others Duncan has written. Kindle Edition Bad Blood is the third instalment in The Met Murder Investigations series, featuring newly promoted Detective Sergeant, Nasreen Nas Maqsood, however, it isn't necessary to have read any of the preceding books before this one and new readers can dive right in due to the plot being self-contained and Brockwell provides background on recurring characters’ to bring newbies right up to speed where needed. Nasreen returns in the most gruesome and testing case of her career so far, but that isn't the only big change for Nasreen, though, as she has a new partner, Alicia Weekes, who is ex-military and has returned home after bearing witness to five of her colleagues being blown up by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED); by sheer luck, Alicia escaped with her life at the cost of losing her lower leg. Her post as a member of the police force is her first job after leaving the army, and she hopes it will allow her to heal from some of the trauma she experienced.

When a man’s body is discovered in a public car park it doesn't take long for Nas and Alicia to be called to the scene and to clarify that there was foul play involved in the brutal slaying. They suspect he will not be the last of the victims and they would be right. As bodies begin dropping left, right and centre, can the two women put their differences aside, stop butting heads about tactics and work through their fraught relationship to save lives? This is a dark, gritty and thoroughly riveting addition to a great series which features heart-thumping tension, a twisty-turny narrative and an exciting and nail-biting race against time to stop the killings and the killer in their tracks. A large part of the plot is taken over by the disagreements of the two strong central characters and alpha female, so it'll be interesting to see if things get any friendlier between the pair in future books. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Bloodhound for an ARC. DS Nas Maqsood is back in this third instalment in the series with a new partner, Alicia Weekes. Alicia makes it clear exactly what she thinks of Nas and they are heading down a rocky road!

When the first of a series of sickening murders occurs, the pair need to work together and focus on the job, but can they?

This is an intense and fast paced crime thriller. With sickening and gruesome murders, it did turn my stomach a little! The characters were great and I enjoyed the tension between Nas and Alicia, it added great detail to the characters and made a nice change not to have partners who get on all the time!
If you haven’t read this series yet, I would highly recommend it. This is my second outing with Duncan, my first I can’t talk about yet but that was an awesome book. Here in Bad Blood, he is nowhere near as dark as he was in that book. This may be book 3 in the series but we are introduced to a new character called Alicia Weekes and this made it easier to read as a standalone. I do have the other 2 books to read and will go back to them as the previous cases were recapped but I felt comfortable reading this out of order. Crazy I know!

I knew I would be in for a ride with one of Duncan’s books and it was a mad ride. The deaths were gruesome, the time was tight and things were just intense. I had no idea who was committing such shocking murders, I mean in some respect they were, dare I say it, entertaining, mainly because of how imaginative they were. They did make me wince quite a lot when reading those scenes because Duncan can paint such a vivid description as if you were there experiencing it with them. Ouch is putting it ever so mildly!

One thing I quite liked starting at Book 3 is I have no loyalty to Nas as she is a new character to me. I got to meet her with Alicia. I got to see the dislike by both the women, and I have to say my head went with Alicia, I think her name might have won it for me😉 . However, with Alicia, we learn about her background and how she has got to where she is and what drives her. I know I will get this with the earlier books for Nas but there was a connection I had with Alicia. Don’t get me wrong, neither woman are likeable when they first meet each other, in a “man’s” world it is tough for the woman so they have to stamp their authority. Luckily the hostility doesn’t last too long and we see a bond with the woman, plus a bit of healthy competition. I have discovered two new confident, headstrong women who I am slightly in awe of. Two women who are single mum’s who try to balance their work-home life, no easy task for sure!!

You may think, oh another police series do we need it? My answer to you is YES!!!! 100% Yes. On the front, it may seem like just another police series but it’s not. It is fresh, imaginative and there aren’t many series I can think of where you have 2 female leads. We have no sexual tension or drama, just good old fashion and solid police work. We have the race against the clock, but for me, this felt so fraught as people are being picked off one by one.

I never like talking about the book, just how it made me feel. Well, I was thinking about this book when I wasn’t reading it and I just wanted to get back into the action with Nas and Weekes. I wanted to find the killer in double time without anyone else getting in the crosshairs. The worse was not knowing who was going to be next, so you felt like you were on edge waiting for the next incident until you get to “that” incident. Then you know it is going to ramp up the ante mega style.

I think I have just waffled but this was such an exhilarating read. It is a read that I urge you all to go and out and read! D.C. Brockwell