Robert lives in North East England. He works in Recruitment by day, and is usually to be found knee deep in a pile of books as a reader and reviewer by night. He has recently signed with The Blair Partnership, and his debut crime novel, What Falls Between the Cracks was released in Spring 2018.
Joe Pickett has more than his fair share of history with the notorious Cates family, responsible for killing one and jailing two more.
When a local hunter goes missing, Joe suspects recently released Dallas Cates is behind it. Trying to put him back behind bars is easier said than done, and puts not only Joe, but his family in the crosshairs of a man who has dreamt of revenge as he sat in Prison.
This was my first foray into the Joe Pickett series (now seventeen strong) and has definitely given me a taste for the back catalogue. Joe is a different spin on your typical law-man protagonist. Rather than your common-garden grizzled alcoholic cop nearing retirement age, Pickett, a Game Warden; a quiet, unassuming family man, fiercely protective of his world and those in it.
Vicious Circle is a great example of how to create and maintain tension in a small town setting, without the need for car chases every chapter, and automatic weapons spraying from the first page. The characters and narrative are so well written that even in the relatively remote setting of Twelve Sleep, Wyoming, we’ve got all the tension you could ask for - to hook you in and keep you right there with Joe, all the way to the last page.
