A former Customs and Police Officer, Andrew Hill’s first book in a crime series set in the New Forest, where he lived for 30 years, will be published in Spring 2022. An avid reader across the crime genre and regular at crime writing festivals, he now lives in West Sussex and works in property.
In the third of the Bristol based Jack Shepherd thrillers, the author pulls no punches in addressing Islamophobia and the ‘alt right’.
When the battered body of Alfie Barnes being discovered on the nearby Downs, the trail leads to a missing TV soap star, ambitious local politicians and a shady businessman, Gerald Gaghan.
A former colleague, now employed by Gaghan and the missing soap star’s father, insinuates that he knows something about Alfie’s death and reaches a deal for Jack to find his missing daughter - in exchange for some information on the killing.
Alfie Barnes had an Autism Spectrum Disorder, with the obsessions, mood swings and meticulous routines that are part of that condition. Jack feels that it’s the routines that may give the best clues as to what led to Alfie’s death. Naturally, his first port of call is his old boss, Superintendent Harvey Butler.
When Jack gets some information about the soap star, Amy Turner, owning a property on the Dorset coast, he hightails it down there and meets Neil Shore. Shore has been involved with Amy and is searching for her too; worried about her increasing dependency of prescription and possibly illegal drugs.
The search for Amy Turner and Alfie Barnes plays out against a background of rising knife crime and the stabbing of Muslims, Islamophobia, racial tensions, a planned march by the ‘alt right’ and a ruthless businessman determined to grasp and wield political power.
Will Jack prevail?
This is a scrupulously researched piece, involving, engaging characters and confronts serious social issues. Jack Shepherd is a great character, with a clear moral centre and a difficult past that has left some scars on him.
Well worth a read.
