THE TWO

They Kill Without Mercy. Disappear Without Trace.

They are The Two and have raised the stakes once more for Detective January David. Five lie dead, brutally murdered - the first taken on the night of Halloween and as autumn bleeds into winter more ritualistic murders are discovered.

January must battle his demons, for in his mind lies the clue to stopping a ruthless murderer. But his worst nightmares have literally come true when he discovers there's not one but two twisted killers on the loose.

The Two is Will Carver’s second novel in the series about Detective January David, who has paranormal gifts that assist him in solving murders. Fresh from the nightmarish resolution of the events in Girl 4 he’s back to solve another series of deaths that revolve around ritualistic dates and in a manner that indicates a link to the occult. With quirky characterisations throughout and a continually unfolding plot that has both freshness and complexity, this thriller keeps your attention throughout.

I have not read Girl 4 and probably because of that I personally found the writing style to be overly structured and frustrating in places because it bounced through differing characters viewpoints with no discernable change that made it clear it was a different person. When a perspective changes, you expect the way its written to do so as well because it’s a separate person, but whether it was January, one of his team, the killers or the victims there was no appreciable difference which made it feel on occasion as one long monologue.

It also went backwards and forwards in time, with what seemed a replay of half the book all over again, with some changes, which felt at the time was both pointless and lazy. However, it became clear why that happened and the resulting build up as the fog lifted gave a surprising ending that I had not only had not been expecting, but made me feel that I was glad I persevered.

In summary, The Two is a solid thriller with paranormal elements that will either be loved by readers or found lacking. The plot is very clever with the way it unfolds giving an extra mystery.