Oh thrillers, how I love thee. Perfect Crime by Helen Fields is a wonderful example for why I love this genre so much.
The plot:
Your darkest moment is your most vulnerable…
Stephen Berry is about to jump off a bridge when a suicide prevention counsellor stops him. A week later, Stephen is dead. Found at the bottom of a cliff, DI Luc Callanach and DCI Ava Turner are drafted in to investigate whether he jumped or was pushed…
As they dig deeper, more would-be suicides roll in: a woman found dead in a bath; a man violently electrocuted. But these are carefully curated deaths – nothing like the impulsive suicides they’ve been made out to be.
Little do Callanach and Turner know how close their perpetrator is as, across Edinburgh, a violent and psychopathic killer gains more confidence with every life he takes…
A seriously enjoyable thriller
After finishing Perfect Crime, I’m feeling a bit peeved because I’ve had another book by Fields on my shelf for a while and not picked it up. But that’s going to change very soon!
I really enjoyed the plot for this one. It was well thought-through and engaging, bringing all the aspects of thrillers we love, but also had gruesome parts to make you cringe. This is the first thriller in a good couple of months which has made me read with one eye closed, because some of the scenes are just GROSS (not complaining, though).
I did predict the ‘who’, but the why was just insane. So well thought-through and strange that I had no idea how I came about thinking it was this particular character in the first place.
There’s a real build-up between the relationship of Callanach and Turner, which made this book even more enjoyable for me. This is my first time meeting these characters, and it didn’t feel strange or pushed, despite me sensing that their relationship had been mentioned in previous books.
This is advertised as a stand-alone, and I would totally agree having not read the others and still thoroughly enjoying it. There are references to other crimes, but these are delicate with how much information is provided. I feel like I could go back to any other book in the Perfect series and not be disappointed with regard to spoilers.
This is definitely one of those “one more chapters” book, where you really mean you’re going to devour it in one or two sittings. I told myself I wasn’t going to stay up super late reading it, and lo and behold, I did just that.
A seriously enjoyable thriller. Top notch, Ms. Fields.
With a teaser for the next book in the series, you betcha’ I’ll be giving that a read.
Perfect Crime, Helen Fields, RRP £7.99 (paperback); Book Depository
Pages: 391
Publisher: Avon Books
Genre: Psychological Thriller
