#BlogTour The Hangman’s Hold by Michael Wood @MichaelHWood @KillerReads

The Hangman’s Hold by Michael Wood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Your life is in his hands.

In the gripping new serial killer thriller from Michael Wood, Matilda Darke faces a vicious killer pursuing his own brand of lethal justice. Perfect for fans of Angela Marsons and Helen Fields.

There’s a killer in your house.
The Hangman waits in the darkness of your living room. As soon as you get home, he will kill you – hang you by the neck – and make you pay for all the crimes you have tried desperately to forget.

He knows your darkest secrets.
The police are running out of time. DCI Matilda Darke is facing her worst nightmare: a serial killer pursuing his own brand of lethal justice, whose campaign of violence is spreading fear throughout the city.

And he is closer than you think.
As the body count rises, Matilda is personally targeted and even her most trusted colleagues fall under suspicion. But can she keep those closest to her from harm? Or is it already too late?

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I read last year A ROOM FULL OF KILLERS, book three in the DCI Matilda Darke Series. And I loved it and I have since then been looking forward to reading the next book. So, I was thrilled when I finally got a copy of THE HANGMAN'S HOLD. I have yet read the first two books, but I hope to remedy that one day.

THE HANGMAN'S HOLD is a thrilling new book, where Matilda and her team has to catch a murderer that is going after people that have previously done something criminal. The case will become very personal for Matilda when she discovers that a close friend knows one of the victims. Matilda has to face the fact that the killer is out to set a score, but who is this person? How do you catch a killer that does seem to be one step ahead all the time and doesn't leave a trace? It will be a hard case to solve.

I'm a latecomer to this series, but one thing I like about the books (that I have read) is how easy it is to get to know the characters. It's been a while since I read A ROOM FULL OF KILLERS and it's not always easy to remember all the characters and past events when you read a lot of books. However, I did feel that the more I read in this book, the more I started to remember. It helps a lot that the characters are so fleshed out and likable.

As for the case. It's a tricky one. Sometimes you have a lot of suspects, but in this case, did it feel like the police had a hard time finding out the identity of the killer. It was a bit of an "oh" moment for me when I started to realize where the story was going when it came to the identity of the killer. I love moments like that.

THE HANGMAN'S HOLD can be read as a stand-alone, however, the risk is that you will feel the need to get the previous books and marathon read them...

#BookReview A Room Full of Killers by Michael Wood

A Room Full of Killers by Michael Wood
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The third book in Michael Wood’s darkly compelling crime series featuring DCI Matilda Darke. Perfect for fans of Stuart MacBride, Mark Billingham and Val McDermid.

Eight killers. One house. And the almost perfect murder…

Feared by the people of Sheffield, Starling House is home to some of Britain’s deadliest teenagers, still too young for prison. Now the building’s latest arrival, Ryan Asher, has been found brutally murdered – stabbed twelve times, left in a pool of blood.

When DCI Matilda Darke and her team investigate, they uncover the secrets of a house tainted by evil. Kate Moloney, the prison’s manager, is falling apart, the security system has been sabotaged, and neither the staff nor the inmates can be trusted.

There’s only one person Matilda believes is innocent, and he’s facing prison for the rest of his life. With time running out, she must solve the unsolvable to save a young man from his fate. And find a murderer in a house full of killers…

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I thought before I read this book that I was quite hardened when it came to crime novel that I could deal with quite a lot (except harming of animals and children), but there were really tough parts in this book that was hard for me to get through and that were the chapters that were the POV of the children, the murderers.

A Room Full of Killers is a dark and tragic book that I devoured. It's engrossing, but at the same time is it not an easy book to get through. DCI Matilda Darke has a lot on her plate, with the release of a book concerning a kidnap case that she was in charge of that went wrong. Also, she is still not completely over her husband's death 18 months earlier. And, now this case at the Starling House. A teenager is dead, and who could have done it? The question of why someone murdered him is perhaps not hard to understand since Ryan Asher is a convicted murderer, but someone got him out of a locked room. Matilda then meets one of the inmates, Thomas, and Matilda is convinced that the young boy is innocent of the crime he is said to have done. Now she wants to find Ryan's murdered and at the same time is she trying to get Thomas free.

I found the book thrilling and intense and the last part of the book had some really great twist to the story. I was a bit surprised on how Matilda could believe someone to be innocent by just looking at him. I mean quite literary just instantly believe his innocent without knowing much about the case. I'm not a police, but appearance can be deceiving, but I guess I much more cynical. Still, it added drama to the story. The side story with the kidnap case was also interesting and I'm really curious to see the impact it will have in the next book. If the kidnapping will be solved. I'm also quite eager to get the two previous books to read!

A Room Full of Killers is an excellent thriller. The characters are well-developed and interesting to follow and the case is interesting and I love the ending!

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review!