What Doesn't Kill You is an impressive thriller
What Doesn't Kill You A DI Fenchurch novel, Book 3 by Ed James Thomas & Mercer General Fiction (Adult) , Mystery & Thrillers Pub Date 20 Apr 2017
Review
What Doesn't Kill You is an excellent follow up to the previous two Fenchurch novels . Like the others, James's new novel focuses on current crime concerns. This time the vetting of drivers for hire cars.
Travis Cars is an Uber-like service, where clients hire cars through an app. Like here in America there is conflict between the established taxi services and the incomers. DI Fenchurch and his DS are initially brought in to help with crowd control at a debate between a local politician and the head of Travis Cars. In a distasteful coincidence his next case is the rape and murder of a young lawyer who was last seen entering a Travis Car. Then another shocking murder lands on his lap, the apparent execution of a Travis driver. The deeper Fenchurch digs, the more connections appear between his current cases and the disappearance of his daughter a decade earlier.
Unlike many police procedurals, What Doesn't Kill You is not much of a whodunnit. The culprits of both murders are easily identified. Where the complexity of the plot arises is in the connections between the present and the past. The murders are key because the information the culprits offer up is essential to forming a case against powerful men who have been responsible for the disappearance of many children of which Chloe was one. Although much of the novel is straightforward, there are still plenty of surprises in store for the reader.
What Doesn't Kill You is a solid, well written police procedural that is eminently believable.
4 / 5
I received a copy of What Doesn't Kill You from the publisher and Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.
-- Crittermom
Description
The body of a young City lawyer is discovered on an East London building site, assaulted and brutally murdered. Initial enquiries lead DI Simon Fenchurch to a driver employed by Travis, a controversial new app-based cab company. Within days another woman—a Travis driver—is found murdered. As the body count goes up, DI Fenchurch and his colleagues on the East London Major Investigation Team delve into the crimes and unveil a murky conspiracy that some will do anything to keep hidden. When familiar faces begin to emerge from the shadows, Fenchurch realises this case is more personal than he’d thought. Could he finally be on the brink of solving the mystery that has dogged him for over a decade: who abducted his daughter, Chloe—and where is she now?
