Dead Lucky by Matt Brolly

This is the second in the DCI Lambert series – the first Dead Eyed was an excellent read and is currently only 99p on Amazon. You can order a copy of it here: Dead Eyed – well worth reading before Dead Lucky though not essential as it is certainly one you can read as a standalone. As with all series though, it’s good to know the characters’ backgrounds as well as following the main storyline.

In Dead Lucky, a particularly nasty killer is on the loose. He not only murders his victims slowly, he makes sure one of their family is forced to witness the killing. The murders seem random but gradually links begin to emerge between them. The killer is dubbed The Watcher by the media as he has clearly been watching his victims and families for some time before he strikes. When Lambert is contacted directly by The Watcher, he realises that his own family may well be at risk too. It’s getting very personal and gives him all the more reason to want to catch the killer as soon as he can.

Well this certainly was a fast paced read. I thought it really added to the story that there were a few chapters from The Watcher’s point of view – very sinister. DCI Lambert is the kind of dedicated detective that you really hope is out there: determined to find out who the criminal is, working away and puzzling over the clues and refusing to give up. His private life is also interesting and I am really keen to find out what happens with his marriage, which appears to be over but is there still a chance for Lambert and Sophie? The tension and suspense builds up throughout the book and races towards a very dramatic climax. In the final few chapters I couldn’t put it down wondering if Lambert was going to finally figure out who The Watcher was and how the story would resolve.

I was pleased to hear from the author that he hasn’t planned a fixed number of books for DCI Lambert to star in, as he is fast becoming one of my favourite fictional detectives. There was quite a debate recently in a Twitter meeting of the Carina Crime Club about who could play Lambert were this ever filmed. Personally I think Daniel Craig fits the bill but other names thrown into the ring were Phil Glenister, David Tennant and David Boreanaz. If you’ve read either of the books who do you think should play Lambert?

My thanks to Jennifer at Carina  Publishers for arranging  a review copy for me. Dead Lucky was published on January 2016 and you can order a copy here, currently only £1.99: Dead Lucky

From the back of the book

DCI Michael Lambert is back…

When a woman is murdered, the twisted killer forcing her husband to watch her slow and painful death, DCI Michael Lambert knows that his next case might be his toughest yet. And when a second set of killings are discovered, with exactly the same MO, the race is on the find the lethal sociopath before he strikes again.

But Lambert never expected to receive an anonymous call from the killer. This time, it’s personal: if Lambert doesn’t find the murderer soon, his own loved ones will be next…

The gripping second novel in a thrilling new crime series by Matt Brolly. Perfect for fans of Tony Parsons, Lee Child and Angela Marsons.


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