I am delighted to be sharing my review for Darker Days to Come by Tony Forder. Tony is one of the authors who I will automatically read without reading a synopsis. His writing is fabulous and his Bliss series is superb.

My huge thanks to Tony and also Donna Morfett of Donna’s Interviews, Reviews and Giveaways for getting in touch for me to read and review his latest book and to join the Blog Tour. To be honest it was a no brainer to say that I would be on the tour. It is always going to be a “Yes”.

Darker Days to Come, by Tony J Forder, is the ninth full-length novel in his widely acclaimed UK crime series, based in Peterborough and featuring DI Jimmy Bliss. It will be published on 14 March 2022.

In this book, Tony veers back towards the more procedural elements of crime investigation, with the team working under enormous pressure – which only increases with every new piece of information they unearth.

DI Bliss and his team absorb two new cases which don’t initially present as major crimes.

But who is the man who stepped in front of an express train? Did he willingly commit suicide or was he coerced? And what, if any, connection is there to an abandoned vehicle whose owner cannot be traced?

As Bliss and his team dig deeper they soon realise there are three people now missing – a journalist, a mother, and her young daughter. But as the investigations continue, the team struggle with too many unanswered questions. What they do know is that lives are at risk, and the chances of finding all three still alive decrease with each passing hour… 

MY REVIEW

Having read and loved each book in this series, this one is dark. It delves into the most horrid of acts. This is the 9th book in the DI Bliss series and I would recommend reading these in order as the characters have changed so much since the first book. Also, they are each excellent books in their own right.

Let’s start with the basics of this latest book. There are two crimes, one an abandoned vehicle, the other a suicide. Neither warrant having Peterbortough’s Major Crime Unit investigating them, but both have thrown up extenuating circumstances that make the Detectives think otherwise. They have a limited time to make a case about the cases becoming part of their remit rather than being passed on to CID.

The team of Bliss, Chandler and the rest of the detectives are about to start two very complex cases. Neither one seems connected. Neither one is straightforward. Neither one is going to be an easy one to solve. And, no one on the team actually realises how the days ahead are going to become darker for them as they struggle and to discover the details of the cases.

This is such an aptly named title, in fact, all the books have very suitable titles and this one does hint at being a lot more serious than some. If you have been reading this series then you may have noticed that the crimes have been getting more severe, and to put it bluntly, more evil in nature. Credit to the author for continuing down this darker route and giving the details in an evidence-based way. By this I mean the basic facts and nothing more, and to be honest nothing more was needed.

This is also one of the more complex cases, and the author does complex in such a great way. The intriguing plots are teased and batted around and it gives a real sense of the investigators going through a more realistic procedural route. This is not a mystery, this is a thriller. The team do have a hierarchy and chain of command, but the main guys are the ones that don’t stand on ceremony, throw suggestions, discuss the merits for ideas and dismiss others. All work as a team as well as individually. This creates a great dynamic and gives a real sense of the team being close.

The answers are still piling up at the halfway point of the story, it isn’t until a little after that things start to slot into place. Now, this doesn’t mean that this is a slow start, in fact even though there doesn’t seem to be much progress there is a great pace to it. This obviously does speed up as more and more things finally start coming together. At no time did it feel rushed or that certain outcomes were expected.

I have, as I may have mentioned, really enjoyed this series. I thought the previous book was amazing, this one is just WOW!!! Hard-hitting, dangerous, time-sensitive, definitely dark and a superb read from start to finish. It is one I would absolutely recommend.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tony J Forder is the author of the bestselling DI Bliss crime thriller series. The first seven books, Bad to the Bone, The Scent of Guilt, If Fear Wins, The Reach of Shadows, The Death of Justice, Endless Silent Scream, and Slow Slicing, were joined in December 2020 by a prequel novella, Bliss Uncovered. The series continued with The Autumn Tree in May 2021.

Tony’s other early series – two action-adventure novels featuring Mike Lynch – comprises both Scream Blue Murder and Cold Winter Sun. These books were republished in April 2021, and will be joined in 2022 by The Dark Division.

In addition, Tony has written two standalone novels: a dark, psychological crime thriller, Degrees of Darkness, and a suspense thriller set in California, Fifteen Coffins.

The Huntsmen, released on 4 October 2022, was the first book in a new crime series, set in Wiltshire. It featured DS Royston Chase, DC Claire Laney, and PCSO Alison May.

Tony is in the process of moving to Sussex with his wife and is a full-time author. He is currently working on DI Bliss #10 and the second DS Chase novel.

Links
All of Tony’s links can be found on Linktree
Darker Days to Come: getbook

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