I am delighted to share my review today for Fair Game by R.D. Nixon. This is the second book I have read in this Clifford & MacKenzie series. It’s nice to occasionally step away from police procedurals and read a book about an Investigating Agency.

My full review for the first book Crossfire can be found HERE

My huge thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for my spot on the Blog Tour and for arranging my e-copy of this book from the publisher Hobeck Books.

It’s autumn in Abergarry.
The nights lengthen, the weather turns, and the atmosphere darkens as the community is rocked by a brutal roadside murder: a loan shark’s ‘bag man’, Craig Lumsden, is found bludgeoned to death in his car in the early hours of the morning.

The season for murder.
The case seems simple enough. and the fingers quickly point to the most obvious suspect. But things are rarely as simple as they seem…

A murder that’s too close to home.
Too close for comfort, and definitely too close for complacency for private investigators Maddie Clifford and Paul Mackenzie. Delving into the case brings at least one of them face-to-face with danger… Will life in Abergarry ever be the same again?

MY REVIEW

This is the second book in the Maddie Clifford and Paul Mackenzie series, I have read and thoroughly enjoyed the previous book, Crossfire. While Maddie and Paul are part of an investigation agency, they are also caught up in something closer to home. A 25-year-old prank with fatal consequences starts this story off. It then gets dangerous and lives are on the line as the author turns up the tension.

This is a story that I really enjoyed, but I did need my wits about me for the many characters in this one. I did occasionally forget who was who, and thankfully I could remember the name Paul MacKenzie as he is referred to in both his first name and surname.

The other thing that kept me on my toes with this story was the complexity of the plot, it was one I could follow while I was reading it, but given the larger cast, it would be very confusing trying to summarise it. This is not a bad thing as it meant for me I had to concentrate more and therefore found myself more immersed in the story.

The storyline is mainly present day, it involves close friends, relatives, family and acquaintances. Thinking back on the story I do believe pretty much everyone has a part to play and I there is one or two characters that I really did have a soft spot for. Not main characters as such, but very definitely important to the story.

You will have to forgive my vagueness for this review, I did mention that it was complex but at the same time I don’t want to give anything away.

The author has created a wonderfully tense story, it is full of danger, apprehension, doubt, mistrust and it takes time for the whole truth to come out. The storyline itself is slow to completely reveal itself, but the pacing increases as I got further and further into it.

The ending was interesting, it did answer the questions and also raised eyebrows. I really enjoyed this one, as I write this review I can see this one being very good if it was made into a TV mini-series. I do think that there are many details that would transfer so well. This is an atmospheric crime thriller, tense, dark, devious and one that I would happily recommend.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

R.D. (Terri) Nixon is a prolific writer, with thirteen books under her belt now. In
addition to this crime series, she also writes historical fiction, family sagas and
mythical fiction. When she’s not writing, Terri works in the Faculty of Arts,
Humanities, and Business at Plymouth University, where she is constantly
baffled by the number of students who don’t possess pens.

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Many thanks for reading my review, a like or share would be amazing 🙂 xx