8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Thumping good thriller 12 April 2013
By SallyP-B
Format:Paperback|Verified Purchase
For a debut novel this was fantastic, more please! I read this in 2 days and really felt for Jenny. Life has a habit of kicking you when you're down but she survived all of it. Gripping and full of action, secret recordings, punch ups, dodgy dealings,fast paced, well written and as a thriller reader this kept me turning the pages. Please though give the poor woman a decent brew!!!!!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Breathless in Manchester 2 April 2013
Format:Kindle Edition
What a brilliant debut novel! If you want to be entertained, shocked, surprised, frightened and above all involved then this is the crime novel for you. I particularly enjoy crime books with a female protagonist and in Jenny Parker I found a type I'd not come across before and this made Due Diligence extra interesting for me. She's prone to a bit of self-obsession, a bit of angst, is Jenny, but she certainly has cause and, as the novel unfolds, the way she deals with a very raw deal is original and exciting. It really kept me turning the pages.
I also liked the setting. Not just Manchester, although that's a fascinating character in its own right, but the worlds of accounting, of security, of waste management, of motor racing...it's all very real, you can tell the author understands these worlds and has probably moved among them. Convincing and a bit different, too.
The nearest kind of thing I've read is the excellent Sal Kilkenny novels by Cath Staincliffe - they're set in Manchester too - but I think Jenny has a refreshing edge here for not being a detective or a coroner or a pathologist, she's just an ordinary young woman that things start happening to. Bad things. But it turns out, she can give as good as she gets...
I loved this and can't wait to read the sequel, Proceeds of Crime. Bring it on, Jenny!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Thrilling fast paced crime novel 31 Mar. 2013
Format:Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
Had me gripped all the way the to the very end, so many twist and turns with Jenny (the main character) it was hard to put down. Great characters and fascinating to be set somewhere I know well.
A real roller coaster ride of a book, great stuff.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars An engaging read 14 Jan. 2014
By Lone
Format:Paperback
An interesting and absorbing thriller - so much so that completed reading of it within 48 hours. Story line was somewhat different than I envisaged, which proved to be a refreshing change when compared to some of the standard 'run of the mill' crime thrillers which are out there.
Having worked in the Manchester area for over 25 years it was easy to identify with the 'local' environment as so accurately portrayed and on which the story revolves. Was also easy to recognize some of the underworld activities which the story heavily relates to.
A thoroughly easy and enjoyable read, so much so that I will now have to read the subsequent novel to see if it is as good.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars fast-paced and thoroughly absorbing 25 Mar. 2013
By Rebecca
Format:Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
I'm always excited when someone recommends a book to me, I love that someone has enjoyed something so much they want to share that with me, and I'm always happy to have something new to read. So it was with eager anticipation that I bought Due Diligence. But then I settled down to read it, and had a sudden pang of anxiety- what if it wasn't as good as promised? What if it didn't meet my expectations?
A couple of pages in I started to realise I needn't have worried, a couple of chapters in and I'd forgotten that it had even been a recommendation , after a couple more chapters I'd reached that point where as a reader you have forgotten your own existence, I was so absorbed by the story and characters, my only concerns were what was happening and what would happen next.
Due Diligence is fast-paced, and full of surprises. The author manages to keep the reader on their toes, whilst staying true to the characters, so that the twists and turns of the plot are thrilling but believable. The book deals with some dark themes and at times things look pretty bleak for the main character Jenny, but this is handled well and although I did find myself feeling her pain, sorrow and frustration, there was always enough strength in her, and in the story to keep me reading.
I can't wait to read the second book in this series and find out where the next stage of Jenny's journey will take her (and me).
