Welcome to my stop on Noelle Holten’s Dead Inside blog tour with BOTBSPublicity! I am absolutely OVER THE MOON to be sharing my thoughts on this awesome debut with you today 🙂

Well, Dead Inside had me completely captivated from page one! If I didn’t know already there is no way in a million years that I would have thought this is a debut novel. Noelle Holten obviously has a natural talent for writing.

Dead Inside features a diverse number of characters, some much more likeable than others. I love that some of them have names very familiar to me in the book blogging world! They must be over the moon to be immortalised forever within this story.

Lucy is a very likeable character and one who I really felt for. Her husband, Patrick, is a proper nasty piece of work. Having never been in an abusive relationship it’s difficult to understand why some women stay with these men. Lucy especially, given her job as a probation officer dealing with domestic abuse offenders. I understood her love for the children though, even though she isn’t their mother, and the responsibility she feels for keeping them safe.

Patrick is one of a few characters who seem to think that women are there to serve whatever purpose they desire. These men truly made my skin crawl and to be honest they don’t really deserve to be called men. They are despicable excuses for human beings.

When these men end up dead, brutally murdered, DC Maggie Jamieson and the team are tasked with finding out what connects them all and who might be capable of such horrific violence.

When it’s realised that Lucy is connected things just go from bad to worse and the story becomes even more intriguing.

I can’t begin to tell you how fast-paced and tense this story is. The short chapters add to the tension and the need to read just one more (or two, or three, or twenty!). Raw emotion pours off the pages and the ending just blew me away. It’s completely heart-breaking. I have no doubts that the story will stay with me for a very long time to come.

Such an excellent start to a new series. I can’t wait to read book two!

Many thanks for the opportunity to join in with the blog tour to celebrate the paperback release of Dead Inside. I can’t recommend highly enough!

Book Description:

‘Hugely confident … harrowing, visceral … recommended’ Ian Rankin

‘Kept me hooked’ Angela Marsons

‘An excellent read’ Martina Cole

‘Gritty, dark and chilling’ Mel Sherratt

A dark and gripping debut crime novel – the first in a stunning series – from a huge new talent.

The killer is just getting started…

When three wife beaters are themselves found beaten to death, DC Maggie Jamieson knows she is facing her toughest case yet.

The police suspect that Probation Officer Lucy Sherwood – who is connected to all three victims – is hiding a dark secret. Then a fourth domestic abuser is brutally murdered.

And he is Lucy’s husband.

Now the police are running out of time, but can Maggie really believe her friend Lucy is a cold-blooded killer?

Author Bio:

Noelle Holten is an award-winning blogger at www.crimebookjunkie.co.uk. She is the PR & Social Media Manager for Bookouture, a leading digital publisher in the UK, and a regular reviewer on the Two Crime Writers and a Microphone podcast. Noelle worked as a Senior Probation Officer for eighteen years, covering a variety of cases including those involving serious domestic abuse. She has three Hons BA’s – Philosophy, Sociology (Crime & Deviance) and Community Justice – and a Masters in Criminology. Noelle’s hobbies include reading, author-stalking and sharing the #booklove via her blog.

Dead Inside is her debut novel with Killer Reads/Harper Collins UK and the start of a new series featuring DC Maggie Jamieson.