Twelve in 12: Broken Silence in OD

Title: Broken Silence

Author: Danielle Ramsay

Genre: Crime

388 pages

DI Jack Brady has been called back from sick leave early. The murder he has to investigate is particularly upsetting and things aren’t helped by the mess the previous DI assigned to the case made of the scene.

This is the first novel by Danielle Ramsay and hopefully it won’t be the last. Set in Whitley Bay, Ramsay makes no bones about what has happened to that particular place. There is much talk about ‘regeneration’ for the town, the type that can be heard in towns and cities all over the country. But Ramsay doesn’t shy away from pointing out that a lot of this talk is purely empty rhetoric, a soundbite to help local councillors (and mayors) become electable.

Brady is your typical cop in these things, slightly jaded and cynical. I do query the use of a big trauma in both his personal and work life in the past. One of these things on its own is, for me, an overused and slightly annoying cliché in crime fiction at this point and to have the main character go through both seems to be overkill. I did like the dislike of career cops, the types who join the force straight out of university and have nothing more on their mind than promotion through the ranks at any cost even when, as is pointed out, it’s not always necessary. The feeling of the old guard versus the young whippersnappers is a nice touch as well.

Of course, Jack has another reason for wanting this case to be solved quickly. The DI who got kicked off the investigation also happens to be his best friend. There are a lot of crime books that try and fail to make the case personal to the main character. This is not one of those books. Jacks attempt to solve the case and keep Jimmy out of things as much as possible is well done.

Slightly less well done is Jacks personal life. Between the woman he slept with and can’t remember anything about, the woman he’s attracted to, his ex-wife and the woman he lost to his best friend, it does seem as if Ramsay is simply dumping things on him. Which is a shame, because at times in the book, the whole thing is done quite well. Dumping problems on people is something that Ramsay seems to like doing. I do think she slightly overdid what happened to the victim in her life as well.

The pacing is excellent, keeping up a good tempo. And the twist at the end, concerning the killer, is the good type of twist. The type where all the pieces are there, it’s just putting them together. Overall, I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more from DI Brady.