Book Review: The Institution by Helen Fields

“They’re locked up for your safety.
Now, you’re locked in with them.”

Set to be published on 2nd March, The Institution by Helen Fields follows forensic profiler Dr Connie Woolwine who has five days to catch a killer. On a locked ward in the world’s highest-security prison hospital, a scream shatters the night. The next morning, a nurse’s body is found and her daughter has been taken. A ransom must be paid, and the clock is ticking. Connie is renowned for her ability to get inside the mind of a murderer. Now, she must go deep undercover among the most deranged and dangerous men on earth and use her unique skills to find the girl – before it’s too late. But as the walls close in around her, can Connie get the killer before The Institution gets her?

My Top 2022 Releases

Happy New Year!

Let’s start off the new year by discussing our favourite reads of 2022! Here are my top 2022 releases (I will post a separate list of my top reads from previous years tomorrow!):

Book Review: One For Sorrow (D.I. Callanach #7) by Helen Fields

“One for sorrow, two for joy
Three for a girl, four for a boy
Five for silver, six for gold
Seven for a secret never to be told…”

The seventh book in Helen Fields‘ D.I. Callanach series, One For Sorrow sees Edinburgh gripped by the greatest terror it has ever known. A lone bomber is targeting victims across the city and no one is safe.

DCI Ava Turner and DI Luc Callanach face death every day – and not just the deaths of the people being taken hostage by the killer. When it becomes clear that with every tip-off they are walking into a trap designed to kill them too, Ava and Luc know that finding the truth could mean paying the ultimate price. But with the threat – and body count – rising daily, and no clue as to who’s behind it, neither Ava nor Luc know whether they will live long enough to tell the tale…

Book Review: Perfect Kill (D.I. Callanach #6) by Helen Fields

“He had never heard himself scream before. It was terrifying.”

The sixth book in Helen Fields‘ D.I. Callanach series, Perfect Kill sees DCI Ava Turner and DI Luc Callanach working on separate cases that soon collide, as it becomes clear that men and women are being shipped to France and traded for women trafficked into Scotland. With so many lives at stake, they face an impossible task – but there’s no option of failure when so many others will soon be dead…

Book Review: Perfect Crime (D.I. Callanach #5) by Helen Fields

“Your darkest moment is your most vulnerable…”

Published in 2019 and the fifth book in Helen Fields‘s D.I. Callanach series, Perfect Crime follows DI Luc Callanach and DCI Ava Turner as they are drafted in to investigate the death of a man who has now been found at the bottom of a cliff, after a suicide prevention counsellor stopped him from jumping off a bridge only weeks before. Now, Luc and Ava must determine whether he jumped or whether he was pushed.

As they dig deeper, more would-be suicides roll in: a woman found dead in a bath; a man violently electrocuted. But these are carefully curated deaths – nothing like the impulsive suicide attempts they’ve been made out to be. Little do Callanach and Turner know how close their perpetrator is as, across Edinburgh, a violent and psychopathic killer gains more confidence with every life he takes…

Book Review: Perfect Silence (D.I. Callanach #4) by Helen Fields

“When silence falls, who will hear their cries?”

Published in 2018 and the fourth book in Helen Fields‘s D.I. Callanach series, Perfect Silence sees the body of a young girl found dumped on the roadside on the outskirts of Edinburgh. When pathologists examine the remains, they make a gruesome discovery: the outline of a doll carved into the victim’s skin.

DCI Ava Turner and DI Luc Callanach are struggling to find leads in the case, until a doll made of skin is found nestled beside an abandoned baby. After another young woman is found butchered, Luc and Ava realise the babydoll killer is playing a horrifying game. And it’s only a matter of time before he strikes again. Can they stop another victim from being silenced forever – or is it already too late?

Book Review: The Last Girl To Die by Helen Fields

“The island watched and wept…”

Released today, The Last Girl To Die by Helen Fields follows private investigator Sadie Levesque who has been hired by the Clark family to find their sixteen-year-old daughter, Adriana, who has gone missing. The family have only recently moved to the ancient, ocean-battered Isle of Mull, far off the coast of Scotland, as Sadie finds herself faced with hostile locals and indifferent police.

Sadie is the best at what she does. But when she finds Adriana’s body in a cliffside cave, a seaweed crown carefully arranged on her head, she knows she’s dealing with something she’s never encountered before. The deeper she digs into the island’s secrets, the closer danger creeps – and the more urgent her quest to find the killer grows. Because what if Adriana is not the last girl to die?

Audiobook Review: Perfect Death (D.I. Callanach #3) by Helen Fields

“There’s no easy way to die…”

Published in 2018 and the third book in Helen Fields‘s D.I. Callanach series, Perfect Death follows DI Luc Callanach and the newly promoted DCI Ava Turner as, unbeknownst to them, a serial killer has Edinburgh firmly in his grip. The killer is taking his victims in the coldest, most calculating way possible – engineering slow and painful deaths by poison, with his victims entirely unaware of the drugs flooding their bloodstream until it’s too late.

But how do you catch a killer who hides in the shadows? A killer whose pleasure comes from watching pain from afar? Faced with their most difficult case yet, Callanach and Turner soon realise they face a seemingly impossible task…

Book Review: Perfect Prey (D.I. Callanach #2) by Helen Fields

“There will be blood…”

The second book in the D.I. Callanach series by Helen Fields, Perfect Prey sees DI Ava Turner and DI Luc Callanach take on a new case after a charity worker is sliced across the stomach in the midst of a rock festival. But in a crowd of thousands, no one saw his attacker. The following week, the body of a primary school teacher is found in a dumpster in an Edinburgh alley, strangled with her own woollen scarf. Luc and Ava have no motive and no leads – until around the city, graffitied on buildings, words appear describing each victim. It’s only when they realise the words are appearing before rather than after the murders, that they understand the killer is announcing his next victim. And the more innocent, the better.

Book Review: Perfect Remains (D.I. Callanach #1) by Helen Fields

“It was the human condition: the need to know the worst, the destructive desire to see how it feels when you hit rock bottom.”

The first book in the D.I. Callanach series by Helen Fields, Perfect Remains sees Detective Inspector Luc Callanach’s first day at his new job, eager to prove himself to his new team, when he’s dropped right into the deep end with a missing person’s case. Elaine has been missing for weeks, but when her teeth and a fragment of her clothing are found next to the remains of an unidentifiable charred body in the Highland mountains, her case is soon escalated to a murder investigation.

But in the concealed back room of a house in Edinburgh, the real Elaine Buxton screams into the darkness, and it’s not long before another successful woman is abducted from her doorstep. Callanach finds himself in a race against the clock. Or so he believes. The real fate of the women will prove more twisted than he could have ever imagined.

Book Review: The Shadow Man by Helen Fields

“A sleeping woman watched over by the stranger who had hidden for hours in the shadowed bay of her bedroom curtains. That’s all there was to the scene. He was a spider, patient and unmoving, poised to drop and stun his prey. There was no malice to it. Only need.”

Set to be released on 4th February, The Shadow Man by Helen Fields follows Forensic Psychologist Connie Woodwine and Detective Brodie Baarda as they try to find a kidnapper lurking the streets of Edinburgh who is collecting his victims. But he doesn’t keep them safe. Elspeth, Meggy and Xavier are locked in a flat. They don’t know where they are, and they don’t know why they’re there. They only know that the shadow man has taken them, and he won’t let them go. Desperate to escape, the three of them must find a way out of their living hell, even if it means uncovering a very dark truth. Because the shadow man isn’t a nightmare. He’s all too real. And he’s watching.