TITLE & AUTHOR: The Rule of Fear by Luke Delaney
I got this ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. WHAT'S IT'S ABOUT PUBLISHER: HarperCollinsEDITION: KindleOPENING
WHAT I THOUGHT RELEASE DATE: Expected 30 June 2016
PAGES: 400 pages
Sergeant Jack King is back on active duty after months off following a violent encounter. On the Met's promotional fast-track scheme, King is headed straight for the top, but policing the streets is where his heart truly lies.
Tasked with cleaning up the notorious Grove Wood estate, King is determined to rise to the challenge. But it's not just drug dealers and petty thugs his team have to worry about. Someone on the estate is preying on children, and they need to find the culprit, fast.
Soon King finds himself over his head: the local residents won't play ball, his superiors want results yesterday, and he's refusing to admit that he's suffering from PTSD. As the pressures combine, the line between right and wrong starts to blur and King finds himself in a downward spiral. Only he can save himself - but is it already too late?
Chief Superintendent Brian Gerrard looked down at the open file on his desk and nodded approvingly before looking up and smiling at the expressionless PC Jack King who sat in front of him.
Rule of Fear is a well-written, complex thriller. It's very original compared to other thrillers I've read. I found it quite slow at first but once I'd read a few chapters I couldn't stop reading it. The characters are excellent; well-written, complicated, easy to sympathise with. King does some questionable things which I had a hard time with at first but the book gradually reveals that he's a man who lost his way trying to find his way back so I really felt for him. Working on the estate seems straight-forward at first for King and the other officers in the unit but things get darker and darker. When things get too dark how do you find your way to light again? King suffers from PTSD after a horrific incident and the author does a great job of conveying how this impairs King's judgement. I thought the ending was very sad but completely believable. Rule of Fear is highly recommended.
