A village on the edge…

As a massive storm batters the Scottish coast, Gordon Smith’s home is falling into the North Sea. But the crumbling headland has revealed what he’s got buried in his garden: human remains.

A house full of secrets…

With the storm still raging, it’s too dangerous to retrieve the bodies and waves are devouring the evidence. Which means no one knows how many people Smith’s already killed and how many more he’ll kill if he can’t be found and stopped.

An investigator with nothing to lose…

The media are baying for blood, the top brass are after a scapegoat, and ex-Detective Inspector Ash Henderson is done playing nice. He’s got a killer to catch, and God help anyone who gets in his way.

I received a free copy of this book courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

The Coffin Maker’s Garden promised a dark crime thriller filled with twists and turns. A storm batters the Scottish coast, destroying swathes of a cliffside village with it. As the cliff crumbles, one property exposes a grim secret. The ruined garden appears to be filled with bones. The bones of humans. The police must preserve the evidence in a race against time and the elements. Ex-Detective Ash Henderson finds himself dragged into the investigation as it overlaps his own investigation into cold case missing persons.

I found Making a Mark to be a fascinating, thrilling novel though not in the traditional sense. The two cases intertwine as they both point towards the mysterious Gordon Smith. The connections lead to dark twists and unexpected turns as Ash closes in on his quarry. And all the while, the raging storm and criminals from the past seek to hamper him at every turn. The line between victim and suspect blurs as Henderson and his coworkers find themselves dragged into a dark and dangerous game in pursuit of the serial killer.

This book delivered what I had hoped for. A dark, gritty thriller featuring a grizzled and jaded ex-detective and his upbeat sidekick/best friend, a twisted killer, and a series of twists and turns to keep things interesting. The premise is an interesting one – that the crimes of Smith only come to light due to an unprecedented storm eroding the headland. Had that storm been much tamer, he might have gone undiscovered indefinitely. I thoroughly enjoyed the pace and the nature of the twists that made for a pulsating book. Though the main suspect was known for much of the book, the twists and turns kept things exciting and kept me turning page after page until the end.

My rating: