Today I’m delighted to be taking part in the blog tour for Ask No Questions by Lisa Hartley. Ask No Questions is the first novel in a new series featuring Detective Caelan Small.
Some secrets were meant to stay hidden… Trust no-one
After an operation goes badly wrong, undercover specialist Detective Caelan Small leaves the Metropolitan Police for good. Or so she thinks. Then the criminal responsible is seen back in the UK.
Soon Caelan is drawn back into a dangerous investigation. But when the main lead is suddenly murdered, all bets are off. Nothing is as it seems. Everyone is a suspect – even close colleagues.
Someone in the Met is involved and Caelan is being told to Ask No Questions.
This isn’t an option: Caelan needs answers… whatever the cost.
I thought that Ask No Questions was a very well-plotted story. There are two interlinked cases, both of them targeting the same villain, Seb Lambourne. The original case, that caused Caelan to retire, still poses multiple questions as no one is really sure how it could have gone so badly wrong. In particular, some people are asking whether Caelan is capable and / or trustworthy, speculating that she may have been in cahoots with Lambourne all along. This makes Caelan’s current case all the more difficult, as she has to deal with sceptical colleagues whilst still doing her job, which is no straightforward matter. Whilst it sounds like a relatively straightforward plot, it very quickly becomes more complicated (although never to the point that the reader can’t follow it), and I enjoyed seeing it all unravel by the end.
In terms of the characters, I found Caelan to be a little difficult at first, although I did warm to her as I came to understand her more. As someone who works undercover a lot of the time, she is used to keeping to herself, and I found the initial lack of detail a little frustrating at first. I soon gained more insight into her character, however, and this did help to clarify her actions and motivations, and I was cheering for her by the end. I thought that the secondary characters were lacking in detail, however – there was some background on Ewan, who becomes Caelan’s pseudo-partner, but I didn’t get much of a sense for what the other characters were really like. The focus is Caelan, however, so I don’t consider this to be a significant issue, it’s more that I’d have liked some additional detail in order to understand those around her more.
There are a few twists in the novel, but I have to admit that I saw some of them coming. There were a couple of surprises, but I had worked out a few elements ahead of the big reveal. This is still an entertaining read however, and I think that it will be interesting to see where Hartley takes Caelan next.
Ask No Questions was published on 10 July by Canelo. Many thanks to Faye Rogers for inviting me to join the blog tour, and to Faye and Canelo for the advance proof.
Rating: ★★★☆☆
About the Author
Lisa Hartley lives with her partner, son, two dogs and several cats. She graduated with a BA (Hons) in English Studies, then had a variety of jobs but kept writing in her spare time. In addition to this new series with Canelo she is also working on the next DS Catherine Bishop novel.
Website: http://www.lisahartley.co.uk/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rainedonparade
Make sure you check out the other stops on the blog tour:
Jo's Book Blog 