Book Review – Hangman by Daniel Cole @Daniel_P_Cole #20booksofsummer

Goodreads Synopsis:

Eighteen months have passed, but the scars the Ragdoll murders left behind remain.

DCI Emily Baxter is summoned to a meeting with US Special Agents Elliot Curtis of the FBI and Damien Rouche of the CIA. There, she is presented with photographs of the latest copycat murder: a body contorted into a familiar pose, strung up impossibly on the other side of the world, the word BAIT carved deep into its chest.

As the media pressure intensifies, Baxter is ordered to assist with the investigation and attend the scene of another murder to discover the same word scrawled across the victim, carved across the corpse of the killer – PUPPET.

As the murders continue to grow in both spectacle and depravity on both sides of the Atlantic, the team helplessly play catch up. Their only hope: to work out who the ‘BAIT’ is intended for, how the ‘PUPPETS’ are chosen but, most importantly of all, who is holding the strings.

My Opinion:

What a crazy, suspenseful read that was!

I will admit that I was a bit hesitant to dive into this book knowing that the focus was going to be on Emily Baxter, not William Fawkes. Well now, I need not worry. It was fantastic!

Daniel Cole has written a book every bit as frightening, if not more so, than the first in this series – Ragdoll. I am in awe at how well he has tied together book one and book two in ways other than just repeating characters. I thought Ragdoll was a very unique and creative thriller, so I shouldn’t have been surprised when Daniel Cole took Hangman to a whole new level!

There are PUPPET and BAIT crimes stretching from the US to the UK, leaving everyone in fear. Detective Chief Inspector Emily Baxter is heading to the US for publicity to help calm the public. They still remember the Ragdoll murders and are getting nervous that there is a copycat out there. As hard as they try to contain Baxter, she just can’t sit idly by and not dive into the investigation herself.

This book was frightening and I had many “oh my gosh” moments. For the life of me I could not figure out what was going on and how they would find a way to make it stop.

As intense as this book is there are many humorous moments to help break up the tension. Most notably was when FBI Agent Curtis and Special Agent Rouche were doing their best to catch a spider. Catching spiders is clearly not their strong suit!

Now that we have gotten to know Fawkes and Baxter quite well, I am hoping they will be reunited in book three Endgame.

I highly recommend that these books be read in order. Knowing the backstory will really add to your enjoyment of this series, trust me!

*Other Daniel Cole books I have read and reviewed:

Ragdoll

Book Details:

Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Series: Fawkes and Baxter, #2
Publisher: Trapeze
Publication Date: 3/22/2018
Pages: 384 (Kindle)