Death in the Woods

A series of copycat suicides, prompted by a mysterious online blogger, causes DCI Jude
Satterthwaite more problems than usual, intensifying his concerns about his troublesome
younger brother, Mikey. Along with his partner, Ashleigh O’Halloran, and a local
psychiatrist, Vanessa Wood, Jude struggles to find the identity of the malicious troll
gaslighting young people to their deaths.

The investigation stirs grievances both old and new. What is the connection with the
hippies camped near the Long Meg stone circle? Could these suicides have any
connection with a decades old cold case? And, for Jude, the most crucial question of all.
Is it personal — and could Mikey be the final target?

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Amazon UK https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09BG9BY1N

Amazon US https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09BG9BY1N

Author Bio

Jo Allen was born in Wolverhampton and is a graduate of Edinburgh, Strathclyde and the Open University, with undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in geography and Earth science. She’s been writing for pleasure and publication for as long as she can remember. After a career in economic consultancy she took up writing and was first published under the name Jennifer Young, in genres of short stories, romance and romantic suspense. She wrote online articles on travel and on her favourite academic subject, Earth science. In 2017 she took the plunge and began writing the genre she most likes to read — crime.

Jo lives in the English Lakes, where the DCI Satterthwaite series is set. In common with all her favourite characters, she loves football (she’s a season ticket holder with her beloved Wolverhampton Wanderers) and cats.

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Barbara’s Review:

Barbara’s rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars

With the suicides of three young people within a short period of time and all within the same forested area, people begin to wonder if they aren’t connected. When psychiatrist Vanessa Woods comes forward and agrees about the connections, the police accept her offer of help. DCI Jude Satterthwaite and his team are tasked with looking into whether there is a connection and whether they are actually suicides. Since they aren’t proven crimes, Satterthwaite’s boss keeps him from giving the case priority and thus he cannot get all of the resources he needs. Satterthwaite’s gut tells him something isn’t right, but the deaths really are suicides. So, where is the crime? Is there a crime? Every parent of a young person wants to know what is happening to cause kids to commit suicide.

We follow along as Satterthwaite and his team interview and reinterview anyone who might have information and at first, it seems there is absolutely no connection between those young people. When more bodies turn up – and more suicides are attempted, Satterthwaite knows he has to get to the bottom of it all. Satterthwaite is very worried about his much younger brother, Mikey, and Mikey’s rebellion has been putting him through a lot of worries lately.

I was happy to see the solution to the case and wasn’t surprised by how it worked out. However, I had to scratch my head at how the police got there – but once it did, they were off and running. It was out of the blue – like a lightning bolt – just wham and case solved. The reader had all of the clues that lead to that solution, but the police didn’t, so I have to wonder how they had their grand epiphany.

We also meet and learn of Satterthwaite’s romantic entanglements during the course of the investigation. Since the characters never really reached out and grabbed my interest, I really didn’t care one way or the other. As a workaholic who thought of nothing other than work, I think it would be very hard for anyone to have a relationship with him – and he seemed to have no interest in trying to change that. He was proud of himself for showing just showing up at his brother’s twenty-first birthday party – only an hour or so late.