4 out of 4 stars
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Hard Place is the first book in the Detective Inspector Todd “Ratso” Holtom crime mystery series by Douglas Stewart. I have already read the second book, Dead Fix, and as I enjoyed it, I picked up Hard Place as well to complete the series.
While Dead Fix deals with a gang of sports match-fixers, Hard Place is the story where Ratso and his team are first introduced. Several years ago, Ratso’s nephew died of a drug overdose. Since then, Ratso has been haunted by his need to bring down the entire Albanian criminal network which supplied the drugs to the young people all over Europe. So far nobody could pin anything on the “untouchable” drug baron Boris Zandro. When Ratso thought he finally got a head start in his investigation, his main lead disappeared, so Ratso and his team are now back to square one.
Ratso is forced to find new threads to follow along in his quest to bring down the Albanians. As the squad tracks down new leads, a clearer picture of the international gang’s operation emerges, one that takes the investigation team across several countries and continents, from the UK to various Mediterranean countries like Cyprus, Turkey, and Spain, and all the way to the USA and the Bahamas. Each chapter is written with a different location in mind, and the points of view alternate between various characters, both good and bad, although Ratso does take center stage for the most part.
Compared to the second book in the series, Hard Place has a stronger focus on character development. We learn more about Ratso, sergeants Tosh Watson and Jock Strang, and the rest of the officers working the case. Each character is quite believable, even if not always likable. We get to experience Ratso’s self-doubt when things don’t go as planned and his excitement when the pieces finally fall into place. The story is suspenseful, relatively straight-forward and fast-paced. The action really picks up in the second half of the book, when all the leads converge into an explosive conclusion.
Something I enjoyed about this book (and in the author’s second one as well) is the constant banter between the main characters at the police station. There is a sense of friendship and camaraderie that gives you warm fuzzies. Most team meetings end on a high note or at least with a chuckle or two. Also, the team members often meet at a pub or another after work and have many laughs along with the beers. Many other books in the genre take themselves too seriously, and the main characters are either loners or can’t suffer the rest of their team. Not here. It was really a breath of fresh air to see this particular British team be as close-knit as it was.
The author is not one to skimp on the details. For example, I thoroughly enjoyed the chapter starting with Ratso’s drive to Miami. I have never been to the US, so I delighted in the author’s description of Ratso’s unnerving highway journey. “Even by day you needed the skills and courage of an F1 driver to survive” made me chuckle.
Douglas Stewart's writing is strong and it flows smoothly across the 450 pages of the well-written and properly edited book. The only issues I found were three or four periods missing at the end of a few chapters, an extra quotation mark, and a missing comma. These are such minor issues that they do not influence my decision to give Hard Place 4 out of 4 stars.
Overall, I recommend the book to lovers of crime-mystery novels and thrillers; however, having read both books, I do have a warning: make sure to read Hard Place before picking up the next book, Dead Fix. Many things will become clearer if you read the Ratso series in order.
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Hard Place
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