Nine Elms
The thrilling first book in the electrifying Kate Marshall series
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4.2 • 249 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
'The perfect book for Erika Foster fans. It has all the same vibes - but MORE. I actually think this is Robert Bryndza's best book yet'
'A gripping read that I could not put down'
'What an absolutely stunning start to what promises to be a brilliant new series'
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From the breakthrough international bestselling author of The Girl in the Ice, a breathtaking, page-turning novel about a disgraced female detective's fight for redemption. And survival.
Kate Marshall was a promising young police detective when she caught the notorious Nine Elms serial killer. But her greatest victory suddenly became a nightmare.
Fifteen years after those catastrophic, career-ending events, a copycat killer has taken up the Nine Elms mantle, continuing the ghastly work of his idol.
Enlisting her brilliant research assistant, Tristan Harper, Kate draws on her prodigious and long-neglected skills as an investigator to catch a new monster. But there's much more than her reputation on the line: Kate was the original killer's intended fifth victim . . . and his successor means to finish the job.
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'Twisty, dark and layered . . . A superb start to what promises to be another stand out series' M. W. CRAVEN
'Gripping from start to finish. I will wait with bated breath for the next Kate Marshall thriller' RACHEL ABBOTT
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Veteran crime writer Robert Bryndza follows his incisive Erika Foster series with Nine Elms, introducing another wonderfully layered protagonist in former London detective Kate Marshall. Fifteen years after a career-ending clash with an infamous serial killer, Kate is forced to confront her lingering stress head-on as she’s drawn back into a familiar high-stakes showdown. As usual, Bryndza manages a mature handling of drama and trauma alike without skimping on procedural elements or a surprise-packed finale. Beneath his clean, down-to-earth prose, the author has a deeply compelling ability to mine the psychological toll of violent acts.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In 1995, Kate Marshall, the heroine of this heart-pounding series launch from Bryndza (the Erika Foster series), was a detective constable when she unmasked the Nine Elms Cannibal serial killer, who left the bodies of teenage girls posed naked with bite marks on their bodies, their heads wrapped in plastic bags around London. Though the killer was sent to a psychiatric facility, the scandal surrounding the cannibal case led to Kate's being unjustly discredited and removed from the force. In 2010, after years of uncontrolled drinking, Kate is a criminology lecturer living on England's south coast when a couple who believe their missing 16-year-old daughter was a victim of the original killer in 1990 beg her to find their daughter's body. A forensic pathologist later consults her about the recent murder of a young woman, whom Kate concludes was the victim of a copycat of the Nine Elms killer. The tension rises as Kate begins a deadly cat-and-mouse game with the new killer, aided by her able assistant, and painful, long-buried memories resurface. Readers will look forward to seeing more of the complex Kate.
Customer Reviews
A good start to a new series
This story has all the good element of a ‘police’ thriller. Once again Robert Bryndza has created a great cast of characters who he has set within a thrilling plot. I will wait and see how things pan out for Kate Marshall as this series begins to develop.
I’ve become a fan of Bryndza’s writing.
Nightmare on 9 Elms
Author
British. Lives in Slovakia. Six previous crime novels involving London Detective Erika Foster. This is the first of a new series based around ex-cop turned academic criminologist and part-time PI Kate Marshall. Mr B has also written six rom-coms, five involve Coco Pinchard and the other is stand alone. I’ve read one of the Erika Foster books but none of the rom-coms. (I plan to keep it that way)
Plot
Back in the nineties (remember them), Kate Marshall was an up and coming London detective constable, who was coopted onto a team chasing the ‘Nine Elms serial killer.’ The name derives from the site of his first known kill. Did I mention he’s also a cannibal? Along the way, our gal and her boss get it on one night after a few drinks, and reprise the act the next night before she decides it’s a bad idea. Superbad in fact because, wouldn’t you know it, her boss turns out to be the killer. That’s right, the dude leading the team chasing the killer is actually the killer. For some reason, this recalled for me the episode of Friends where Chandler waxes lyrical about the movie Miss Congeniality because Sandra Bullock plays a beauty contestant who’s really an FBI agent trying to… I forget what it was she was trying to do. At least, she wasn’t a cannibal.
Moving right along, psycho-dude stabs our gal in the belly but she survives because she manages to clock him over the head with a lava lamp, as you would. Anything to get rid of a lava lamp. Did I mention Kate’s four-and-a-half months along with the cannibal’s kid? The kid ends up with her parents because our gal’s a tad unstable. He’s now 14, she’s got things together (sort of), and they’ve built a good relationship. She’s living on the south coast of England next door to her AA sponsor, which means she attends meetings, and teaching criminal psychology to undergraduates. (A Blair initiative obviously).
Meanwhile, psycho-dude is cooling his heels, and sinking his teeth into, a few people at a high security funny farm up north. Then the copy cat killings start.
Characters
Chiefly Kate, Tristan (her 21-year-old male teaching and investigative aide), psycho-dude and copy cat. All I’ll say is, this isn’t a character driven novel.
Narrative
Third person from three different POVs (guess which ones). Prose is crisp and clear if not particularly memorable, with the requisite number of twists and turns.
Bottom line
Entertaining enough to finish so I could find out how well I’d predicted the ending. (Well, in case you’re interested.)
Nine Elms
I simply couldn’t put the book down. It’s 4am and I have just finished it! Fantastic!