BOOK REVIEW: The Slaughter Man by Tony Parsons

I love nothing more than getting my teeth stuck into a good thriller but they can be very hard to find. Either the start is promising but the end fails to deliver or there’s just one twist too many for it to be believable. That is certainly NOT the case with Tony Parsons’ latest novel, The Slaughter Man, which is a follow-up to The Murder Bag. Detective Max Wolfe is back and this time he’s got quite the case on his hands. A wealthy family has been slaughtered in their home inside a luxurious gated community in north London. The youngest child is also missing. The strange thing is that this looks very like a murder that occurred thirty years ago, but the man who was then dubbed the Slaughter Man is now old and dying. Not only does Wolfe have a killer to track down but he has to find a missing child and time is quickly running out. As he digs further into the particulars of his latest case, he discovers that some families have very dark secrets and will do anything to keep them. I honestly could not put this novel down. Parsons’ writing is fast-paced and captivating. His plot, sinister and engaging. The narrative twists and turns with an array of intriguing characters that you genuinely invest in and the ending more than lived up to expectation. While I do have to admit that there was one incident that slightly jarred with me, this is an excellent read and one that I would recommend to anyone. In other words, I found exactly what I was looking for (a good thriller) and can’t wait to pick up the next instalment in the series.