Customer Reviews

18 reviews

• ian blenkin

  A dark and riveting first novel from this new author.
  Snuff begins in the early 20th century in London and reaches a fascinating finale in 1970s up North!
  The events in the years in between are thrilling to say the least.
  Jay Dee (real name omitted to protect the not so innocent!),tells a rivetting tale of an abused youth and awful lives led back then.
  
  Persevere as the book really gets going in the 70s, long before PACE and such things as prisoners rights were acknowledged.
  I don't want to give any of the storyline away but their is a lot of violence and justified deaths along with many innocent ones.
  
  I would highly recommend this book!
  
  Roll on part two Jay Dee the legend!

• John G.

  A dark and riveting first novel from this new author.
  Snuff begins in the early 20th century in London and reaches a fascinating finale in 1970s up North!
  The events in the years in between are thrilling to say the least.
  Jay Dee (real name omitted to protect the not so innocent!),tells a rivetting tale of an abused youth and awful lives led back then.
  
  Persevere as the book really gets going in the 70s, long before PACE and such things as prisoners rights were acknowledged.
  I don't want to give any of the storyline away but their is a lot of violence and justified deaths along with many innocent ones.
  
  I would highly recommend this book!
  
  Roll on part two Jay Dee the legend!

• Mrs. J

  I was told this was a ‘Marmite’ book, but as I like Marmite, I was not put off.
  Too true it’s a Marmite book! The first part, which begins in the early twentieth century gives us the valuable background into the ‘making of a monster’. But really, I found myself wondering if he is the only monster in the story. It’s true that monsters came before him, and played a heavy part in creating the monster our serial killer became – there, but for the grace of God, you might say – as in many situations where people can become something they never should have been.
  This is a book with many characters but they are skilfully woven into a story that could well keep you awake at night – not least because you find it hard to stop reading! It’s a long book; just when you think that must be ‘it’, the story continues on pulling another piece in and another and another until all the pieces are knit together satisfactorily.
  So, why is it a Marmite book? Well, it’s packed full of characters you really can’t like in the earlier part of the book and they do things that are terrible. I also found myself seriously doubting whether I like DI Hawk, a hard drinking detective who is wily, clever, a match for any hot-shot barrister, but is really Marmite person too. Maybe I’ll decide about him after I’ve read the next book. And what about Sophie Ford? What a hard-nosed character she is! It’s a hard-hitting, emotion-wringing story that I admit is not for everyone and certainly caused me some nail-biting moments. I often felt I couldn’t bear to read it but I also couldn’t stop because I wanted to know the fate of certain people. I have to say the conclusions of the various elements were quite satisfying, if somewhat unconventional (I hope).
  A mind-blowing debut novel!

• Michael John Booth

  An exciting and enthralling crime thriller, a serial killer is formed, decades later he faces off against a flawed detective, a reckoning is inevitable, but quite how that will be achieved, or what the impact will be, is unclear until things reach an explosive conclusion.
  
  This is a powerful crime novel. The story blends many seemingly disparate elements, crafting them together to bring a complex novel to an exciting conclusion.
  
  The decision to commit to telling the story over many years, reminded me of Mario Puzo - things that may have seemed to be minor points, at one stage, are shown to have major ramifications further down the line.
  
  I found the novel to be really evocative of some of the bleakest moments in English policing, when there were monsters at large, you could almost picture the events appearing on the evening news, complete with long range camera shots of forensic tents, tense press briefings, and public fear.
  
  The decision to show the development of a criminal, the impact of circumstance, and the pervasiveness of evil, made this a thoughtful work, every action has a consequence, every incident has an explanation, we see why the antagonists behave the way they do, there’s no justification of the depravity, but there is an examination.
  
  The protagonist, “Hawk” was interesting, a deeply flawed, Byronic, hero, but with a clear, albeit slightly flexible, moral compass and with far more going on than was necessary to explore in this outing.
  
  The wider cast of characters were fantastic, and natural, the passage of time and shift in location ensured a real diverse array of characters, adding to the enjoyment of the novel.
  
  I really hope the concept will be revisited, now so much ground work has been laid in the pilot, let’s have the series!

• Kindle Customer

  Wow. I feel like this book has been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. Although I read it in a weekend it is long. I just struggled to put it down. It could easily be split into two parts with the beginning starting in the 1800s and showing the family heritage of a serial killer. Like exploring the nature/nurture debate. For the first half of the book there is a focus on historical abuse on so many different levels. It certainly isn't a Mills and Boon. It's dark with very little light. The second half of the book takes you into the 1970s. It's far lighter and there are moments of comedy in what is still a dark tale of death. Snuff is a great debut novel with good characters and a thorough plot. Some of the story I found hard to read although I wanted to get to the end to see what happens. I didn't have a lightbulb moment halfway through where I knew what was going to happen as I didn't right up to the end. I liked how so many things were tied up just to give the reader closure. I look forward to reading more from this author although I may need a while to recover from this book first

• ian blenkin

  A dark, brilliant and riveting first novel from this new author. He can definitely go on to rival my favourite authors James Paterson, Michael Connelly and Simon Kernick.
  Snuff begins in the early Twentieth century in London and reaches an exhilarating crescendo in 1970s South Yorkshire/Derbyshire. The events in the years in between are thrilling to say they least.
  The author, rather than just introducing a character into the story, gives a biopic of each person's life before they became embroiled in the events of the story being told. You are left in no doubt as to why they had come to be the people who they were. Except the main character Hawk, but I suspect that his previous shortcomings and nefarious behaviour will become apparent in future novels.
  Not wanting to give any of the storyline away but their is a lot of violent and some would say justified deaths along with many innocent sad ones and the strong language used by all characters apprpriate to the times and events
  In short I would highly recommend this book to anybody who will listen.
  I am so looking forward to the next novel, to see what characters feature in it and of course learn more about the enigmatic Hawk.

• Nigel Whittaker

  
  An incredible piece of penmanship in this fledgling author’s first published work. Believable characters whom you feel you know from personal life experience, and a storyline to rival those of many more well published authors. With twists and turns bringing his characters together in a well thought out plot Jay-Dee must be congratulated.
  I await further developments of his characters in future publications, which I personally hope will be a thrilling series in an expanding collection of crime fiction.
  
  

• julie Chapman-Jowett

  What a debut for this author. I found the book dark, disturbing but powerful. I couldn't wait for the story to unfold and when it did it didn't disappoint. I look forward to future books to see how the Hawk personality unfolds. The book was unique, fast paced and very believable. A excellent debut, being on the next chapter.

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