High Energy Thriller on the Streets of East London

WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU ( DI Fenchurch #3)
Ed James
Thomas & Mercer
April 20, 2017


DI Simon Fenchurch and his partner DS Kay Hooper are on night shift and assigned to attend a debate about a new "Uber" type cab company. London cabbies are not at all pleased and massed outside the debate site. No wonder, as London cabbies have to undergo rigorous education and certification on "the Knowledge"; encyclopedic knowledge of London and all its highways and byways. So why should this upstart company with drivers who are not required to have licenses be allowed to operate? The appearance of Lord Ingham, a longtime Conservative Party operative with some very right-wing views ratchets up the potential for violence. When the situation devolves into a riot, Simon is the one who saves his life. From the debate Fenchurch and Hooper are called to the scene of the brutal murder of a young City lawyer at a construction site, the worlds of the new "Travis" company, Lord Ingham, and a pedophile sex trafficking ring collide with multiplying bodies and a brutal betrayal. 

Just as in the previous two Fenchurch novels, the abduction of Fenchurch's young daughter, Chloe, a decade before underlies the story. Simon and his wife, Abi, have managed to make some accommodation for the loss of Chloe, and are even expecting another child. But Simon will never give up on finding out what happened to Chloe, and neither will his retired policeman father, Liam. The present case seems to have a connection to Chloe. So will Simon and Abi finally get answers, and will they be the answers they want?

What Doesn't Kill You is another high-action ride through the mean, traffic and construction clogged streets of East London. Simon Fenchurch is one of the most driven police officers in today's crime fiction, and he has little regard for rules and regulations when he is on the case. Once you start a Fenchurch novel, it is very hard to put down.

Thanks to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for an advance digital copy. The opinions above are my own.

RATING-4 Stars