Blog Tour + Review – Guilt by Michelle Kidd

Hello everyone,

A few months ago my friend Zoé @ Zooloo’s Book Diary began hosting blog tours, and today I am taking part in one for the first time, something which I am very excited and delighted about!

As soon as I saw the synopsis for Guilt by Michelle Kidd, I was convinced that I had to read it. I love a good police procedural, and the fact that it is the first book in a series made it an even more interesting proposition. Thank you very much to Zoé for my place on the tour, and also to the publisher for providing me with a free e-copy to read and review.

Pages: 330
Published: 14th July 2021
Genre: Crime
Trigger warnings: Child death, child abduction storyline, bullying

A missing child.
A killer on the loose.
A past that refuses to die.

When a six-year-old boy disappears from a local fair, every parent’s worst nightmare is about to come true.
And for Detective Inspector Nicki Hardcastle, twenty-two years after her own nightmare began, the past she thought was buried starts catching up with her – and fast.
Leading the hunt for the missing child, Nicki soon finds the chase takes on a personal twist, with her own memories haunting her every move.
With time set against them, and a killer following his own chilling agenda, can Nicki and her team stop history from repeating itself?
Only time will tell.
But it’s time they don’t have.

This is a crime thriller that achieves the not inconsiderable feat of being engaging while at the same time unravelling what is a dark and sinister story. There is a lot to take in as the author introduces numerous characters and balances a succession of sub-plots; a formula that generally works well in spite of the fact that the execution is slightly lacking in certain areas.

The first in a series focusing on DI Nicki Hardcastle and her team of detectives in the town of Bury St. Edmunds, it impresses in not only the way it addresses certain traumatic events but also in highlighting their long-term effects; something that you do not always see in this genre. Emphasis is placed on the book’s title at regular intervals, for the subject of guilt is a common theme.

When six-year-old Lucas Jackson goes missing at a fairground, DI Hardcastle takes charge of the case and soon realises that it is strikingly similar to the disappearances of two other young children in the neighbouring county of Norfolk, both of whom were found dead within a matter of days. These horrific incidents also coincide with a spate of burglaries in the local area.

At the start of the investigation Lucas’ mother Sophia is evasive about her deceased husband and his extended family, which leads the police to wonder if they could have a motive for the crime. All the children appeared to approach their captor willingly, and eventually CCTV footage is uncovered of Lucas being led away from the fair by an unknown man.

As it turns out, the person responsible is a highly deceptive and twisted individual who likes to get thrills by abducting young children, and he becomes more confident and daring the longer he avoids detection. Meanwhile, Nicki finds working on the case emotionally challenging, as it brings ongoing reminders of a horrifying event that took place in her childhood.

The plot is at times unsettling but also very enticing, and it would have played out even better had the action moved at a faster pace. As it is the author perhaps tried to cram a bit too much in and that left some parts of the story less well developed than others, though I did appreciate how one or two strands are being carried over to the sequel, thereby making that a must-read.

Regarding the case itself, the way the police obtained some of their breakthroughs felt too convenient, however I liked how it really devoted time to the procedural aspect. The intensity levels certainly rise by several notches towards the end as it involves a race against time, and that is where most of the intrigue comes from as the identity of the perpetrator is never in doubt.

The reason for that is because the book is written entirely in the third person, switching focus between many of the characters – and he is one of them. This technique does take most of the mystery factor away, but on the other hand the author effectively gives him a lot of nuance with the use of flashbacks and insights into his admittedly disturbed mind. In doing so, the age-old philosophical question of whether a killer is born or made hangs ominously in the air.

As for Nicki herself, she is a very likeable character who we get to know well from an early stage, and she is given plenty of depth. She has good instincts but also has to deal with the scars of her past, and that is what makes her so interesting to read about. Indeed, all of the detectives are worth investing in, with DS Graham Fox in particular having a good storyline.

One issue I had was that the sheer number of characters and perspectives there was not enough space to explore all of them in sufficient detail, with Sophia a notable example. It seemed like the relationship she had with her husband’s family would be crucial, but in reality it came across as something of an afterthought with some of the loose ends hurriedly resolved in the final few pages.

It was good to see that the setting was an important part of the story, and I liked how the author gave it all a real sense of place, with several Bury St. Edmunds landmarks referenced along the way. Meanwhile, the writing was a little more hit and miss. It was emotive and it definitely creates suspense, although some of the dialogue was clunky and the constant descriptions of smells and tastes became too repetitive. Also, there are a handful of occasions where the word ‘sanctity’ is used incorrectly instead of ‘sanctuary’.

So much happens towards the end and with the focus rapidly switching between each character, which makes it simultaneously exciting and tense Once the case is closed, you could see a cliffhanger coming from a long way away and it was a very dramatic one too – not a major shock but still expertly revealed, and it sets up the second book in the series perfectly.

Overall, there are many things to enjoy here even if there are some weak points. It delivers in terms of the plot and the unsettling atmosphere it generates, but its biggest asset is that it is character-driven and easily enables the reader to feel acquainted with Nicki and her colleagues. On this evidence, following the paths these characters take in future books should be a positive reading experience.

Michelle Kidd is a self-published author best known for the Detective Inspector Jack MacIntosh series of novels set in London. She has also recently begun a new series which is set in her home town of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk – starring Detective Inspector Nicki Hardcastle.

Michelle qualified as a lawyer in the early 1990s and spent the best part of ten years practising civil and criminal litigation. However, the dream to write books was never far from her mind and in 2008 she began writing the manuscript that would become the first DI Jack MacIntosh novel – The Phoenix Project. The book took eighteen months to write, but spent the next eight years gathering dust underneath the bed.

In 2018 Michelle self-published The Phoenix Project and has not looked back since. There are currently four DI Jack MacIntosh novels, with a fifth in progress, and the first DI Nicki Hardcastle novel is due for release in August 2021.

A very readable crime thriller with great characters and an unsettling atmosphere. There are some flaws, but I liked and admired it throughout.

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐.5

*I received a free e-copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Check out the other posts on the blog tour!