Dark Rooms: The brand new Jane Tennison thriller from The Queen of Crime Drama

Product Information

The softcover version most recent novel featuring the iconic Detective Jane Tennison – Dark Rooms will be available from 16th February 2023.

Tennison travels to Australia as the investigation and search for answers intensifies, there she discovers the dark secret, that the Lanark family has kept hidden for decades. This secret could bring down the family dynasty as well as putting Tennison’s life in danger.

DI Jane Tennison is part of the team investigating the crime. On visiting the crime scene, Jane discovers the house has more horrors to reveal - in the form of a mummified baby who was buried alive. However, and believe me I hate to leave a negative review, but wow; there was very little I enjoyed of this book. Jane Tennison is leading a murder investigation into the recent brutal death of a young girl, her decomposed starved body discovered in an old air raid shelter in the garden of the Lanark’s now derelict house. Initially the focus is on identifying the victim, until another body is found, hidden in the walls of the shelter. Lynda is an honorary fellow of the British Film Institute and was awarded theBAFTADennis Potter Best Writer's Award in 2000. In 2008, she was awarded aCBEin the Queen's Birthday Honours List for services to Literature, Drama and Charity. Over the last few years, I have had a great time getting through the amazing Tennison series by iconic crime fiction author Lynda La Plante. A prequel series to the Prime Suspect television series, the Tennison books follows a younger version of Prime Suspect’s protagonist, Jane Tennison, as she works her way up the ranks while investigating several intriguing crimes. There have been some awesome books in this series so far, including Good Friday, Murder Mile, The Dirty Dozen, Blunt Force and Unholy Murder, each of which is worth a read, especially for fans of the original show. I managed to get through the eighth book in the series, Dark Rooms, last year, and it is high time I wrote a review for it, especially as the next Tennison thriller is out just around the corner.

Jane Tennison is leading a murder investigation into the recent brutal death of a young girl, her decomposed starved body discovered in an old air raid shelter in the garden of the Lanark's now derelict house. Initially the focus is on identifying the victim, until another body is found, hidden in the walls of the shelter. The subplot had me wondering too. Why the detailed details? What was a long read made worse by minuscule minutia of renovating.

I have mixed thoughts on this book. I didn’t dislike it but I definitely didn’t enjoy it. The suspect plot line felt so all over the place and the romance subplot was questionable at best. Personally, i felt there was a lot of useless information about the house renovation, I get having sub plots but man, that was boring. Lynda la plante is one of my favourite authors, I have read so many books by her, all of which I’ve loved. Then Jane’s partner Eddie was weird. I had no idea what he actually looked like as it was never said so I had to make something up in my head - felt very strange - and he just didn’t seem like a good bloke for someone who’s a good detective - I mean, read the red flags! Jane solves the original case involving a dead young woman in record time and it involves a tragic turn of events. Jane's given little (well, no) kudos for her work but having also uncovered a baby's bones during the investigation she's is keen to pursue it, particularly when she discovers the newborn was smothered. She's reminded however of her previous case that involved decades-old bones with no recourse for anyone still alive. Here however she's got her eye on the building's previous owner, Helena Lanark, and starts looking into the family.