Death Under a Little Sky: The new debut rural crime detective thriller you won’t want to miss in 2023 (Jake Jackson, Book 1)

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Jake is an intriguing and very likeable and unconventional central protagonist and equally likeable is Livia the rural vet. The dialogue between them and other characters in the locality is smart and feels natural. You got a good mixture of characters from the taciturn to the dodgy to the somewhat aggressive which adds to the atmosphere. In September 2001, Abell joined the Press Complaints Commission as a complaints officer; he completed other roles at the PCC including press officer, assistant director and deputy director before being appointed Director of the PCC on 19 December 2010. In August 2013, Abell joined The Sun as managing editor, his role until the end of April 2016. Jake who is recently separated leaves the bright lights and bustle of London to move into his late Uncles house in the country. An ex detective, Jake wants a quiet life away from the stress of the job and to re-evaluate his life after his marriage has failed. Still overall it’s a decent effort. The writing is pretty good, if a little over descriptive. It did feel a somewhat padded story but the main character was pretty interesting. I’d call this book a cosy thriller, the first half of the book was definitely slower than the second half however that didn’t take away from the storyline. I loved learning about this quiet community that Jake found himself living in. I loved meeting all of the locals too, some good and some not so good. What I absolutely loved the most was the imagery, seriously, I could see Jake rambling around his acres of land and imagine every single step he took and what he was seeing, I love an author that gets that right.

Het nieuwe leven bevalt Jake prima en hij weet zich goed te vermaken zonder alle luxe van zijn leven in London. Dit zorgzame leven verandert alsl hij tijdens een jaarlijkse speurtocht een tas met menselijk botten vindt. Thank you to @instabooktours for hosting, @harperfictionpr for my copy and @thestigabell for the descriptive setting, strong character building and for introducing me to a slow burn detective series! 🔍❓ Second in the military crime series featuring Special Agents Scott Brodie and Magnolia "Maggie" Taylor, after The Deserter (2019).Overall, I did enjoy this good blend of mystery, of atmospheric setting with some romance and relationships. It’s just a little bit different from the norm and if you don’t mind a building pace than this could be for you. There was a mix of characters.. you're usual country folk, the single mum and her daughter.. the criminal tough guys and of course.. the young retired detective [Jake] who has never experienced country life before. I really enjoyed getting to know him, and I hope we will be seeing our off the books detective more in the future. To say there wasn't a huge number of characters, the author did a great job at bringing them life and fulfilling the realistic sense of community you get in a small village. In het begin moest ik even wennen aan de schrijfstijl, daar het niet als een thriller overkwam, maar meer als een roman die op gang moest komen. Wel is er direct heel beeldend geschreven, waardoor je het idee hebt dat je in het verhaal aanwezig bent. Geleidelijk aan begint er meer spanning te komen in het verhaal en gaat het meer op een thriller lijken. De spanning wordt na ruim de helft van het boek goed opgebouwd en je wordt nieuwsgierig wat er nu gebeurd is en wie dan uiteindelijk de dader is.

It’s not long before he finds that a woman died in the small village a decade earlier under mysterious circumstances. When he brings the subject up with the locals, they close shop and don’t want to discuss it at all. Some even start to warn him off about digging up the past. There are some lovely references to detective fiction - in Jake’s reading and as he considers his investigations. In Jake I felt a sense of Morse and Endeavour; of catching a first glimpse of a great new detective at his inception. However I would be interested to read another novel by the author, to see how his writing develops in the future. Tense but patient, fast but thoughtful, and twisty but substantial – this is a truly excellent debut, and I want the next installment now’ Lee Child Sometimes the sound of his own voice surprises him, scraped from his throat, out of use like an old piece of machinery pulled from storage."Alle personages in het boek zijn goed uitgewerkt en je leert deze goed kennen, hoewel je ook misleid wordt. We maken mee hoe Jake en Livia elkaar ontdekken, liefde komt om de hoek kijken. Het boek bestaat uit korte hoofdstukken en is toch wel vlot leesbaar geschreven. Het plot was even heel verrassend, maar ook weer heel logisch. Dodelijke Afloop is een Whodunit met persoonlijke sfeer. Je speurt als lezer met Jake mee. Zijn angst wordt levens echt beschreven. Het voelt alsof je hetzelf ervaart. Dit geeft het verhaal body en kracht. Gloriously atmospheric and masterfully plotted with such a strong sense of place, this is a huge treat for crime fiction lovers. I can’t wait for the next instalment!’ Lucy Foley In March 2014, Abell started co-presenting a show on LBC Radio alongside Sky News television presenter Kay Burley from 8am to 11am on Sundays. Burley was the main presenter while Abell reviewed the papers and added political comment. Stig Abell is a successful and well-known British journalist and this is his first venture into fiction. He has apparently been a fan of crime fiction since his pre-teen years, having followed the same trajectory as so many of us have, via Holmes, Christie, Sayers, etc., and then on to contemporary crime. I wondered if this was going to be a kind of homage to the golden age authors he clearly reveres, but although he references many of them entertainingly, his style is very much his own. And he writes like a dream, making this pure pleasure to read (despite being in the present tense) with a distinctly literary feel.

It is quite a journey to get to his new home and finds that there is no shower or bathroom but the nearby lake to wash in and the only entertainment he has is the several bookcases of books mainly crime novels and classical music to entertain him. But he grows accustomed to his surroundings and the new way of life. Jake leaves his failed marriage and job as Detective for a house in the middle of nowhere. Living totally off grid offers the opportunity to renegotiate a life that hasn’t gone well so far.. Embracing the practical and mental challenges of his self imposed exile, Jake is consoled by a library of detective novels, listening to music, swimming in the lake and the wildlife..Stephen "Stig" Paul Abell is an English journalist, newspaper editor and radio presenter. He currently co-presents the Monday to Thursday breakfast show on Times Radio with Aasmah Mir. Death Under a Little Sky is out today, and its author told Chris: “It's a guy [Jake] who lives in the city. He’s a detective, he gets burnt out, he has a horrible relationship. And then he inherits a house in the middle of nowhere, where there's no internet connection, there's no phone connection. I enjoyed this one to a point. It did seem a bit confused about what it wanted to be. Starts as a mystery thriller then veers into cosy thriller, a sort of self discovery book and a romance novel. The end I thought was a bit of a let down and a bit hard to swallow. I do think this was more of a cosy thriller compared to the more edge of your seat thriller. However, that didn't take away my enjoyment of the book. As this is a thriller there obviously was some not so nice goings on and I definitely didn’t guess who the person was, well done on keeping us all in suspense.