Review of Wounded Prey by Sean Lynch

Cover links to amazon

Description (From Amazon)

It's time to finish what he started... A young girl is snatched in broad daylight from outside her school and later found brutally murdered and hanging from a tree. When recently retired San Francisco Police Inspector, Bob Farrell, sees this on the news, he realises his worst nightmare has just come true. The same brutal killer a government agency stopped him from putting away twenty years before is once more on the loose. As the killer wreaks a trail of blood and destruction across North America, Bob Farrell sets out to track him down. But Farrell s not playing by the rules any more than the killer is, and soon the FBI have both of them in their sights...A visceral and heart-wrenching cross between No Country For Old Men and Silence of the Lambs, this is an exhilarating debut from a new author who will be thrilling crime fiction fans for many years to come.

My Review

I really enjoyed this book. It was a fast-paced, high-energy read. Although emotionally wrought at times given the nature of the crimes, the relationship between Farrell and Kearns (and their encounters with certain FBI agents) provided a little light relief when necessary.

There is an awful lot of backstory that needs to be introduced throughout the course of the book, but Sean Lynch does this in such a way that it never feels like an info dump but instead enriches the whole experience.

The characters are all really well fleshed out and by the end of the book I felt like I knew them all really well. Farrell and Kearns may well become one of my favourite crime fighting duos.

This is one of the best crime writing debuts I have seen in a very long time and I will definitely be keeping an eye out for future releases. Sean Lynch is most certainly a writer to watch.

I give Wounded Prey 4 out of 5 stars.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My Rating System:

1 star: I will never post a 1 star review because this means it was so bad I couldn't finish it, and I don't won't publicly rate a book I haven't read all the way through.

2 stars: I may have liked the story but it was badly written or it may have been a boring story well written. Something about it kept me reading but I didn't enjoy it.

3 stars: A good, enjoyable read. If the description appeals to you I'd recommend reading it.

4 stars: A really good book that I thoroughly enjoyed and may even read again. I will want to read other books by the same author. Highly recommend.

5 stars: Reserved for books that blew me away and whose characters I can't get out of my head. These are books that I will definitely read again, possibly several times. If I read an e-book version I may even have to go buy a hard copy for my shelves. Why are you still here? Go read this book right now.