DCI Cyril Bennett Harrogate Crime Series #2 Wow what a terrific read 'Hell's Gate' is! The second book in the ‘DCI Cyril Bennett Harrogate Crime Series’ is thrilling and captivating and I love it. I had to read it in one session as it was simply too hard to put down. It’s great reconnecting to the impeccably dressed DCI Cyril Bennett and his DS David Owen, in everything his boss’s counterpart. It can perfectly be read as a stand-alone. If only you knew the chilling events you're about to read in this crime novel: There are ruthless criminals, who consider lives solely as 'products' from which to profit, as disposable as your daily newspaper. There is a child abduction, horrible and gruesome murders and a cold blooded murderer who thrives on killing. There’s a homeless man lying safely, or so he thinks, in a disused railway tunnel. He separated himself from all he cared about because of his own wrongdoing: his wife, his children and his job. The only thing left is his life and soon even that will be lost. Because noises are coming closer, terrifying and cruel voices of a group manhandling a terrified naked youth. Would he know the sadistic punishment that lies before him? Before we can grasp what happened, we find ourselves in the Romanian countryside where a young boy is abducted and from then on "moulded and formed into a strong, brutal young man." The name Angel sticks with him, ironically, because he is a cruel man who determines whether someone will be subjected to 'The Chase', which involves dogs and a slow and painful death. Angel's father is opening a new restaurant in Harrogate, his first in England. We have seen the darker side of this business Angel and his father have: It involves dog fights, people working as modern slaves and who can tell what more? Speaking about dogs, a little girl has been attacked at home by two dogs and is in a bad condition. The police are appalled to find more food in the house for the dogs than for its human occupants. Plus the girl's mother is a drug addict and the mother's boyfriend Rares denies any involvement with the dogs. The dogs are Rares' responsibility as the reader is only too aware and what is more it seems that Angel owns both Rares and his dogs. Rares is the one who takes care of the dogs, shapes them into fighters, ready to destroy and kill animals and humans. One such human is Drew Sadler, whose body is found, at least most of the parts lying around. What are the connections between Sadler's death, Rares' dogs and the little girl in the hospital? It's all very confusing but deeply threatening and menacing. Then there's Angel and his father who are about to open a restaurant in Harrogate, close to where Bennett lives. Is the restaurant only a façade? Father and son employ people from Romania, plucked from the streets, brought to the UK under false pretences. Little do they know once in England they are treated as modern-day slaves. 'Hell's Gate' had me drawn in from the start. I loved everything about it, the pace, the personal insights into the life of Cyril Bennett, the descriptions of the scenes, sometimes gruesome, then again refreshingly normal. The entwining of for instance a cosy dinner and then again horrible events is done so well, it's a pleasure to read. I find this detective an enthralling crime novel and a pleasure to read. To be recommended!