This is the first book I read by this author and I think it won't be the last as she's an excellent storyteller and the mix of social commentary/thriller works well. This story is gripping, complex, highly entertaining and thought provoking. I loved the mystery and the well thought characters but was also fascinated by the descriptions of the breaks setting An excellent read. Highly recommended. Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Another gritty thriller from Eva Dolan with her usual investigative team of Zigic and Ferreria. A young journalist student is shot dead walking home one night, and there are no clues why. The police are left baffled, trying to look at the different angles of his life and it becomes clear early on that the man is an old-style journalist trying to uncover wrongdoings and misuse of power. The book doesn't pull any punches, detailing how people are struggling for jobs, money and any sense of security. I loved reading it and would definitely recommend, especially for fans of Susie Steiner who covers similar themes in an equally compelling way.

Another gritty thriller from Eva Dolan with her usual investigative team of Zigic and Ferreria. A young journalist student is shot dead walking home one night, and there are no clues why. The police are left baffled, trying to look at the different angles of his life and it becomes clear early on that the man is an old-style journalist trying to uncover wrongdoings and misuse of power. The book doesnt pull any punches, detailing how people are struggling for jobs, money and any sense of security. I loved reading it and would definitely recommend, especially for fans of Susie Steiner who covers similar themes in an equally compelling way.

This is the sixth book in the DI Zigic and DS Ferreira series, my favourite police procedural series. As always it was great to catch up with my two favourite detectives again, I get very excited when I know there a new book coming out!. This story is set around Jordan Radley, a young student who was gunned down on his way home. He was a well liked guy and the police are stumped as to who wanted him dead and why. However as they look deeper into Jordan’s life and the people he hung around with they discover some very unsavoury people and secrets. As I’ve mentioned before one of things I love about this series is that the police are portrayed well for a change, not corrupted and nasty. They have there moments of course, they’re human and want to get the villains behind bars, but Zigic wants to do it properly, always having to rein Ferreira in when she gets the bit between her teeth and won’t let go. Especially so in this book as Ferreira gets really angry about another aspect of this investigation and I could totally understand why. As with all books by Eva Dolan there’s always a social commentary going on and this time it it really hit the mark, but I’m not saying any more about that plot strand as it will ruin the story but it’s a good one. As to the investigation and finding the killer? Well, I got some of it right at about the same time as the detectives, but to be honest with you this series is about the characters rather than the crime, and I can’t wait to see what happens to Zigic and Ferreira next! This is still my favourite police procedural series and I thoroughly recommend it to anyone to likes this genre. Thanks so much to NetGalley, Bloomsbury and Raven Books for my digital ARC.

Eva Dolan is one of my must read authors and One Half Truth, the latest in her Dushan Zigic and Mel Ferreira series, is a great read. What marks Dolan out is the way that she focuses on the social and economic consequences of societal change and Government decision making, including in this case Brexit, and uses this to underline some of the causes of crime as well as the repercussions from it. That may not sound thrilling, but is is absolutely engrossing as she highlights the impact of a town driven to food banks where industry is almost non-existent, housing is unaffordable and the only jobs available are stacking shelves or zero hours contracts that offer no hope of savings or stability. Even the police are not immune, with stations closing and staff cuts biting hard. The Greenaway Factory Club is a forgotten remnant of the factory that used to employ skilled craftsmen. Now those men are on the scrapheap, gathering together in the dingy club like wraiths after the feast, trying to scrape enough money together for a pint. Not the kind of place you’d expect to find a young student. But 21 year old Jordan Radley had been spending time there. So is that why he was shot in the back on his way home one dark evening? Jordan was determined to become a journalist and had recently had his first article published in the Big Issue – on men’s mental health, which talked about the pressures some of the men at the club had experienced after the factory closed. Jordan was also working one day a week at the local paper. Whoever killed him also took his computer, phone and notebook. Zigic and Ferreira start to track down the stories that Jordan was working on and find that there are several leads. One thing that is common to all three is the fact that cutting corners is never far away. Jordan had been speaking to a social care worker who is not only fearful of losing her job, but lays out clearly how much the private sector expects from these workers and how little they receive in return. Jordan had also been scoping out the scene of a helicopter crash which had already been ruled accidental. It killed the boss of the factory that was Greenaways Engineering. Then there’s the site of Greenaway’s old factory itself. It’s now being developed into executive apartments by the Docherty construction company – Mel Ferreira had almost bought one, but couldn’t afford the mortgage. Is there something dodgy going on there that got Jordan killed? Zigic and his team follow all the leads they have and find that there are links to all of them with Greenaway engineering. What they uncover is a web of deceit, corruption, veniality and the power of business to wield influence even on those who should be incorruptible. It’s not a new story, but Dolan shows us how the tentacles of corruption spread across a city until they are so intertwined it’s nigh on impossible to cut them off at the roots without taking the town with them. Against this backdrop the team have their work cut out for them if they are to achieve justice for Jordan and more than once Ferreira has to stop herself from taking action that would get her into trouble. Her sense of injustice is running high, slightly fuelled by the pressures on her partner Rob Weller, who has been consigned to desk duty as a punishment for past actions and it is really getting to him. Chief Superintendent Riggott, ever keen to please his political superiors, helps fuel her anger. Neither is she happy that she has had to go through myriad hoops to gain her ‘settled status’ after 20 years in this country and a working life serving the community in the police force. Zigic remains unflappable, but Mel is very clearly unsettled and unhappy with being stymied and that makes her want to take everyone down in their search for Jordan’s killer. Verdict: One Half Truth is a slow burn of a book but the better for it as we gain a clear and detailed picture of how all the pieces of this puzzle fit together and see the overall picture of the impact that the closure of one factory can have on a community. Dolan has written a gritty, complex case with plenty of nice misdirection and false trails, but what this book has at its heart is compassion and a determination to shine a light on the way things are done in our country – and it’s not pretty.