An Unpardonable Act by Rhys Dylan (writing as Dylan Young)
Publisher: Wyrmwood Books
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by FernTruth is often buried where few dare to look.
A young girl disappears, echoing an unsolved murder from the past. The police think they’ve found their man, just as they had before. But they’ve already got it badly wrong once, forcing facts to fit a theory to convict an innocent man.
. Determined not to let that happen again, Detective Sergeant Anna Gwynne must go into the darkness that cloaks the worst of crimes and risk damaging herself in the process.
Can she get what she needs before another life is lost, or could the horror lead her down a path that puts her own life in grave danger?
DS Anna Gwynne works with a small team trying to re-investigate cold cases. The smaller team and slightly detached police work suits her well. But when their latest case is brought to them clouded with corruption and a distressing link to an extremely fresh case, and then Anna’s Inspector is sidelined she realizes perhaps too late that she’s been thrust into the deep end. And it’s time for Anna to stretch herself and start swimming through the mess.
I have been greatly enjoying this author’s Welsh based series and stumbled upon this reprinted older book of his quite by accident. I bought it from sheer curiosity and I wasn’t even half way through before I was quickly searching for more to order. This appears to be the first in a trilogy and while the main case and plotline is very well wrapped up within this book there are absolutely a few hooks – and a nefarious “bad guy” character – who I strongly feel will feature in the over-all arc of this trilogy.
I thoroughly enjoyed Anna’s character. Whip smart but also not your average police officer I was pleased as we learned more about her as the book progressed. Learning more about her was a good breath of fresh air against the at times emotionally heavy plotline. I found the plot to be layered and refreshing. I guessed at parts of mystery but found myself well surprised by a few other aspects of it so I really feel the author held a good balance here. I also really enjoyed that most of the puzzle was very logical (after you knew the answers – of course) and everything fit very well together without being obvious. I can very strongly recommend the mystery element of this story.
While I do feel some of the secondary team members could have been a little bit better fleshed out, I am hoping this will come to pass in the other two books of the trilogy. There was a lot of story crammed into this book and while more would have been nice a bloated book is not a good thing for anyone. So I understand this restraint.
A clever mystery, a nefarious bad guy and an excellent team with a strong female protagonist this is a great book and I’m eager to dive into the next two. Recommended.
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