Book Review – Hunter’s Force

January 17, 2025

Book Review – Hunter’s Force

I met the wonderful crime writer Val Penny at Swanwick Writing Summer School a few years ago and she’s been incredibly supportive of me and my writing. I’d been meaning to buy one of her DI Hunter books and I thought I’d start with the first in the series. That was my plan, but I inadvertently bought book three in the series rather than book one. I read it anyway and I think it works well as a standalone as well as part of a series.

Here’s the blurb:

Hunter by name – Hunter by nature.

Can DI Hunter Wilson keep Edinburgh safe when he is the hunted?

Detective Inspector Hunter Wilson is woken in the early hours of the morning by a call from his son. Cameron’s flatmate has been murdered.

Why would anybody want to kill a young woman recently arrived in the city?Hunter must call in the new Major Incident Team (MIT), however his ability to be involved in the case is severely compromised when someone from his past resurfaces with revenge on their mind.

When Hunter goes missing, and his team struggle to find the clues they need to locate him. Who would want to stop Hunter in his tracks?

Meanwhile, Hunter’s team must also work closely with the MIT and with or without him, solve the murder in this taut crime thriller.

My review:

For me, a lead detective has to have something about them to make me care about them and I was certainly drawn to Hunter. I’ve heard Val talk about him a number of times, either in a classroom or when we’ve been chatting. She speaks about him like a friend she knows well and it’s clear that Val knows her protagonist inside out. But that’s the case for all the characters; I couldn’t help but take to them, even the baddies in some way, wanting to know more about them and how things were going to turn out.

Val weaves the multi-layered storyline together well, and I really enjoyed the way every thread is connected and how she brings things together. There’s always the feeling that something else is going on and a twist is coming. The pace doesn’t let up from start to finish.

So I’m looking forward to going back to the beginning, with book one, and finding out how it all started.