Killing Pretties by Rob Ashman @RobAshmanAuthor

Book Description:

Detective Sergeant Khenan Malice is a rubbish ex-husband, a crap father but a damned good detective. It’s a shame he spoils his only redeeming quality by being a bent copper.

Detective Kelly Pietersen joins the team to help find a missing woman. But Kelly has a secret…

Damien Kaplan is a leading criminal barrister and a keen amateur potter. He also happens to be a serial killer with a chilling approach to creating his art. He’s married to Elsa, though she considers him more of a possession than a husband. She controls those around her using sex and procures men and women for her husband to play with but only after she’s finished with them first.

Killing Pretties is his passion, having sex with them is hers. It is difficult to say which one is worse.

The missing woman brings all four crashing together – an incendiary mix that doesn’t end well.

My Thoughts:

Being a huge fan of this authors work, I know I am guaranteed a thrilling and twisted read. I hadn’t bargained though on the author upping the bar he sets, making this is his most twisted yet.

Damien and Elsa are one of the strangest and scariest couples I have ever come across in a novel. They are both power hungry and make for a good match. Both are warped and you sure wouldn’t want to ever come across their paths.

The first half of the story concentrates more on Damien and Elsa and how they choose their victims and play with them. Oh my goodness it made for some exhilarating reading. The second half, we get to see more of Malice and Pietersen. I was drawn more to Malice as I felt like I connected with him quite quickly. It did concern me that he is a bit dodgy when it comes to his career. Even after finishing the book, I’m not sure how I feel about his choices, saying that, I love him as a character.

Killing Pretties is one dark, exhilarating novel that grabbed me from the opening page, not letting go of it’s hold on me until the very last one. If you are a fan of this genre, how can you not love when an author takes the twistedeness to the next level? It feels weird saying I had so much fun and enjoyment reading this when it involves murders but I did. I seriously can not recommend this author and his books enough. They are brilliant and begging to be read.

My thanks to the author for an advanced readers copy of this book. All opinions are my own and not biased in anwyay.

Killing Pretties is available to purchase from Amazon.

Rob is married to Karen with two grown up daughters. He is originally from South Wales and after moving around with work settled in North Lincolnshire where he’s spent the last twenty-two years.

Like all good welsh valley boys Rob worked for the National Coal Board after leaving school at sixteen and went to University at the tender age of twenty-three when the pit closures began to bite. Since then he’s worked in a variety of manufacturing and consulting roles both in the UK and abroad.

It took Rob twenty-four years to write his first book. He only became serious about writing it when his dad got cancer. It was an aggressive illness and Rob gave up work for three months to look after him and his mum. Writing Those That Remain became his coping mechanism. After he wrote the book his family encouraged him to continue, so not being one for half measures, Rob got himself made redundant, went self-employed so he could devote more time to writing and four years later the Mechanic Trilogy was the result. 

Rob published Those That Remain, In Your Name and Pay the Penance with Bloodhound Books and has since written the DI Rosalind Kray series. These are Faceless, This Little Piggy, Suspended Retribution and Jaded which are also published by Bloodhound.

His latest work sees the introduction of a new set of characters – DS Khenan Malice and DC Kelly Pietersen. The first book in the series is titled Killing Pretties and the second is Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Lies. Both books will be published this year.

When he is not writing, Rob is a frustrated chef with a liking for beer and prosecco, and is known for occasional outbreaks of dancing.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Rob-Ashman-Author-1428800800468097/

Website: http://robashman.com/

Twitter: @RobAshmanAuthor