4.5 stars
Video review (spoiler free): https://bit.ly/3dV4kLo

I received this book from Harper Collins Ireland in exchange for an honest review.

CW: Sexual assault, violence towards women, domestic abuse

DI Maeve Kerrigan has another case on her hands and this one comes to her in pieces, literally. When discovering the gruesome murder of a young woman whose body was cut up and left in the Thames, the case leads Maeve to the Chiron Club - a private member's club only eligible for elite males. As Maeve digs deeper, she discovers more horrifying facts about the club and its member, while also ignoring a danger that is creeping closer to home.

I really enjoyed this crime detective novel and it's defintiely one of my favourites I have ever read. I felt like the whole case was spread out across the pages really well and just seemed very realistic and organised, and really well planned out by the author.

This book is actually the ninth book in the Maeve Kerrigan series but I haven't read any of the others. And I still found this book really enjoyable and didn't feel lost with any of the characters. It was obvious that there was something in the past between Maeve and Josh, and slowly throughout the book new readers discovered what that was and it was done expertly in ways that fans of the series wouldn't be bored of a rehash of things from the past. This book can definitely be read as a standalone though because I really enjoyed it, I am trying to decide if I want to read the books that came before this one or just carry on from here.

I really liked Maeve as a character. She's the type of police officer you want helping to solve any crime that you were the victim of. She's through and smart, yet is very kind as well. The one thing that did raise my eyebrows a bit was when she was able to go undercover as one of the hired girls when she was presumably in her thirties, and the girls were suppose to be young and insanely beautiful. We don't get a lot of descriptions of Maeve's looks but presumably of things said to her in different points, she is very attractive. I didn't really like that Maeve had a bit of a frenemy thing going on with Wendy - the other young, attractive female on the force (I'm not including Liz in this one as she was heavily pregnant). When Wendy appeared on the page, she always did something really dumb that doesn't make me feel great about people like her being on the force.

The case was just really good and I loved how bit by bit all these secrets about the Chiron Club came out. It was a very satisfying case to read be investigated, and when all the horrible men in it got their comeuppance.

There is a side plot in this book that does involve domestic abuse. I feel like it was very obvious from the start what was going to happen with this one, but I also feel like this was in the book as well to give a guide to readers about how easy it is to fall into an abusive relationship - physically and/or emotionally - and not quite realise. And it can happen to anyone - even people to see it happen to others on a regular basis.