THE TIME HAS COME.

My Kay Hunter fix arrived. I jumped on it. I devoured it. Now I’m sharing and waiting for the next!!!

A million thanks to Rachel Amphlett and Emma Mitchell for allowing me to kick off the blog tour and for providing me with a copy of the book.

Title: Hell to Pay
Author: Rachel Amphlett
Imprint: Saxon Publishing
Date of publication: November 16th 2017
Format: eARC
Number of pages: 322
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

When a road traffic accident on a dark autumn night uncovers a disturbing conspiracy, Detective Sergeant Kay Hunter’s investigation exposes a ruthless serial killer exploiting vulnerable young women.

With her enemies unmasked and her career spiralling out of control, Kay’s determination to seek vengeance for the victims brings her dangerously close to those who want to silence her.

Undeterred, she uncovers the real reason behind a plot to destroy her career and sets in motion a terrifying chain of events.

Could Kay’s need for revenge be her undoing, or will she survive to see justice served?

The Kay Hunter Series will be the death of me!

If you are not aware of my obsession with these books yet, you can find my reviews of the three first books here, here and here.

Now let’s come back to the point.

Hell to Pay. Hell to read! No, actually, the smooth and recognizable style of the author makes this fourth story a beauty to read. Every chapter follows the other without a bump, everything flows together, offering you a false sense of safety before giving you adrenaline shots the next page! I wasn’t lucky enough to read it in one sitting, so feeling my Kindle in my bag every day, each time I reached into it for a pen or my diary, was pure torture. All I wanted was to be locked in a room with enough time to devour this new step in my favorite series. Because yes, The Kay Hunter series stays on top!

Why?

Let’s have a debrief of my experience with Hell to Pay!

Suspect number 1: A perfectly weaved plot

Each of the previous books can be read as a standalone. I even started with the second book! But they all had one thing in common, a subplot subtly intertwined with the current intrigue, a nameless threat, a brilliant layer that added an edge to everything that happened to Kay. Well, this fourth book takes this plot to another level. Darn it, reviewing a series is hell! Let’s just say you get some answers, and you get more questions. I was worried the thin thread of this intense and harrowing piece of narration would suffer from being stretched for too long, but oh my, Rachel Amphlett knows what she is doing. Things take an unexpected turn, the truth is reachable, leaving tension in its way. I was worried because we all know the closer we get to the end of something, the bigger the risks. The author takes those risks and masterfully creates a web of intrigue that seems endless. Don’t think you’ll get bored chasing after thin air, you get more than a fair share of information, and surprises! I’m still not over everything that happened and I don’t think I will until I get the next book!!!

Suspect number 2: a comfortable familiarity and enough to keep you on your toes

Kay is my favorite character for a reason. She’s a cop, but she’s also the kind of woman who’ll jump at a sound in her house! Okay, if you’ve read the previous books, you know she has more reasons than us for that but still, once again, she felt real, as if we were sitting next to each other. I love her for this. And for our shared habits, like putting our favorite jeans and sweater when we’re back from work! I wondered which Kay we would get in this book, and I was relieved to find my old friend unchanged, only fired up by an urge of revenge, of justice. Yet, her humanity came through everything she did, and every decision she made. In movies, we often see main characters with a mission suddenly getting invincible and in perfect control of their emotions, as if they were locked away somewhere not to disturb the mission. To hell with that! Kay keeps here emotions and her past, she uses them to keep going, but she has limits, and this just emphasizes the authenticity and realism of the story.

Kay is not the only one I was happy to be reunited with. I want my own Adam. Her married life, the house, the pets, all those things I hoped to find again were here, immersing me in a life I passionately follow.

But not everything is pink and happy! New faces, new names faced old colleagues, old allies. This book reads itself as real life, you trust, you doubt, you try, you fail. You hate the guts of some people, and you try to contain your emotions…

Suspect Number 3: EMOTIONS ALL THE WAY

Anger? Check. Fear? Check. Exhaustion? Check. Curiosity? Check. Pain? Check. Worry? Check. Busy? Check. I could go one forever. The team gathered for a meal warmed my heart, a separation made me feel uneasy, the idea of getting a bad guy excited me to no ends. Hell to Pay is a lake with a monster under the surface, and Rachel Amphlett throws pebbles in it, sending you through hell and back, to a sleepless night to a nice evening, to a warm coffee to a high emergency situation, to awful crime scenes to the end of the world. Or so you think!

Verdict:

I cannot say anything more without giving away key information. You must stay in the dark until you get your copy! Hell to Pay is an absolutely brilliant fire-filled crime story, checking all the boxes of a police procedural, with this little X factor that makes it unique and addictive!

Get the novel here!

Rachel Amphlett is the bestselling author of the Dan Taylor espionage novels and the new Detective Kay Hunter series, as well as a number of standalone crime thrillers.
Originally from the UK and currently based in Brisbane, Australia, Rachel’s novels appeal to a worldwide audience, and have been compared to Robert Ludlum, Lee Child and Michael Crichton. She is a member of International Thriller Writers and the Crime Writers Association, with the Italian foreign rights for her debut
novel, White Gold, being sold to Fanucci Editore TIMECrime imprint in 2014, and the first four books in the Dan Taylor espionage series contracted to Germany’s Luzifer Verlag in 2017.

As featured on ABC 612 Brisbane – listen here: https://soundcloud.com/abc_radio/rachel-
amphlett-female- thriller-writer

As featured on BBC Radio Kent – listen here:

DO NOT MISS THE STOPS ON THIS TOUR, YOU WON’T BE DISAPPOINTED!!!