Nine Elms by Robert Bryndza

Being involved with a high profile case is supposed to help advance your career and set you on the fast track to detective and higher - but for Kate Marshall it turned into a disaster.  Attacked by the killer and left badly injured, she then has to suffer through the public scrutiny and criticism of her involvement with the case - and the killer.  Kate may have suffered the physical attack, but the public attack leaves her career in tatters and it takes her years to rebuild her life and shake off the after effects of the attack.  Living in a small coastal town and teaching at a local University has given her purpose, and her background as a former police officer makes her the perfect person to lecture on cold cases.

It has been fifteen years since the original Nine Elms killer was caught and sentenced for his crimes, and it seems as though someone has decided to take the case from closed and cold to open and hot.  Kate has no idea there is a copycat on the loose until a body is discovered near where she lives.  Drawn into the case by the proximity of the murder and a request from a family to help solve a cold case, Kate finds herself dragged back into a past she would rather forget.  As she digs into the past Kate gets closer and closer to the truth, and closer and closer to a deadly danger that she won't see coming.  With her past and present colliding, Kate will have to be on her guard because she may have escaped the Nine Elms killer and brought him to justice, but that is not the end of the danger.

I have read a few books from Robert Bryndza and was eager to pick up Nine Elms when I saw it at my local library - and I was not disappointed.  I have seen a few reviews that have talked the book down, but it feels like they picked up the book with different expectations about what the book would be and were therefore disappointed.  Kate was an interesting character and while she may be a little cliché in some respects that is almost always the case when you are introduced to a new character, there is only so much character development you can do in a book without drowning the reader in detail.  Bryndza created a story and background that was interesting and kept up your interest, bringing the past into the present through the cold case and memories - effective and provided clues and hints about what to look for without hitting you in the face.

Nine Elms was a great start for a series, and hopefully there will be more stories in the series, though it is not necessarily clear how the story can move forward at the moment.  Was a thoroughly engaging and enjoyable read - both for me and my senior citizen mother.

If you like this book then try:

• The girl in the ice by Robert Bryndza
• Pop goes the weasel by M.J. Arlidge 
• The surgeon by Tess Gerritsen
• One step too far by Tina Seskis
• Crimson Lake by Candice Fox
• Mercy killings by Lisa Cutts
• Cut short by Leigh Russell
• Good me bad me by Ali Land
• The slaughter man by Tony Parsons
• Darkly dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
• I've got you under my skin by Mary Higgins Clark
• City of fear by Alafair Burke
• Blood sisters by Jane Corry
• Still waters by Nigel McCrery

Reviewed by Brilla