The Blurb
Was it suicide … or murder?
When teenager Nick Buckingham tumbles from the fifth floor of an apartment block, Detective Sergeant Solomon Gray answers the call with a sick feeling in his stomach. The victim was just a kid, sixteen years old. And the exact age the detective’s son, Tom, would’ve been, had he not gone missing at a funfair ten years ago. Each case involving children haunts Gray with the reminder that his son may still be out there – or worse, dead. The seemingly open and shut case of suicide twists into a darker discovery. Buckingham and Gray have never met, so why is Gray’s number on the dead teenager’s mobile phone?
With his boss, Detective Inspector Yvonne Hamson, Gray begins to unravel a murky world of abuse, lies, and corruption. An investigator from the Met is called in to assist, setting the local police on edge. And when the body of Reverend David Hill is found shot to death in the vestry of Gray’s old church, Gray wonders how far the depravity stretches and who might be next. Nothing seems connected, and yet there is one common thread: Detective Sergeant Solomon Gray, himself. As the bodies pile up, Gray must face his own demons. Crippled by loss but determined to find the truth, Gray takes the first step on the long road of redemption.
Set in the once grand town of Margate in the south of England, the now broken and depressed seaside resort becomes its own character in this dark detective thriller. Dig Two Graves is the first book in a series featuring Detective Sergeant Solomon Gray. The crime series is perfect for fans of Ian Rankin, Stuart MacBride, and Peter James.
BookieWookie Review
Have I just stumbled upon a new Detective series?? ……..I think I bloody well have!!!
Dig Two Graves by Keith Nixon is the first book in the DS Solomon ‘Sol’ Gray series, and really sets the scene for what could be a great addition to the genre. I only received my copy of this yesterday lunchtime, and I absolutely flew through it. As an introductory novel it is nice and short and certainly packs a punch with which the reader is drawn into the world of Sol Gray.
Gray is clearly an individual who carries his demons around with him after the abduction of his son and death of his wife. He’s a guy that seems to take great pride in rubbing authority figures up the wrong way, and kind of reminded me of Rankin’s Rebus (another great character). All in all, he’s a decent guy who’s been dealt a really shitty hand in life. The other characters in the book are all very well written with differing qualities and it was certainly nice to see Gray start to build some form of relationships by the end of the book.
Special mention to the writing style of Nixon, which I found to be wonderfully descriptive, putting me right into the scene. It’s an area of Britain that I have never visited, but I had no problems building the location into my head, which I found really helped me to get into the story.
The story itself revolves around an apparent suicide, that soon builds into a multiple murder case. As the investigation continues we soon realise that foul play is most definitely afoot, but is the suicide connected to the other murders?? Without giving anything away, I was definitely blindsided on this one as I definitely did not see it coming!!
As the book progresses we see Sol Gray reach some real low points and my hope for future books in the series is that it leaves only one way for Sol to go……Up!! I think it is a credit to the writing that I had a great deal of empathy towards Sol, and I really want to see him battle his demons and come out the other end with a sense of hope and happiness.
As an introduction to a series and set of characters, I was really impressed. I believe the 2nd book in the series is due for release in early December and I will most definitely be adding that one to my TBR list. I’ll also make a point of checking out the other works of Keith Nixon, now that he is firmly on my radar!!
I would like to thank Keith Nixon and BE – eBooks for an ARC copy in return for a fair and balanced review.
BookieWookie Rating – 4.5/5
BookieWookie 