The Broken Afternoon (DI Ryan Wilkins Book Two) by Simon Mason

 

The Broken Afternoon (DI Ryan Wilkins Book Two) by Simon Mason.

Published 2nd February 2023 by Quercus.

From the cover of the book:

A SHOCKING DISAPPEARANCE

A four-year-old girl goes missing in plain sight outside her nursery in Oxford, a middle-class, affluent area, her mother only a stones-throw away.

A TRIGGERING RESPONSE

Ryan Wilkins, one of the youngest ever Detective Inspectors in the Thames Valley force, dishonourably discharged three months ago, watches his former partner DI Ray Wilkins deliver a press conference, confirming a lead.

A DARK WEB

Ray begins to delve deeper, unearthing an underground network of criminal forces in the local area. But while Ray's investigation stalls Ryan brings his unique talents to unofficial and quite illegal inquiries which will bring him into a confrontation with the very officials who have thrown him out of the force.

***********

In a leafy, affluent part of Oxford, four-year-old Poppy Clark vanishes from outside her nursery school, while her mother's back is turned.

Rising star on the Thames Valley force, DI Ray Wilkins has the unenviable task of directing the search for Poppy. The press conference he handles exudes confidence in the ability of the police to locate Poppy safely, but in reality there is very little to go on. 

Ray's former partner, the brilliant, but unpredictable Ryan Wilkins, watches the investigation from a distance. He was dishonourably discharged from the force three months earlier, a victim of his volatile temper, but the chance of reinstatement has been dangled in front of him, if he can keep his nose clean. This is something Ryan struggles with - especially when he has a hunch about something that keeps pecking away at his conscience. 

While Ray's investigation grinds to a halt, Ray is busy behind the scenes putting the pieces of more than one puzzle together, despite the risk this poses to his second chance... and trouble is brewing.

The Broken Afternoon is the second instalment in the series that introduced the partnership of DIs Wilkins and Wilkins (no relation) of the Thames Valley police force in A Killing in November. I am sorry to not have read the first book, because The Broken Afternoon is the best contemporary police procedural I have read in a very long time.

I will admit to doing a double take when I began reading this story, because both crime-busting protagonists have the same surname of Wilkins, but it soon becomes clear that they are very different individuals indeed. Ray is the smooth, confident face of the police force, with his good looks, charm, and expensive education. Ray has ambition, and likes to do things by the book, but behind the cool facade he is struggling to get his head around imminent fatherhood and all the demands of a relationship in trouble, while he has the responsibility of solving a very difficult, and emotive case. On the flip side, single father Ryan comes from the wrong side of the tracks. He is a mass of contradictions, and quick to anger, which has led to his downfall as the former youngest ever DI on the Thames Valley force. However, he is a loving father to his three-year-old son Young Ryan - the only job he feels he has ever done well in his life. They make an unlikely, and somewhat reluctant partnership, but their talents complement each other well, and Ryan's uncanny knack at ferreting out leads works to Ray's advantage in this story. Ray is a tricky character to like, but Ryan is curiously vulnerable, and endearing, even given his propensity to fury. My favourite character of them all however, is Young Ryan who has a wise head on his young shoulders.

I was hooked from page one, and spent the rest of the story with my heart in my mouth. I could not rest until I had worked through every beautifully contrived twist and turn Mason threw at me, which meant consuming the whole book in a single sitting. This investigation covers difficult and distressing subjects around abuse, and paedophilia, and there are more than a few moments that are very tough to read among the unsavoury platter of acts Mason forces you to confront. However, the main focus of this book is actually the relationship between Wilkins and Wilkins, and Mason does a brilliant job of comparing and contrasting their different investigative styles, and lifestyle choices, as they go about solving crime in parallel. 

The pacing of this mystery is pitched to absolute perfection, and Mason keeps you guessing right to the very end of the story with his masterful plotting. Throughout he threads meaty themes of that examine facets of fatherhood and the weight of expectation with sharp insight, leading you on through reckonings and poignant reconciliations that pack a forceful emotional punch. Outstanding!

I cannot tell you how darned good the ending of this book is for fear of spoilers, but I can say that as soon as I closed the cover I immediately ordered myself a copy of A Killing in November... and pre-ordered book three, Lost and Never Found, which is due in January 2024. If Simon Mason is not already on your crime story loving radar, then he should be.

The Broken Afternoon is available to buy now in hard cover, ebook, and audio formats.

Thank you to Quercus for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

About the author:

Simon Mason is a writer of fiction. At first he wrote books for adults, then books for children, which grew up at roughly the same rate his own children grew up, and now he is back writing books for adults again.

His latest novels are crime thrillers. The first, A Killing in November, was published in January 2022. It is followed by The Broken Afternoon.

He is currently RLF Fellow at Exeter College, Oxford.