Because She Looked Away (Ronnie Blake Book One) by Alison Bruce

 

Because She Looked Away (Ronnie Blake Book One) by Alison Bruce.

Published 26th September 2024 by Constable.

From the cover of the book:

After the sudden death of her sister, devastated detective DS Ronnie Blake relocates to Cambridge to help her brother Alex raise their sister's young son, Noah. She reports for her first day but instead finds herself being questioned by a special investigations unit, nicknamed the DEAD Team.

With a small group of six, led by DI Fenton, the once-successful DEAD team has a single outstanding case, Operation Byron, and the failure to resolve it threatens the unit's existence. Their most promising lead is an anonymous note linking three seemingly unconnected people: a convicted fraudster, a dead academic... and Ronnie's sister Jodie.

When Ronnie is denied information about Operation Byron, she follows a lead slipped to her by Malachi, the youngest member of the team, and makes a discovery which links Operation Byron to a disturbing unsolved murder. She is rapidly drawn into an intricate web of deceit, buried secrets and tragedy and the discovery that her connection to Cambridge is far darker than she could ever have guessed.

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Still reeling from the sudden death of her sister, DS Ronnie Blake relocates to Cambridge to help her brother, Alex, raise the son she left behind, eight-year-old Noah. Ronnie knows this is going to bring big changes on the personal and professional fronts, but she does not expect her first day with the Cambridgeshire police force to be quite so strange.

Rather than getting back to work, Ronnie is called in to answer questions about her sister's death as part of Operation Byron, an extortion investigation being conducted by a special unit nicknamed the DEAD team. She is then unceremoniously sent home to await approval to recommence active duties.

Ronnie refuses to be kept in the dark about what her sister's death could possibly have to do with a spate of bizarre blackmail cases. Her persistence results in the new member of the team, Malachi, passing her a tip-off about three seemingly unconnected names that have been sent anonymously to the investigative team - one of them being the name of her sister. 

It is not long before Ronnie uncovers a lead which appears to connect Operation Byron to a shocking local murder, and she is seconded to the DEAD team to help with the investigation - with strict instructions not to venture into territory about her own sister's possible part in the case. But Ronnie, never known for her ability to work well with others, is determined to find out exactly why her sister died. She is unprepared for the dark secrets and lies she discovers in Cambridge's leafy environs - and quite what they mean for her own family...

This is the first part in a new crime series set in Cambridge by Alison Bruce, featuring DS Ronnie Blake. We meet Ronnie at a difficult time in her life when she is trying to adjust to taking on the unfamiliar role of co-parent to her young nephew, Noah, while also having to get used to living in a new city and beginning a new job.

If all this was not enough to cope with, Ronnie is thrown into the deep end of a difficult case that no one wants, within a team struggling for its own survival - not to mention one which gives her a whole new perspective on the death of her sister. Ronnie is not a team player, so suddenly having to work closely with a small group of officers she does not know is less than ideal, but unexpectedly she finds herself striking up a working relationship with young DC Malachi Henry, who is newly appointed to the team and still feels something of an outsider. It is a match made in heaven, and I loved how their relationship develops over the course of the story, with eager, wise-beyond-his-years, hot chocolate-loving Malachi knocking off some of the hard edges Ronnie has cultivated over the course of her career, as they go about giving Operation Byron the impetus it needs to reach a conclusion.

This is not your average police procedural, as it gives a fascinating oblique view of the workings of a force mired in tricky internal politics, with clashing personalities and complicated boundary issues, through the eyes of a tiny, specialst team desperate to prove themselves. Loose cannon Ronnie is caught between loyalties she does not fully understand, with an agenda of her own, and this feeds into all the beautifully wielded threads of mystery that run through the story. The Cambridge setting is so atmospheric, the pacing and build up of tension are spot-on, and Bruce knows how to create oodles of misdirection to have you casting a suspicious eye at practically every character when it comes to the chilling truth that lies behind a tangled web of dark deeds. 

Bruce explores lovely, wide-ranging themes in this book, examining different sides of family relationships; how much we really know about those close to us; ambition; corruption; academia; sexual violence; grief; and personal responsibility. The characters are well drawn, and she uses them nicely to evoke a whole range of keenly felt emotions - particularly when it comes to Ronnie and the way she is finally able to process the loss of her sister. Her relationship with Noah and her brother Alex, much like the budding partnership she forges with Malachi, provide much needed warmth to cut through the darker parts of the story too.

This is my first Alison Bruce novel and I am mightily impressed. I was drawn in from page one and remained completely absorbed right to the final page. What a cracking start to a new series - I cannot wait for book two! 

Because She Looked Away is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.

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

About the author:

Alison Bruce is the author of eight crime novels and two non-fiction titles. Her first novel, Cambridge Blue (2008), was described by Publishers Weekly as an ‘assured debut’ and introduced both detective, DC Gary Goodhew, and her trademark Cambridge setting. She went on to complete the DC Goodhew series with a further six novels before writing the psychological thriller I Did It for Us.

Alison Bruce was born in Croydon and grew up in Wiltshire before moving to Cambridgeshire in 1998. Alison worked as an electroplater, taxi driving and band promoter and spent ten years working in the IT industry before leaving to concentrate on completing her first novel.

Alison is a proud supporter of local libraries and is the patron of Lakenheath Library in Suffolk. Alison teaches creative writing at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge.