★★★
SYNOPSIS:
In the first of the Burrowhead Mysteries, an atmospheric murder investigation unearths the brutal history of a village where long buried secrets threaten a small community.
When psychotherapist Alexis Cosse is found murdered in the playground of the sleepy norther village of Burrowhead, the local police force of Georgie, Trish and Simon investigate.
Leads take them from Alexis' recent clients to local bullies, exposing a maelstrom of racism, misogyny and homophobia simmering beneath the surface of the village.
Shaken by the revelation and beginning to doubt her relationship with her husband, Georgie soon realises that she's out of her depth. Meanwhile someone, or something, equally threatening is hiding in the strange, haunted cave beneath the cliffs...
(Taken from Goodreads)
MY THOUGHTS:
The world of Burrowhead is a warm and friendly neighbourhood on the surface but has a brutal history which Sedgwick explores deeply in this novel. She also creates a chilling atmosphere with her in depth descriptions in all aspects of the landscape. I loved how realistically she portrayed a small village in the countryside where casual racism and homophobia are prominent due to lack of diversity and lack of new experiences. With this book, Sedgwick challenges those underlying community beliefs in a thought-provoking manner.
The story starts with a vague and spooky account from an unknown character in the haunted cave and is weaved throughout the novel. This continually builds suspense and I was dying to get some answers to my never ending list of questions. I found this character very interesting, especially it being written as a first-person narrative but having no idea about the character itself.
The murder of Alexis Cosse shakes up the entire village and leads to more trouble as DI Georgie Stracham and the police team try and find answers. From then on, we uncover some of the village history that everyone has seemed to bury. I really enjoyed reading about the murder investigation and all of the characters we get to meet along the way. I particularly loved the main character, Georgie, and the fact that she was head of the police team in Burrowhead and was a strong, likeable and determined character.
Throughout the novel, we experience every character's perspective which I found very interesting, although it became more complex to read. The way the perspectives switched so carefully from character to character felt as though I was seeing the story from a bird's eye view, looking down at the village and watching how everyone's story intertwined. Although, this sometimes proved to be a bit confusing, so you will need to pay close attention!
I found this novel to be an intriguing read, one where I got swept up in the mystery and drama of the small village. If you are looking for an atmospheric thriller with likeable characters and a murder investigation, then look no further.
Thank you to Helen Sedgwick, Anne Carter and Point Blank Books for allowing me to read this book ahead of publication and for including me in the #WhenTheDeadComeCalling Blog Tour.
AUTHOR:
Helen Sedgwick is the author of The Comet Seekers (Harvill Secker, 2016) and The Growing Season (Harvill Secker, 2017).
Helen has an MLitt in Creative Writing from Glasgow University and has won a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award. Her debut novel has been published in seven countries including the UK, US and Canada, and was selected as one of the best books of 2016 by The Herald and Glamour. She is represented by Cathryn Summerhayes of Curtis Brown.
As a literary editor, Helen has worked as the managing director of Cargo Publishing and managing editor of Gutter, and she founded Wildland Literary Editors in 2012. Before that, Helen was a research physicist with a PhD in Physics from Edinburgh University.
You can find Helen Sedgwick:
Twitter: @helensedgwick
Instagram: @helensedgwickauthor
You can buy When The Dead Come Calling on Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Whitehorn-Cave-Helen-Sedgwick/dp/1786075695