I always find it much easier to write a bad good review than a good bad one, and perhaps it's the same with novels: this is certainly more a bad good book than a good bad one (which would be much more fun to read).

First, the characters are indistinctly drawn in themselves and therefore insufficiently distinct from one another. The author refers to them by last name (fair enough), while they refer to each other by first name (again fair enough) - but long before we, the readers, have got the mental images properly straight, because

Second, the plot strands are too many and too briefly dealt with. There is a drugs shipment; a sexual encounter on the ward between a doctor and nurse; the death of one man and the escape of another on a Saturday night in Colchester; the relationship between the local police and a locally garrisoned military regiment. We are breathlessly shuffled from one of these to the next (each heading giving us location and time to the nearest 10 minutes, as if it matters for goodness' sake) without our ever properly knowing who's who or what the hell is going on. One imagines, of course, that all will come together at some point ... so one continues ruefully to check that, yes, this thing is 484 pages long ... and yet one doesn't feel like making the effort, because

Third, none of the plot strands is really good enough: the drugs shipment is lame; the doctor and nurse are unappealing characters, insofar as they are characters at all (the fact that the nurse is our hero's wife induces only a yawn); the death of the squaddie just isn't exciting or intriguing, and regarding the prickly relations between cops and soldiers, rendered through the medium of a shared interest in boxing of all things: frankly, who cares?

I tried, I really did, but nope, this was just a trial from beginning to the point at which I realised that life is too short. I haven't time to waste on the likes of the bore that is DI Nick Lowry, his unpleasant wife or his dull existence.

'The first DI Nick Lowry thriller' trumpets the dust jacket. I'd be thrilled if it was his last. ( )

Mr Henry's novel has taken a pasting from some reviews, but I enjoyed it. Thought it was a good detective story, my only criticism being the Morse-esque chief super; which was a bit predictable. ( )

DI Nick Lowry has a lot on his plate this New Year. His wife is distant and behaving erratically, he has the death of a soldier from the local barracks, the discovery of a headless corpse on Mersea Island and the murder of two men in a house in Colchester. All the events seem to be linked with the import of a very strong batch of amphetamines from Germany.

I did really like the whole sense of time and place in this book. Set just after the Falklands War in Essex, the references to culture of the 80s were spot on. The descriptions of Mersea Island and the bleak mudflats were extremely evocative and the brutal, sexist nature of policing was realistic. However the story itself never really grabbed me and it took me a while to plough through the book. I don't understand why, the plot was interesting and the setting good but it never grabbed me and left me a little cold. ( )

I always find it much easier to write a bad good review than a good bad one, and perhaps it's the same with novels: this is certainly more a bad good book than a good bad one (which would be much more fun to read).

First, the characters are indistinctly drawn in themselves and therefore insufficiently distinct from one another. The author refers to them by last name (fair enough), while they refer to each other by first name (again fair enough) - but long before we, the readers, have got the mental images properly straight, because

Second, the plot strands are too many and too briefly dealt with. There is a drugs shipment; a sexual encounter on the ward between a doctor and nurse; the death of one man and the escape of another on a Saturday night in Colchester; the relationship between the local police and a locally garrisoned military regiment. We are breathlessly shuffled from one of these to the next (each heading giving us location and time to the nearest 10 minutes, as if it matters for goodness' sake) without our ever properly knowing who's who or what the hell is going on. One imagines, of course, that all will come together at some point ... so one continues ruefully to check that, yes, this thing is 484 pages long ... and yet one doesn't feel like making the effort, because

Third, none of the plot strands is really good enough: the drugs shipment is lame; the doctor and nurse are unappealing characters, insofar as they are characters at all (the fact that the nurse is our hero's wife induces only a yawn); the death of the squaddie just isn't exciting or intriguing, and regarding the prickly relations between cops and soldiers, rendered through the medium of a shared interest in boxing of all things: frankly, who cares?

I tried, I really did, but nope, this was just a trial from beginning to the point at which I realised that life is too short. I haven't time to waste on the likes of the bore that is DI Nick Lowry, his unpleasant wife or his dull existence.

'The first DI Nick Lowry thriller' trumpets the dust jacket. I'd be thrilled if it was his last. ( )

I am writing this review after receiving a copy of the book through RealReaders. This is the first book written by the author under the James Henry by-line - he is also known as James Gurbutt and has written three prequels to the popular ‘Frost’ series. Blackwater is a story is set in the same period - 1983 - but features Detective Inspector Nick Lowry. There is a similarity in style - Lowry’s immediate boss CS Stephen Sparks is rather a caricature of an 80’s old-style copper with his misogynistic views and his slightly sadistic attitude toward getting a confession from a low-life criminal, whilst simultaneously giving the ‘nod’ to another member of that fraternity who passes on useful information.

The book is set in the garrison town of Colchester; it is New Year and the weather is as bleak as the countryside surrounding the town. The descriptions of the estuaries and the marshlands, colourless and windswept, set the tone for the whole book, whilst the characters are as hard as the town itself.

The story is one of a drug deal gone wrong, with murder and mayhem as the result, and the man to sort it all out is Nick Lowry - a left-over mod with a sharp brain and a quick intelligence who leaves everyone else behind in the search for the truth. A boxer turned birdwatcher, who is trying to give up smoking (for reasons that are not clearly defined), he has the obligatory difficult relationship with his wife and son.

So far, so good; the problem for me was that I didn’t really like any of the characters - goodies or baddies - which meant that I had very little sympathy for any of them. For me, there were far too many characters with side-plots that cluttered up the main storyline and left me somewhat confused. The cover to the book announced it as ‘The First DI Nick Lowry Thriller’ and I did get the impression that Mr. Henry was setting the scene for later books a lot of the time. Adding to the confusion, a lot of the characters were variously called by their first name, their last name and their nickname, throughout the book. Like a lot of people, my fairly busy life means that I usually read in ‘bites’, but I can always follow a good story; but I don’t like having to constantly go back to see who was being beaten up this time! This book had me floundering at times, trying to work out who was dead, who was alive and who was on the run. And at the end …..I still wasn’t 100% sure, although I had worked out the ‘twist’ well beforehand.

However, now that the author has his background out of the way, and we have met the cast of characters for the series, the next books could well be a whole lot better. I’m certainly not writing them off, and will read book two when it comes out. If I could have given this one 3.5 stars I would have, but I’m afraid it has to settle for three. ( )