Thank you Netgalley and Zaffre for the eARC of this book for free. This review is my honest opinion and strictly voluntary.
This is the latest book in the Jane Tennison series by author Lynda La Plante, but the first I’ve read in the Tennison series. I also have not seen Prime Suspect. While I’ve not read the other books in the series, I didn’t feel like I was terribly lost.
Jane and her partner, Spencer Gibbs, are investigating the brutal murder of Charles Foxley, an entertainment representative with many enemies. His ex-wife quickly becomes a suspect. There are many other potential suspects and it’s an arduous investigation.
Prior to this investigation, Jane had been a member of the Flying Squad and had gotten kicked off the team as a result of an incident during an arrest. Now that she’s working in a local precinct, she feels a bit unsure of herself and her abilities so she starts taking shooting lessons at the suggestion of a friend. Her instructor, Elliott, is a bit harsh and they exchange words a couple of times.
I found the writing a bit clunky at times and the storyline a bit slow, especially at the beginning while she’s developing her characters. After that, it pulled me in and I enjoyed the different twists this story took.
( )

This is the sixth book in a series which explores the early years of Jane Tennison’s career with the Metropolitan Police, building up a backstory to explain how she became the tough, single-minded DCI we got to know from the original three Prime Suspect books, as well as from the highly successful spin-off television series. At the start of this story Jane is now 30 and has been a serving police officer for eight years. On a daily basis she continues to be subjected to misogynistic and sexist behaviour from many of her male colleagues, attitudes which, she believes, led to her recent demotion from the Flying Squad. In her current posting she’s frustrated by the tedium of dealing with only low-level crimes, but will helping to investigate the murder of Charlie Foxley enable her to get her career back on track?
The team’s investigation takes place against the background of a successful theatrical agency, in the heart of London’s Soho, and it isn’t long before Jane and her colleagues are exposed to the rather sleazy underbelly of the show-biz industry. The author’s portrayal of this world felt very convincing – probably because it’s a world she’s very familiar with! As the story unfolds various suspects abound and secrets are uncovered, with each revelation adding yet more twists, turns and red-herrings to the complexity of the investigation. However, I did find that much of the plotting was rather obvious and this lack of nuance was something I found increasingly disappointing and frustrating, especially as I’d guessed who the murderer was long before he appeared on the ‘radar’ of Jane and her colleagues!
Although I could admire the many ways in which the author evoked a powerful sense of time and place in her portrayal of the challenges faced by women in the police force during the 1980s, often being relegated to the more menial, administrative aspects of any investigations, there were many other aspects of her storytelling which disappointed me. I found it repetitive and overly descriptive in parts, with far too much ‘telling’ rather than ‘showing’. I think that this slowed the pacing of the plot-development, resulting in a lack of any of the escalating tension I expect from a crime novel ... it also meant that I often found my attention wandering, finding it hard to retain much interest in wanting to discover whether I’d correctly identified the murderer! I think the story would have been improved by some extra editing – starting with the removal of far, far too many descriptions of all those visits to the canteen and the endless minutiae of what everyone ordered and ate, including whether or not sandwiches were fresh or stale! I’ve enjoyed some of this author’s books in the past but, being totally honest, had I not agreed to review this one, I think I’d probably have given up on it after about a hundred pages.
From the several loose ends which were left hanging it seemed clear that another book in the series will follow. This was confirmed when I turned the last page of this one and discovered the opening chapter of the next instalment of Jane’s story, due to be published in August of this year. I didn’t read it (I never read such ‘trailers’ as I find them too frustrating!) but have asked myself whether I’ll be tempted to read the book when it’s available? Sadly, I think it’s unlikely that I’ll be able to summon up the enthusiasm to do so.
With my thanks to NB and the publisher for my review copy in exchange for my honest opinion – I just wish it could have been a more positive one. ( )

Blunt Force is the first book that I've read by Lynda La Plante, and probably won't be the last. Thank you BookishFirst for the opportunity to read the advanced copy.

Detective Jane Tennisons career is slowly falling flat with only petty crimes since being removed from the Flying Squad and placed in a small and sleepy police station in the wealthy town of Knightsbridge, until the most brutal murder of the big-time showbiz agent, Charlie Foxley was found viciously beaten to death, his body dismembered and disembowelled.

This book is not a thriller, but a slow paced, gritty police procedural which Jane teams up with her old friend DS Spencer Gibbs to find the killer before they strike again! ( )

BLUNT FORCE by Lynda La Plante is the 6th book in the Jane Tennison series.
These books chronicle Jane’s early years on the Force and her rise as one of the first female Detective Chief Inspectors in the London area.
Ms. La Plante is an excellent writer of crime drama and police procedurals. Her work as scriptwriter for Masterpiece Theater’s PRIME SUSPECT series won her much-deserved respect and acclaim.
In BLUNT FORCE, Charlie Foxley, a big-time show business agent, is found brutally murdered. Jane has been floundering and very worried about her career at this new posting at a small, ‘sleepy’ station in Knightsbridge. She works very hard sorting through the complexities of the case and constant prejudice against female officers.
The plot was interesting and tense. The characters were very devious and we get a glimpse of the ‘plodding’ nature of routine police work. A sub-plot concerns Jane’s previous posting at the ‘Flying Squad’.
A great addition to the series. **** ( )

Several months ago I read one of Lynda LaPlante’s books from the “DC Jack Warr” series and thought it had potential but was just a smidge above OK. Then a few weeks ago when I was taking as break from reading and flipping channels I came across an installment of Detective Sergeant Jane Tennison on PBS that was well done and held my attention. I found “Blunt Force” on my digital library, it looked interesting and thought “why not?!”

Bearing in mind that this is a series and while this book is number six and can be read as a stand alone I felt I would have been better served to have read one of the more recent previous installments as the references at times were oblique. It is an interesting crime drama if a bit wordy and overly descriptive. Her characters are well drawn and it is easy to respect and distrust in equal measure. One thing that is abundantly clear is how much time and effort goes into a successful crime investigation. ( )