The Domino Killer by Neil While is the third in the’JOE & SAM PARKER series’ based in Manchester, but this was my introduction to the Parker brothers. I can say that you do not need to have read the previous books as The Domino Killer is able to stand on its own as an exciting crime thriller with some wonderful twists. Neil White has written a very clever book that hooks you from the first page and you cannot help yourself as you cannot put this book down.
The Parker brothers work within the criminal justice system in Greater Manchester, Joe is a criminal defence lawyer with a stellar reputation and Sam is a detective in the Major Incident Team in Manchester which includes murder. Both work within the system as they want to find the answers to the unsolved murder of their younger sister Ellie some seventeen years previously and whether they can ever solve that mystery and set their own minds at ease for finally getting justice for her.
The book opens with a bloody murder in a park on the outskirts of Manchester which was quite brutal and Sam is trying to work out what happened and why. When a fingerprint of the victim turned up at a previous unconnected murder the domino effect begins to take place. With another murder in another part of Manchester nothing seems to make sense but only when murder has taken place do things start to fall in to place for Sam.
Joe is called out to a Police Station to represent a client who has been arrested for stealing and burning his own car but will not say why. When Joe meets his client Joe is sure he has seen this person before and is it really a coincident that he has requested him as his lawyer. Joe knows he needs to investigate himself further about this mysterious client he has and in the vain hope he can get some answers.
Joe’s client really is the bogey man and is at the heart of this thriller and how he acts is very calculated and enough to send a shiver down most spines. Throughout the thriller you look at his client and wonder how he can be so charming yet so evil and his complete disregard for his own wife.
As the thriller picks up pace you really think that things cannot get any worse for the Parker brothers as they chase the truth and the twisted central character seems to be able to get away with whatever he chooses. The clever thing about this thriller there are plenty of twists some of which you can see coming but others really surprise you.
The Domino Killer is an excellent crime thriller that can be read as a standalone book that delivers on all levels for the reader. With a really twisted character at the heart of the book and the relationship of the Parker brothers makes for a really pulsating read. Neil White’s writing is excellent at the way he is able to draw you in and leave you wanting more, hoping for the best but expecting the worse.
Read the The Domino Killer and immerse yourself in the lives of the Parker Brothers as they race to solve the case and end their own mystery of seventeen years. This really is a fantastic read that drives you mad because you cannot put the book down and leaves you wanting more.