The Chemist by Lewis Hastings

The terrorist organisation, The Seventh Wave, have previously been captured and imprisoned by the police. But now Romanian criminal Constantin Nicolescu has been released from Belmarsh Prison…

When DCI Jason Roberts’s wife is horrifically murdered, emails received by the Metropolitan Police seem to suggest Jason himself was the killer. But he was set up. Can Jack Cade and his team discover what really happened and who is responsible? Can they stop the man who calls himself The Chemist?

Wow, this one is an exciting read! It is thrilling, a real page-turner and at times very brutal, so be warned if you’re a bit squeamish. It’s a complicated plot at times, a thick book to read (530 pages) and is in a print a bit smaller than my eyes would have liked, so it did take a few days to read, but what a few days they were! I felt like I’d ran around London several times myself, it was quite exhausting!

The characters are great and although the police team comprises quite a cast, you soon get to know them all, as they are described really well. It is also hard to write a unique villain, as so many books and films have come up with amazing, horrific, charismatic baddies. But here again, Lewis Hastings has invented a real BAD bad guy, but with charisma, flair and originality. Though, believe me, you wouldn’t want to meet him in a dark alley. (The bad guy, not Lewis Hastings, who I am sure is lovely.)

Overall, this book is great, Lewis is a talented writer and I’d recommend it.

But, as they used to say at the end of Crimewatch – don’t have nightmares!