Every week I spot crime novels in bookshops, supermarkets and elsewhere or I’m invited by publishers to read the latest in the “Detective Xyz” series or to “enjoy” a new murder mystery, most of them with the same old cliched, usually hard drinking, divorced detective working alone. At some point our hero will be beaten up but, fortunately, after a double dose of pain killers, several cups of coffee and a hot shower and he’s good to go.

This is not that story (although a lot of coffee is drunk).

In ‘The Common Enemy’ the author has written a devastatingly topical story set in Middlesbury, England, about hatred, murder, extremism, the misuse of social media, the politicising of  crime and the impact of police cuts.

No cliches, no irritatingly obvious storyline, just a well written, well researched book with realistic characters. A truly outstanding “police procedural” based around the murder of a far right activist protesting against the opening of a new Mosque and with just the right amount of human interest to help the reader get to know the individuals involved, but not so much their personalities get in the way of the storyline.

Gripping right to the very last page. I’ve just ordered the rest of the series.