#BlogTour ‘Don’t Let Him In’ by Howard Linskey

About the book…

‘Dark, creepy and compelling, with the claustrophobic sense of a killer waiting around every corner’ T.M. Logan

Eriston is a small town.

It’s the kind of place where everyone knows your name – and your secrets.

Rebecca hasn’t been back in years, but she grew up in the shadow of the dark local legend. There have always been deaths in Eriston – more than can easily be explained. People dying in their houses, behind locked doors.

Her father, Sean had always warned her of the dangers. Don’t let him in.

When Rebecca returns, she discovers that her father wasn’t willing to let the legend lie. He was on the verge of uncovering the town’s darkest truth.

He thought he was on the trail of a killer.

Sean knew too much. Now he’s dead.
And Rebecca could be next…

‘Dark, sinister, clever and creepy. Keeps you guessing right to the very end’ Neil Lancaster

Hugest of thanks to the wonderful Sriya from Penguin Michael Joseph for the blog tour invite, and the gifted review copy of Howard Linskey’s ‘Don’t Let Him In’ which is published in ebook, paperback and audiobook from May 13th.

Apologies for the delay in reviewing, I am playing catch-up as best as I can and can say that though this is my first book by this author, I will be quickly seeking out his back catalogue.

He neatly encapsulates the insular and almost claustrophobic nature of isolated towns, towns which are now dying out from a combination of industry’s death rattle and gentrification.

This one is no exception, if not for the death of her father, editor of the town paper and journalist, Rebecca would probably not have come back to the town of Eriston.

But what looks like a straightforward heart attack gives her pause for thought-what was her father doing going through the archives of the newspaper?

His house, the last unsold building of the four Apostles, standing above the town is like a relic from another time-it is a house not a home and shows that her father has not really lived here. It has been a stopping point, run down, covered with his work which, in the absence of a family and the gradual moving of news from print to web has left him adrift in cases of the past.

Cases like that of the Eriston Rose.

And of newspaper reporter Katherine, whose body was found by Rebecca and her father.

With these seemingly closed cases prickling her conscience, Rebecca, having lost her job as a reporter in London decides to stay and look into not only her father’s death, but the death rate in Eriston as a whole. Which is alarmingly high, higher than the national average in fact, so why has no one picked up on this before?

Her investigative sense tingling, she sets to work interviewing the residents, including detective Hall who personally arrested the local ‘simpleton’, for Katherine and Rose’s deaths. He warns her she is messing in things best left alone, and obviously, having never seen the effect this has in films or tv, this pushes Rebecca even harder to work out just what is going on.

Whilst there are seemingly rational explanations for the missing and the murdered women who litter the front pages of the newspaper before becoming chip paper, the flimsiest of excuses has been used to lock away boyfriends, husbands and so forth.

In fact, this has developed into a sort of local boogeyman, the Chameleon, driving a police campaign called ‘Don’t Let Him In’.

But what if he is already inside your house?

Between her ex-boyfriend, the local property developer who is desperate to buy her home,detective Hall and Constable Dominic, she is falling over potential suspects but where is the proof?

A nail biting investigation which comes closer and closer to the isolated Apostle, the trope of a woman in terror has been subverted into a determined, tenancious woman who uses the murders to distract herself from the grieving process in order to make sense of what appears illogical.

The disposability of women, the casual blaming of the local oddball, or alternately, their partners seems too obvious to be true and the dark, pulsating heart of the case appears to be fuelled by not just being able to get away with it, but continuing to get away with it.

Has the Chameleon met his,or her, match?

Who is trying to scare Rebecca away?

Will she reconcile her feelings about her father and her complex feelings about Eriston?

Grab yourself a copy of ‘Don’t Let Him In’ and find out!

About the author…

Howard Linskey is a best-selling author of crime and historical fiction published in seven countries. His debut novel ‘The Drop’ was voted one of the Top Five Thrillers of the Year by the Times newspaper and ‘The Damage‘ was voted one of its top summer reads. His David Blake series was optioned for TV by Harry Potter producer, David Barron.

Howard writes a series of north-east set, crime fiction novels for Penguin Random House featuring investigative journalists Tom Carney and Helen Norton, as well as Detective Sergeant Ian Bradshaw.

His historical novels are set in WW2. ‘Hunting the Hangman‘ tells the story of the assassination of Nazi general and architect of the Holocaust, Reinhard Heydrich in Prague in 1942. ‘Ungentlemanly Warfare‘ follows SOE agent Harry Walsh into occupied France.

Originally from the north east of England, Howard now lives in Herts with his wife Alison and daughter Erin.

Howard was featured on CBS Reality true crime TV series ‘Written In Blood’

Links-http://www.howardlinskey.co.uk/

Twitter @HowardLinskey @MichaelJBooks @