#BookReview ‘The Tattoo Thief’ by Alison Belsham

About the book…

A policeman on his first murder case
A tattoo artist with a deadly secret
And a twisted serial killer sharpening his blades to kill again…

When Brighton tattoo artist Marni Mullins discovers a flayed body, newly-promoted DI Francis Sullivan needs her help. There’s a serial killer at large, slicing tattoos from his victims’ bodies while they’re still alive. Marni knows the tattooing world like the back of her hand, but has her own reasons to distrust the police. So when she identifies the killer’s next target, will she tell Sullivan or go after the Tattoo Thief alone?

Prior to reviewing book 2 in the series, ‘Her Last Breath,’ I wanted to revisit Book 1, ‘The Tattoo Thief’, because a) it seemed like the perfect time to do so, the day before my blogtour spot , and b) because it is such a damn good book!

Short, sharp chapters keep the pace going from first page to last, from the discovery of a body in a wheelie bin at Brighton Pavilion’s tattoo convention, to the nail biting denouement, this is a book that has it all.

Things I really enjoyed about the story include the flawed and damaged heroine, Marni Mullins and the contrast in character between her and investigating detective, Francis Sullivan. She is trying to fly under the radar, and doesn’t really trust the police-she has very good reasons not to-but her discivery of the first victim of the killer who becomes known as ‘The Tattoo Thief’ involves her, whether she likes it not ( and boy does she not!)

A tattoo artist herself, she makes a living through her art to support her and her teen son, Alex, whilst uneasily coparenting with ex-husband Thierry. She feels a huge responsibility as the killer is attacking her community, to make sure that they are afirly represented and not marginalised, and has a great deal of dificulty doing so. ]

Francis is her polar opposite, where Marni’s past and feelings are writ large on her skin in the form of tattoos, Francis’ reliance on his Catholic faith underpins his moral compass and is very much internalised. Whilst he takes the holy communion and his god into his body, Marni and her fellow artists, write it on their skin for the world to see.

It’s a fascinating relationship which alternates between chapters from the killer’s point of view. So you develop a relationship with each of the main characters, and an understanding of their motivation, as the killings escalate and they dance around each other. The tension is like a tightrope they are all trying to maintain their balance on, killer, marni and the police alike.

And the placing of this series in Brighton makes it so vivid, and real, it feels like you are there-it’s as if the city is the skin and Alison Belsham is tattooing it with her story.It makes a brilliant backdrop to the hide and seek game the police and killer play in the hunt for corpses bearing this particular villain’s marks.

I thoroughly loved it, it was devoured in a single day to the exclusion of cooking, (sorry kids) and other activities. Discovering that this was book 1 in a series was a grand day, I am am so thrilled to be in the blogtour for ‘‘Her Last Breath’! And I also fully blame Alison for my new obsession for getting an octopus tattoo!
About the author…

Alison Belsham initially started writing with the ambition of becoming a screenwriter — and in 2000 was commended for her visual storytelling in the Orange Prize for Screenwriting. In 2001 she was shortlisted in a BBC Drama Writer competition. Life and children intervened but, switching to fiction, in 2009 her novel Domino was selected for the prestigious Adventures in Fiction mentoring scheme. In 2016 she pitched her first crime novel, The Tattoo Thief, at the Pitch Perfect event at the Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival and was judged the winner.