The Huntsmen

DS Royston Chase, Book 1

By: Tony J. Forder

Narrated by: Alister Austin

Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

Book one in the DS Royston Chase series.

When DS Royston Chase is called to the scene of a fatal road collision, his task is to identify the girl who died alongside the ex-chief constable of Wiltshire Police. Paired with the bold and strident DC Claire Laney, Chase is given the task of closing the case quickly and quietly.

But when the girl’s DNA provides a familial link to a child who vanished from her home 20 years earlier, Chase and Laney refuse to accept the coincidence. The pair start looking harder at the ex-cop’s life, at which point they encounter serious opposition. Perhaps deadly serious.

Because the establishment looks after its own, and soon it’s not only their bosses getting in the way of a thorough investigation. Chase and Laney find themselves seemingly at odds with everyone, fighting to save their own reputations as well as the case. But neither will rest until they identify their young victim, no matter what the cost....

©2021 Tony Forder (P)2022 W F Howes

Critic reviews

"The author is hugely talented and ranks, in my opinion, with the likes of Peter James and Val McDermid." (Maggie James, best-selling author)

"Just a word of warning - prepare to be in tears, on the edge of your seat and gobsmacked in equal measure. A triumph!" (Liz Mistry, best-selling author)

Disappointing...Tired of Violence Against Kids

**Warning: spoilers contained

I am a huge Tony Forder fan, and I had high hopes for this. It's rare to read a good detective story featuring a sleuth with a happy home life. It's not that I am averse to complex or dark characters, after all I loved the DI Bliss series by this author. it's just that if we had a penny for every tortured, down on his luck, estranged-from-his-family police officer in crime fiction, we could probably afford an Audible credit. It's refreshing to read a story about a detective whose challenges lie in other areas.

Where I run into trouble is with is the never ceasing plot points involving the rape, abuse, torture and killing of children in crime fiction. We all know that this is a problem, and many of us who are listeners can, and do work in fields where we see the reality of this. For heaven's sake, how about a plot to have the team infiltrate a drugs gang, or take down organized crime.., anything other than the non-stop torrent of rape and abuse of women and children. Dormitories full of kids to serve a pedophile ring, where they are treated as a human farm, with members impregnating the kids so that they could eventually abuse them? I know, I know, other authors do it too, which is why it was such a disappointment. Forder is such a wonderfully gifted author, it just felt gratuitous and beneath him.

On the upside, DI Chase's partner is hilarious, I want to be her when I grow up, and the narrator was wonderful. Although I would love to see how some of the characters develop in books to come, if it's another serial killer sadistically killing kids, I'll have to give it a pass.

Good book with a great ending

I loved the narrator of this book but the book was a bit lacking in the middle. To me it dragged a bit. The ending was unexpected & exciting which made it worth reading.

Very Disturbing

This book was very disappointing and disturbing. The violence against the children too much.
I was really looking forward to listening to a new series. Not sure if I will give a second chance.

Nice display of detective work

A good amount of twist and turns . Side Step this and that with a duck and jump over this directive from superiors. Then who do you trust of the DCI .

upsetting stpry

Be careful as this had an ending that is really grim. It is about the worse kind of child abuse.