Bad to the Bone

Publisher's Summary

A skeletal body is unearthed in a wooded area of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire. DI James Bliss, together with DC Penny Chandler, investigates the case and discovers that the young female victim had been relocated from her original burial site. A witness is convinced that a young female was struck by a vehicle back in the summer of 1990 and that police attended the scene. However, no record exists of either the accident or the reported victim. 

As the case develops, two retired police officers are murdered. The two are linked with others who were on duty at the time a road accident was reported. As Bliss and Chandler delve deeper into the investigation, they start to question whether senior officers may have been involved in the murder of the young women who was buried in the woods. As each link in the chain is put under duress, so is Bliss, who clashes with superiors and the media. When his team receives targeted warnings, Bliss will need to decide whether to drop the case or to pursue those responsible. 

Will Bliss walk away in order to keep his career intact, or will he fight no matter what the cost? And is it possible the killer is much closer than they imagined?

©2017 Tony Forder (P)2018 W. F. Howes Ltd

A Very Pleasant Surprise..!!

This book was a very pleasant surprise.
I had no expectations from this author as I had not run across his work before.
It was well crafted, with a good strong narration...I will be buying the next in this series..

9 of 9 people found this review helpful

Good Listen

Keeps you hanging on for a twisting ride. Each turn ties a twisted knot of suspense.

9 of 9 people found this review helpful

Terrific New Series

A relative newcomer to Audible,Tony J Forder has produced one of the best new series I have listened to in some time.

Although we have seen the old copper up against the new style of policing theme before, Forder skillfully develops his characters with an excellent narrative woven around a complex and interesting story that holds the listeners attention throughout. Gratuitous violence and unbelievable plot outcomes are replaced with a gritty creative story leaving room for the readers imagination to fill in the details as DI Bliss works the case in a logical credible and sometimes humorous manner.

I would be remiss not to mention Greg Waglands superb narration as he dispenses with the need to identify characters with anything other than his voice.

Once hooked - about 5 minutes in - I binged on all three novels in the series. As good as this one is, the sequels are even better. Forget the minimal number of ratings and grab this book. Be sure to leave some time when you do so as I found it hard to put down..

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8 of 8 people found this review helpful

Good mystery cliched love life

I often wish that mystery writers would just stick to the main story and skip trying to interject either love or sex. I know it’s already a cliche that all detectives are miserably single but that’s so much better than cringe-worthy romance. This book’s mystery is good but the romantic interludes and backstory were painful to get through. I wonder if some editor didn’t steer the author in this direction. *sigh*

6 of 7 people found this review helpful

Unable to get to sleep? This narrator can fix that!

Some of my collage professors had more animation in their lectures than this gentleman. He reads well but no tone or rhythm variation. Hard to not drift off ...

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Run of the mill plot, bizarre narrative structure

I’m going to return this book, but I feel like I want to justify why. *Partial/Possible spoiler ahead*
The plot starts out conventionally enough. Flawed, widowed cop takes on cold case. Competent lady sidekick. Cop drinks and is tortured. Wife is dead. He mourns, misses her.

Half of the book is done.

All of a sudden: LOOONG internal memory/ruminating retelling of what happened a few years back. Beloved wife did not actually die from cancer as previously hinted, but was murdered by her swinging partner/lover. The cop was perfectly cool with, and participated in the swinging, but - surprise, in retrospect - it wasn’t a healthy lifestyle. He hunted down (he remembers to himself) the murderer and punished him. Note past tense. This is a completed event, in the past.

The swinging flashback alone is enough plot for a whole novel of its own, but here it’s crammed into the middle of the novel as a _memory_, a narrative device similar to duct tape. If it were to work at all I could see it as a prelude to the main plot. Here it all comes across as an unedited cut and paste job. Who’s edited this book?

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Ponderous and Dull

I found this book ponderous and dull. The characters lack nuance and are forgettable. The dialogue is flat, irritatingly predictable, and devoid of wit. Last, the plot shows no evidence of finesse. I felt the author used a sledgehammer to carve out the plot instead of a fine artisan’s sharply honed tools.

The narrator was decent: not great and not bad.

I have no desire to listen or read another of Mr. Forder’s books.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

I really tried to like it...

I wanted to give this author a chance. I wanted to see it through with the narrator. I did listen to the very end, but I didn't enjoy the story or the narration.

This reader treated every comma as a full stop, and it was extremely jarring to follow. There was very nearly no differentiation between characters, so trying to keep them straight was virtually impossible.

The story was unbelievably predictable, and the supposed back stories for the main characters were ridiculously contrived. A cop whose child was kidnapped and still missing in a foreign country?? Another who was a swinger whose spouse was murdered by a spurned lover??

I'm just not a fan.

didn't actually finish wait maybe I did.

I don't like when our heroes make decisions that I find idiotic ....and completely improbable given not this one is a cop.

Very Good Police Procedural

If you like British police procedurals (I do), you will really like this. Good story, and well developed male and female characters. You find things out about the characters and their back stories a bit into the story, and I enjoyed that. When I first started listening, I didn't realize this was the first in a series and I mistakenly thought I had to go to previous books to find out what had happened in the main character's career and marriage. When it was revealed, it was a surprise and I was hooked. I didn't immediately take to the narrator, but he grew on me and by a few chapters in, I really liked him. I will definitely listen to more by this author.

Amateurish .

To call this amateurish is being generous , it’s full of product placement and cliche after cliche. The narration is dull and monotonous delivered in a bored with all this tone, and , who could blame the poor bugger given this load of drivel to contend with . Waste of my money so don’t waste yours .

2 of 3 people found this review helpful