Blood for Blood

Ziba MacKenzie, Book 1

By: Victoria Selman

Narrated by: Karen Cass

Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

Ziba Mackenzie profiles killers. Now one is profiling her.

Rush hour, London. A packed commuter train is torn apart in a collision. Picking through the carnage, ex-special forces profiler Ziba MacKenzie helps a dying woman who passes on a cryptic message: He did it. You have to tell someone.

When a corpse is found bearing the gruesome signature of a serial killer dormant for twenty-five years, Ziba is pulled into the hunt for the perpetrator. As the body count rises it becomes clear he’s on a new spree. But what’s brought the London Lacerator back after such a long hiatus? And does his sudden return have anything to do with the woman on the train?

Ziba scrambles to profile the killer in the hope of predicting his next move. But time is running out. And the closer she gets to uncovering his identity, the closer he gets to destroying hers.

Shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger Award

©2019 Victoria Selman (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Great New Series—Ziba Is Good Female Lead

This was a good book. I selected it for my Free Book but waited for the audible version to be released before starting to read/listen. Ziba is a force to be reckoned with. Her husband, Duncan, was killed in the line of duty 2 years ago and she is still grieving. His best friend, Jack, is a good friend to her and tries to get her out of her grief but it takes a serial killer case to do it. The book starts out a bit disjointed with a train wreck and people killed and Ziba helping the survivors. One of the dying is a woman with a cross around her neck. The woman grabs Ziba and mumbles words to her then begs her to promise to find him. Is this just a dying woman’s vision before dying or is there something to what she says. Ziba is obsessed to find out. Later that same day there is a brutal murder of a man in the same area where similar murders had taken place 25 years ago. Ziba is contacted to profile the killer and to join the team at New Scotland Yard as they pursue the killer. There are many flash backs to the killer as he devolves and there are signs that Ziba is suspicious of everyone and prefers to work ‘alone’ but she is part of the team now but still....she likes doing her own thing. If the reader is squeamish about lots of blood and gross details about the stabbing and cutting of body parts, and the use of language typically used in a police shop, and hints about child abuse with no details, then another book may be more appropriate. If you are like me and like real life storylines, then you’ll love this book. It has similar themes as the Kay Scarpetta and Temperance Brennan series. I predict Ziba MacKenzie will become the strong female protagonist we are all looking to see. I listened to Karen Cass as the narrator and found the book even better. It is always a pleasure to read a book by a British author and to have it narrated in the same language. Ms. Cass was an excellent choice for Ziba. Now I’m off to Book 2.

Excellent!

This story had me hooked from start to finish! Excellent plot and well developed characters! Many twist and turns that kept me guessing till the end! Worth the listen!!👌

A wonderful British performance

Performance was excellent and added a lot of flair to this great story by Victoria Selman. I'm not sure I would have appreciated the British expressions without Karen's wonderful voice.

I want more

Victoria Selman wrote an outstanding novel in Blood For Blood and Karen Cass brought the story to life with incredible narration. Ziba is like a lone wolf in so many aspects. Through the novel's story of tragedy and its aftermath she is unstoppable. Ultimately, she has to look at the attitude and action of her work style. The journey is frantic and exciting. I would highly recommend this novel to any crime novel lover. I would especially suggest it to folks who enjoy a story from a profiler's POV.

Fantastic!

This was such a wonderful book!
I can not wait to read the next one!
Great for any time of day or night.
Let the countdown begin.

Fantastic!!

This book was fantastic! Grabs your attention from the very beginning. I will definitely read the next two.

great book

Loved this book. Couldn't put it down. Very well narrated. Cant wait to read the next one in the series

Fair to average story

The actual story is average. The performer has a great voice but interestingly enough every time she says a curse word you can tell it’s very unnatural for her. Interesting.
Still all in all it was a good story.

Stunner

loved the characters, plot, & narrator. I plan on listening to more from this author.

Boring.

Everything happens too fast with the main character figuring everything out quickly. There is no team work or mystery here. The main character is also very dramatic and freaks out too
much. And then there’s the romance…