Reviewed by Becca

TITLE: Blood Sport

SERIES: Serial Investigations #5

AUTHOR: Rhiannon D’Averc

PUBLISHER: self-published

LENGTH: 162 pages

RELEASE DATE: June 30, 2020

BLURB:

A copycat killer who knows every detail.

A locked room with no escape.

Serial Investigations London is officially closed for business – with private detectives Will and Ram still not talking to one another after an explosive argument. Even when a copycat killer springs up, seemingly targeting only their own cases, they can’t see eye to eye.

Little wonder, given that they both have something more important on their minds. Someone knows about San Francisco – about the man who died on a rooftop at their feet. Who has discovered their deepest secret? And what will they do to keep it buried?

That’s when another mystery piles up on top of the rest: a traditional trope that every seasoned detective must face, the locked room. But this one has a deadly twist, and if they don’t come to terms with their differences and work together, one of them might not live to regret it.

Will and Ram face the most pressing and personal danger yet – but the question is, who’s behind it? And will they realise they’ve been set against one another before it’s too late?

The story continues with Blood Sport, a nail-biting series of twists and turns that will have you questioning how they’ll ever survive.

Enter the minds of troubled yet brilliant detectives as they struggle inside an interconnected web of lies – and the spider is getting hungry…

REVIEW:

Be very forewarned in this story, there are some triggers. The murders alone are gruesome and told in detail, but even though Ram has been working on recovering from alcoholism, it’s never truly over and Will’s anorexia has pushed him to almost death. So if those are a trigger for you, please be aware. It’s not for the faint of heart and at times gets graphic.

I’m hoping there’s going to be another one after this. There seems to be some loose ends that need filling. This I think, was the hardest book of them all and that’s saying a lot. I thought the last book was bad but whoo. While Ram has been working hard to stay sober, things are triggering him, and thank goodness for his sponsor or who knows where he’d be. Possibly dead of in the hospital again. But the stuff that is triggering him is Will and the fact that Will may have gotten on with his life without Ram. And with the email he got and things of his disappearing, and the closed off looks he gets every time he tries to talk to Will, he figures Will has moved on. But none so evident as when Will gets fed up with every single thing he thinks Ram is accusing him of or throwing at him and he packs a bag and leaves. And Ram thinks it’s going to be for good, because he wants no part of the Investigations either. But what neither of them realize, is the mastermind is messing with them like never before. And instead of sitting and really talking, they are avoiding each other like usual and avoiding topics and just instead getting mad and shooting off at each other. And now the mastermind has won on so many levels. Not only has he succeeded in manipulating copycat killers, he’s broken up Ram and Will.  And Will is pushing his luck too far with not acknowledging his issue with food. When the mastermind kidnaps them, it may be all over for Will. And Ram as well. 

With the way book 4 was going, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with Will. I wanted to shake him or something. The way he was acting. And in this one, it’s not much better. Mostly because his body is shutting down and he’s not taking it well. His body is reacting causing him to react. But when he finally has some clear thinking, he realizes that something isn’t right. And can’t believe Ram would really betray him the way he thinks. But his digging has led to something far more dangerous than he could think of and because of it, he may not walk out alive. What I hate is that the mastermind got to them the way he did. Because of it, neither Ram nor Will had gotten what was happening to them and what they were doing to themselves until it was too late. And it broke my heart. When Will tried to do something so simple and couldn’t, it was a clue that he had let things go too far, but he needed help. Therapy, something. But he couldn’t let go to do so. And my heart ached for him. He really wanted to just be with Ram and run their investigations, but so much has happened and he doesn’t know how to get them back to them. And the mastermind has more connections than they are aware of so I’m wondering if there’s another story where he’s going to start something again. Because I have a feeling he’s not done with Ram and Will. 

It’s been a great but very hard story. I mean very hard. The emotional roller coaster with these two. The secrets that have been literally killing them, to the mastermind who is bent on destroying them. Just because he likes a game. It’s been a good mystery, a good thriller and I really do hope there will be another. These two work well together. And with them being sober and eating and mentally getting better, I’m ready to see if it will impact their work for the better.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

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