Today I am super thrilled to have Blood Lines by Lin Le Versha on the blog. Thanks so much to Hobeck Book Tours for the copy of the book for my thoughts today.
Eighteen year-old Darcy Woodard appears to have it all – intelligence, good looks and artistic gifts. His teachers adore him, as does former policewoman Steph Grant, who is now the receptionist at Darcy’s college.
But beneath the surface – all is not as it seems.
Darcy is convinced he doesn’t fit in with his peers and tries to ignore their online taunts.
There’s Darcy’s dysfunctional mother Esther who is trapped in a literary time warp.
Then there’s his sister Marianne, who Darcy desperately wants to protect from the dark forces that surround her.
Then tragedy rocks Darcy’s life when a drugs gang forces its way into his life and all the people he cares for.
What can Steph and her former boss DI Hale do to protect the local community? And can they really trust Darcy to help them defeat the county lines gang?
Blood Lines by Lin Le Versha is the first book I have read from this author. This book is the second in the Steph Grant series but I found Blood Lines fine to read without knowing what happened in the previous book.
Steph Grant is an ex-police officer who now works as a receptionist/ PA at a college. She quite often becomes a friendly ear for the students and gets to know them on a personal level. This does mean she is the Headmasters eyes and ears at student level, and she manages this without breaking the students confidences.
Lin Le Versha tackles some gritty issues in Blood Lines. County Line drug gangs, a very current issue that involves pretty young children. She does deal with this in an appropriate way, and as carefully as you can when writing about something that is as hard hitting as county line drug gangs.
This story just showcases how much devastation the county line drugs gangs can cause. They don’t care what level you are, be it rich or poor they will still intimidate and we see this in Blood Lines. I felt for Marianne who is their victim of choice here. It can be a hard read but Lin Le Versha has not just written all grit and violence. There are light moments as well, I fell in love with Derek!
Such a well paced story that Lin Le Versha has thrown plenty of twists and red herrings that kept me guessing until the final chapters. In conclusion Blood Lines is a book that makes me wish I had discovered this author so much sooner.
Author Bio
Crime writer thanks to MA Creative Writing at UEA and Hobeck Books, Lin has drawn on her experience in London and Surrey schools and colleges as the inspiration for her debut novel. ‘Blood Notes’ is set in Suffolk, where she now lives and is Director of the Southwold Arts Festival. Her second novel will be published in 2022.
sharonbeyondthebooks.uk 