‘Dancing with the Devil’ by Matthew Jones

My Review (4 stars out of 5)

Offered a job as an engineer at a boat yard, Danny realises he’s being asked to spy on the workers by the firm’s wealthy business partner, Conrad Szekely. But things get off to a bad start and Danny finds himself an unpopular and unwanted addition to a failing business. When a fire rages through the premises, killing the owner, Danny is caught in the middle, not knowing who to trust. As he struggles to unravel the mystery of his employment and what he might be expected to do for his money, he is forced to return to the isolated boarding school that continues to haunt him…

This book starts off sounding like a ghost story, and to be sure, there are a few spooky moments. Mainly, though, it’s a murder mystery with an amateur sleuth thrown in at the deep end, flailing about trying to untangle an increasingly complicated web of lies and deceit. The plot is a complex one and with a pace that varies (almost coming to a stop when Rebecca makes an appearance), and dialogue that is a bit repetitive, I often wasn’t sure what was going on. However, the latter section is good fun, with lots of car chases, guns, explosions and double-crossing villains.

A bit long-winded in places, but generally a jolly good romp.

Author Bio

Aged 61. Married with 3 children (and grandchild). Consultant paediatric and neonatal surgeon at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool. Have always been an avid reader. Hobbies = outdoor swimming (former long-distance swimmer), hillwalking, painting (did cover illustration myself). Used to play rugby, but sadly no longer. Still enjoy faded prog rock bands from the nineteen-seventies.

Purchase Links

Amazon  

Waterstones  

WHSmiths

Bookshop  

Hive  

Blackwells  

Troubador

NB This post first appeared as part of the Blog Tour for Dancing with the Devil, via Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources.

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