From inside the House – WD Jackson-Smart

A dark and gripping ride!

Rating – 4/5

Firstly I must admit that Crime fiction is not normally my thing. I’m a lover of dark stories, gruesome stories, the supernatural and anything that makes the skin crawl. When I read the synopsis for ‘from inside the house’ though, I thought hey, this sounds pretty good.
So was I right? Short answer, yes!
Now ‘From inside the house’ is the second book in the D.I. Graves series of novels and at the point of writing this review, I have not read the first book. A big thanks to Panther Publishing for sending me an advance copy of this to review and I can definitely say I will be going back and reading the first instalment right away.
This being the second book, there are obviously some events from the previous book that carry over. Fortunately it does not bog down the story in this book and revelations from Daniel Graves last adventure are given to us steadily and in an easily understandable way that relates easily to the story being told. If like me, you are reading out of sequence, it does spoil the previous book but it does do a good job of making this book much easier to read from a stand alone point. Kudos to the author for that.
The story itself is well told and well paced, nothing feels like it slows down the narrative. All the characters, now well developed from a previous novel transfer over greatly and they all have distinct personalities. Being British myself it’s good to see the author capture the Britishness in the way people speak and act. I’m not normally one for British Fiction or Television as it all just feels too cheesy for me but there is none of that here. All the characters feel real and London feels alive (or not so much, depending on how you look at it).
In conclusion then I can definitively say I thoroughly enjoyed my time with ‘From inside the house’. It’s faced paced, dark and it’s definitely gruesome. All the things that keep me turning the page, or in this case, pressing the screen. Events from the previous novel are woven in seamlessly and the story winds naturally down to a point that leads right in to Daniel’s next adventure as well as tying up enough loose ends for it to feel like a satisfying conclusion. If you like a good crime thriller with a dose of horror and proverbial skin chill. This series is the one for you!