Blog Tour Review: The Close – Jane Casey

The Close by Jane Casey, a Maeve Kerrigan Mystery

I received a copy of this book for review.

About The Book

The gripping new detective crime thriller featuring Maeve Kerrigan and Josh Derwent from the Top Ten Sunday Times bestselling author.

At first glance, Jellicoe Close seems to be a perfect suburban street – well-kept houses with pristine lawns, neighbours chatting over garden fences, children playing together.

But there are dark secrets behind the neat front doors, hidden dangers that include a ruthless criminal who will stop at nothing.

It’s up to DS Maeve Kerrigan and DI Josh Derwent to uncover the truth. Posing as a couple, they move into the Close, blurring the lines between professional and personal as never before.

And while Maeve and Josh try to gather the evidence they need, they have no idea of the danger they face – because someone in Jellicoe Close has murder on their mind.

My Review

The Close, by Jane Casey is the tenth in the Maeve Kerrigan series of books, but the first that I’ve read, and I have to admit that I am kicking myself that I am so late to the party! Rest assured, this can be read as a standalone as Casey gives enough backstory so a late comer like me feels welcomed and not at all on the backfoot. The Close is a clever mystery/police procedural with lots of twists and turns and a really good plot at its heart and I read it in almost one sitting

The book opens with the discovery of a dead Doctor in a car parked in a hospital car park and DS Maeve Kerrigan, our protagonist, being despatched to investigate the potential murder. Maeve isn’t her usual self, events in the previous book have taken its toll and she isn’t fully focused on her job and the case. Enter an intriguing investigation requiring Maeve and DI Josh Derwent to work undercover as a couple dog sitting at a house in wealthy Jellicoe Close. There are suspicions that somebody in the close isn’t quite what they seem, and Maeve and Josh are tasked with integrating themselves within the close-knit community to find out what is really going on.

I loved the setting of Jellicoe Close, filled with gossipy busybodies, testosterone fuelled alpha men and families bursting at the seams with secrets. The arrival of Maeve and Josh, is an Event, and one which they play up to. Not having read the previous books, I don’t quite know their history, but I got the gist, and their chemistry leaps off the page with the pretend relationship adding a certain frisson to their more than colleague/close friends status.

This tension between Maeve and Josh adds tension to what is already a tension fuelled assignment. On the one hand they need to ingratiate themselves amongst the inhabitants of Jellicoe Close, forge friendships and gain trust, but on the other hand they are there to do a job and can’t get too close. It is clear that beyond the surveillance on one member of the street that there are some other dark deeds at play in this outwardly upper middle class close. Large gardens, swanky kitchens and top of the range cars hide a multitude of sins.

Casey unveils the darkness at the heart of this group of people slowly, with some hints here and there, a couple of red herrings and some good old cracking plotting. There is a lot going on; the case of the murdered Doctor is still under investigation at the Met, Jellicoe Close is slow at revealing its secrets and there is constant pressure from the upper echelons of power for Maeve and Josh to succeed. These many strands are cleverly woven together and a lightness to the narrative with a smattering of humour and heart.

Overall, this is a page turning, well-written, compelling mystery. As a newcomer to the books, I certainly didn’t feel out of the loop and if anything, it has made me want to look up more of the series and look forward to the next. Recommended!

About The Author

Jane Casey

Jane Casey has written twelve crime novels for adults and three for teenagers. Married to a criminal barrister, she’s got the inside track on some of the country’s most dangerous offenders, giving her writing an unsettlingly realistic feel.

This authenticity has made her novels international bestsellers and critical successes. They have been nominated for several awards and in 2015 Jane won both the Mary Higgins Clark Award and Irish Crime Novel of the Year for The Stranger You Know and After the Fire, respectively. In 2019, Cruel Acts was chosen as Irish Crime Novel of the Year at the Irish Book Awards. It was a Sunday Times bestseller. Born in Dublin, Jane now lives in southwest London with her family.