Villain by Caro Savage
The Blurb:
To catch a villain sometimes you have to become one. Bailey's Back! From the bestselling author of Jailbird.
Detective Constable Bailey Morgan is back doing what she does best – working undercover. This time she has to infiltrate the inner circle of a notorious underworld family. Posing as a fellow villain, she is on a one-woman mission to bring the family to their knees. But things are never that simple. Bailey finds that she is forced to confront shadowy wraiths from her past and will come face-to-face with a set of devastating revelations that will shatter her world and threaten her very existence. With only herself to trust, Bailey is on her own and the stakes are higher than ever. Heart-stopping and gripping. Perfect for the fans of hit TV shows such as Line of Duty and Gangs of London.
About Caro Savage:
Caro Savage knows all about bestselling thrillers having worked as a Waterstones bookseller for 12 years in a previous life. Now taking up the challenge personally and turning to hard-hitting crime thriller writing, a debut novel Jailbird was published by Boldwood in October 2019.
My Review:
Having read author Caro Savage's debut novel and first book in the DC Bailey Morgan undercover cop series 'Jailbird,' I was delighted when 'Villain' was released. 'Jailbird' was indeed a big story, and the good news is 'Villain' is even bigger. I use the words 'big' and 'bigger' not to describe the number of pages, but to illustrate that all bases have been covered by the author resulting in enough back story to the central character to give her plausibility for her larger than life acts of bravery. Likewise, the main antagonist of the plot, Nancy Molloy, matriarch of a brutal and seemingly untouchable family crime syndicate, was equally covered to add plausibility to the cold-blooded, merciless acts of cruelty, unusual for a woman. The first chapter was like the start of a big blockbuster action movie, with the assassination of one of the Molloy sons, which led to Bailey Morgan's assignment to infiltrate the gang, under the pretext that she was a potential buyer for a large shipment of guns, that the police had obtained intel about. Clearly a gang as scrupulously efficient at covering their tracks for their dastardly deeds are going to be over and beyond cautious when a stranger enters their midst. For Bailey this would mean holding her nerve throughout their ongoing and invasive scrutiny of her. If the measure of a good comedy writer is gauged in the number of laugh out loud situations that have been created, then equally Caro Savage has proven to have an extraordinary talent for transmitting fear from the pages to the mind of the reader, knowing that Bailey's fragile true identity could be exposed at any moment. The detective's focus on the mission was distracted by the fact that he terminally ill father remained tormented by the loss of his first daughter, and Bailey's elder sister Jennifer, who disappeared during their childhood. She felt under pressure that as a police officer her father expected her to find answers to this previously unsolvable case, in order that he may rest in peace when he eventually passes. I could not fault this book in any way for it's journey through unpredictable twists and turns in the plot, believable characters, and the frenzy of excitement and emotions that I experienced along the way. More from this author soon please.
