Vegeance Review - Blog Tour

Vengeance by Roger A. Price
Rating: 4/5
Source: Early release Arc
Released: 27th February 2017

Jack Quintel is a hit man. When a job comes in to kill the Deputy Chief Constable of the Greater Manchester Police Jim Reedly, he contracts it out to a new guy, Charlie Parker. Watching in the shadows, Quintel sees Parker shoot out Reedly’s windscreen, then drag him into the woods and thinks the job’s been done. But when Parker tries to pass off a pig’s heart as Reedly’s, things start to go very wrong. Jack’s right hand man Jason kills Charlie, who it turns out is an undercover police officer.

Detective Vinnie Palmer is with the Preston police. He was called in when they received the information about the impending hit. Now he has to figure out how to clean up the mess. And he wants whoever killed Parker bad. He finds the man who put Parker in touch with Quintel, a low life hood named Dempter, living in an estate in Preston. He doesn’t know much, but motivated by money, agrees to be an informant for the police.

Christine Jones is a TV reporter. She and Vinnie had worked together before, chasing a serial killer. They meet again at the warehouse where Charlie was killed, and realise their relationship could be more than professional. But first, Christine wants to know what’s happening. Vinnie agrees to keep her in the loop.

Meanwhile, Christine is working on a documentary about positive discrimination against non-Catholic officers in Northern Ireland since the peace process. She makes contact with a former police officer in Northern Belfast named Paul Bury, who feeds her some of the information she needs.

Meanwhile, as the bodies start to pile up in Preston, there’s another attempt on Reedly’s life, when a grenade is thrown at him at his brother in law’s funeral.  As Vinnie fights to keep Reedly alive, suddenly Christine’s life is in danger. And they both start to wonder if the contract against Reedly has anything to do with her documentary on Northern Ireland. But how could it?

Filled with twists and turns and gritty detail, this is must read for crime fans everywhere.
This was my first time reading a book by Roger A. Price so I was going into Vengeance not knowing what to expect from the author's style, other than that with Price's history in the job himself, his books were bound to be as accurate and truthful to the cause as they could be. I wasn't disappointed by the authenticity of Price's writing. 

Normally when reading a book to review I try to take my time, but this book I started one afternoon and was finished it the next day in the early hours of the morning. I was completely hooked on it and it went by so quickly. What really sold this novel to me is how dark and gritty it is. I've become increasingly interested in the darkest side of crime since reading Danielle Ramsay's novels, and have been struggling to find other crime novels that I can really get into, usually I stick to those based in the North East/Northumberland as that's where I'm from and reading about places I know always gives me a thrill.  

This book was so well written that it didn't matter that I've never been to Manchester, expect once when I was eleven and went to Old Trafford, can't say I remember much about the trip. The description of the locations was so well done that I could picture them just as clearly as if I had seen the places for myself. It also doesn't hurt to have another author from my home town of Whitley Bay to buy my books from, even if this series is set in Lancashire/Manchester. 

After the story itself, the most important part of a crime book is that the Detective leading the story is someone I can get along with, Detective Vinnie Palmer ticked that box for me almost straight away. I only wish I'd had a chance to read the first book in the series first as I'd really like to see more from him and hope there is still more to come.

I'll be keeping an eye out for Price's next novel and have added Nemesis, the first Detective Vinnie Palmer book, to my TBR pile already, which I'll be looking forward to reading in the near future. I highly recommend Vengeance to any fan of crime thrillers .

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My name is Roger A. Price a crime fighter turned crime writer. I used to right the wrongs but now I write the wrongs. Ok, enough with the puns, but I do love language and playing with it, I guess all writers do.

I spent over thirty years in the police retiring as a detective inspector in charge of a covert undercover drugs unit which achieved national acclaim. I served on various units and squads and saw service across the UK, Europe and beyond. I can't write about those events but I can base my crime fiction writing from my many experiences of them. Some of which were good, some not so good.

My first two novels are in the 'Burrows and Lee' series; 'By Their Rules' and 'A New Menace' and chart the adventures of Jane Lee and John Burrows in their work for the secretive 'Special Projects Unit' where they take on the bad guys with no rules of engagement.

'NEMESIS' is the first in the new 'Badge and the Pen' series which follows the fortunes of detective inspector Vinnie Palmer who finds an unlikely ally in TV news reporter Christine Jones, as they chase common threats but from very different agendas. This book was an Amazon Bestseller for a while in Canada and Australia and has received rave reviews in the UK.

‘VENNGEANCE’ is the second outing for Vinnie and Christine in the ‘Badge and the Pen’ series where they both face the most unlikely of threats, as they race to save lives.

I have also had a couple of short stories published and am trying to write for TV whilst currently also working on my next Badge and the Pen novel.

You can get more information from Roger by visiting his website (www.rogerapriceauthor.com) or by following him on Twitter :@RAPriceAuthor.