Review - Rocco and the Nightingale by Adrian Magson

 

Rocco and the Nightingale by Adrian Magson

Published 19th October 2017 by The Dome Press

Star Rating - ***

Goodreads Challenge - 69/70

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

A minor Paris criminal is found stabbed in the neck on a country lane in Picardie - it looks like another case for inspector Lucas Rocco.

But instead he is called off to watch over a Gabonese government minister hiding out in France following a coup. Meanwhile, Rocco discovers that an Algerian gang leader has taken out a contract on his head.

Against orders, he follows leads on the original murder case, discovering as he does so that his life is in danger. The minister he is protecting is kidnapped, and Rocco finds that the murder, the threats and the minister's kidnap are all interconnected...

My Thoughts 

I was asked by the wonderful people over at The Dome Press if I would be interested in reviewing any of their titles and to me this one sounded interesting, especially as I am a fan of crime fiction. I'll be honest I was a little bit hesitant going into it knowing that it's book 5 in a series but I needn't of worried. This book can definitely be read as a standalone and an enjoyable one at that. I wasn't lost in the back story at any point and I was able to follow everything that was happening. In this book we follow Inspector Lucas Rocco who is a member of the Police in a small rural town in France. In this installment he is assigned the task of watching over a Gabonese government minister whilst at the same time discovering their is a contract on his head. Things don't go as smoothly as planned for Rocco and when the minister is kidnapped he seeks to find who is involved and begins to realise things may be more connected than he thinks. 

I thought this was quite an enjoyable read. There were several twists and turns along the way, especially near the end, and this kept the story moving. It wasn't overly fast paced but the story was steady and kept me engaged whilst I was reading. I enjoyed the rural setting of the story and I thought this coupled with the 1960s time period made it feel quite atmospheric and I enjoyed this. I thought it really added something to the story. I enjoyed Rocco as a character. I thought he had a genuine personality and he always seemed quite down to earth. It was also nice to see the inclusion and support of female members of the police in this book as this is something you might not have seen so much of in this time period. Also you can often find in detective novels that the male detectives can be quite sexist and misogynistic towards female detectives but there was very little of that in this book which was nice. 

Overall I found this to be quite enjoyable. It didn't necessarily blow me away initially but once I got into it and the story got going I found myself to be enjoying the read. If crime fiction is your thing I would recommend this one and if you haven't read any others in this series don't worry, as I said before it can be read as a standalone. I am interested in looking into the other books in this series. 

Overall Rating