Be careful what you wish for was something Jean Julings should have considered before engaging Kate Marshall to look for her grandson, Charlie. The three year old boy went missing over eleven years ago. There can only be three outcomes, he's dead, he's alive or cannot be found. For Kate Marshall, this case will present a challenge which because of her personal life, makes her feel empathy towards Jean and wants to do her best for her. Along the way, Kate thinks that the death of a bludgeoned social worker is in some way associated with the missing child. What follows is a very good detective thriller. However, I will not be a plot spoiler, although I was halfway through the book when I had very strong suspicions that I knew what the outcome would be.

Taken totally by surprise at the gripping intensity of this storyline. Beginning with a prologue outlining the disappearance of a three year old child; fast forwarding to a decade later when a chance meeting results in the recruitment of a private investigator to investigate the cold case related to the unsolved mystery. The chief protagonist, Kate Marshall , ex police officer, struggling with her own demons, and against all past experience , commences a long laborious search for witnesses, evidence and clues which could shed insight on the case. Intuition strongly leads her along a nebulous path where nothing is as it appears. A gripping conclusion leaves the reader understanding but struggling to accept the emotional and traumatic consequences for all involved in this tragedy, both the innocent and the guilty. Many thanks to author ,(a new fan looking for his previous books) publisher and Netgalley for this thoroughly enjoyable ARC .

This is 4th in the Kate Marshall series and, in my opinion, this is a great series. This might not be the best one out of the 4 but it is equally as good. You don't have to have read any of the previous books as this works well as a standalone, but if you want my advice, I would read them anyway because they are really very good! The characters are really strong and I am now quite attached to Kate and Tristan; they make an excellent partnership and I am particularly enjoying their character development as each book comes along. The pace was perfect for me and the story was full of intrigue and although I guessed the twist ... eventually, I really enjoyed how it all played out. Mr Bryndza is now one of my go-to authors and I highly recommend his books and I must thank Raven Street Publishing and NetGalley for enabling me to read and share my thoughts of Devil's Way.

Devil’s Way is the fourth book in the Kate Marshall series by best-selling, award-winning British author, Robert Bryndza. While private investigator, Kate Marshall recovers in hospital after almost drowning, she encounters a woman whose three-year-old grandson went missing eleven years earlier: Charlie Julings disappeared from the tent he was sharing with his grandmother, Jean, in June 2007. Police believed he fell into the raging torrent that was Devil’s Way River and was swept into a sinkhole: no remains were ever found. But even though the courts have declared Charlie dead, Jean wants Kate and her business partner Tristan Harper to find out what happened. Eleven years on, trace evidence is non-existent, but they can examine the scene and talk to those involved: the police at the scene, the boy’s father, the tenants of the nearby farm, Jean’s lover. Their thorough research makes it apparent that Jean is being a little economical with the truth. As they explore all avenues around the disappearance, and when they focus on a social worker with whom Jean had an altercation, it seems a bit as if they’re going off on a tangent but, intuitively, they persist despite the seemingly tenuous link to the case. A late-night episode with a ground-penetrating radar unit nets Kate and Tristan a dose of mace in the face along with a grisly result. Have they found the boy’s body? While their agency is gaining a good reputation, Kate doesn’t hesitate to mention her police experience where it might facilitate cooperation with investigating officers. Tristan is proving himself capable and innovative. The backstory fill-in is a little clumsily done but Bryndza throws in a good number of red herrings and twists to keep the reader guessing in the lead up to a dramatic climax and a very satisfactory resolution. Very readable British crime fiction. This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Raven Street Publishing

3.5/5⭐️ This is my first from this author, and unfortunately I did something I try to avoid by jumping into an established series…this is number 4 in the Kate Marshall stories. Kate, a former cop and her business partner Tristan are private detectives. While in the hospital following a near-death experience, Kate meets Jean who asks her to investigate her grandson’s disappearance (he was 3) eleven years ago from the family’s campsite on Dartmoor. There are lots of twists and turns with an interesting assortment of characters trotted out. Did Charlie drown in a nearby river? Was he taken/murdered? While the second half was engrossing, this was a slow starter for me. There were a couple of plot points that I questioned, and at times I felt like there was an over abundance of plot lines being pulled in. While I didn’t feel overly connected to Kate or Tristan, I’ll pass that off as jumping into a running series. Enjoyable but not sure if it was enough to double back to the beginning. My thanks to the author, NetGalley and Raven Street Publishing for providing the free early arc of Devil’s Way for review. The opinions are strictly my own.