Acting Superintendant Helen Lavery and her team are working hard to find the murderer when a number of bodies are found. All of the bodies have a pentagram carved into the body. Helen and her team explore all local links to groups that display pentagrams or are known to have satanic beliefs. The book gives reference to a previous case that Helen was involved in that may have future repercussions but I didn’t feel that I had to have read the previous books to relate to this. Helen and her father, who was a detective, both came up against the same criminal family and Helen worries about the safety of her family. This book was a fab read and I wanted to keep reading to find out who the murdered was. I will definitely be reading more of the Helen Lavery books.

Evil Intent is an engrossing read, a solid police procedural / mystery in dual-narration format. Although I haven't yet read any of the preceding books in this series, I thoroughly enjoyed this fourth instalment and will be returning to the earlier books to familiarise myself with the character backstories. The book opens with the harrowing scene of a young woman, Shauna, being pursued through a dark wood by an unknown predator, desperately searching for a place in which she can seek cover. Immediately, the scene is set and the reader immersed in the gritty crime-mystery. Our attention and sympathies are also focussed upon the impact of violent crime on victims and their loved ones. The remainder of the narrative shifts between the perspective of the senior investigating officer, Acting Detective Superintendent Helen Lavery, and that of Marnie O'Hennessey, Shauna's mother. We follow Lavery's investigation into the attack on Shauna as she balances the administrative pressures of her current more senior role with her own home life and the appearance in Hampton of a close relative of a notorious gangster who's previously threatened Lavery and her family. Meanwhile, Marnie and her husband Darren must deal with the devastating loss of their only surviving child, while ensuring the wellbeing of Shauna's young children and confronting some challenging realities uncovered by Lavery's investigation into Shauna's death. As the action races towards the dramatic conclusion, the book enters thriller territory, as Lavery puts her own safety on the line in a last-ditch effort to stop a clever and vicious villain. I felt that Evil Intent was a step up from the usual run of police procedural mysteries, in the sensitive handling by author Jane Isaac of issues surrounding the impact of violent crime on those left to pick up the pieces. In DSupt (Acting) Lavery, she has created an intuitive and relatable main protagonist and an evocative, though fictional, setting in the central midlands county of Hamptonshire. The supporting cast, comprising Lavery's police colleagues, her mother and two sons, and the witnesses and family members with whom she comes into contact, are all convincingly depicted. The mystery itself is twisted, throwing up several unexpected developments as the plot unfolds. Isaacs explores some confronting issues surrounding the challenges facing young single mothers and others who struggle to make ends meet. Short chapters and punchy dialogue make this a read that is hard to put down once started. I'd recommend Evil Intent to any reader who seeks well-written and complex crime-mysteries. Helen Lavery is a strong female protagonist, whose demanding work and family responsibilities enhance a realistic and stimulating reading experience. I look forward to reading further titles from the series.

My thanks to NetGalley and publisher Legend Press for the electronic copy. I really enjoyed this book and although it is not the first in the series, it's easy to read as a standalone. It's well-written with believable dialogue and good main characters. Helen Lavery is now Acting Detective Superintendent whilst her boss is on leave but she doesn't relish the admin side of that job at all. She's called to a crime scene at a local beauty spot, Blackwell Woods. A woman's naked body was discovered on a path beside a river. A Pentacle had been carved into her chest. As Helen gets her team moving on a possible occult angle to the murder, Assistant Chief Constable Alison Broadbent informs her that they're a DI short and the HMIC were due to audit them within weeks - piling on the pressure to get results quickly, although she's also prepared to allocate resources. Within days another body is found by a lake at a nature reserve.......and then another. All are young women about the same age, all are mothers, and each of them have similar features, all have the same carving on their chest. What else do they all have in common? Helen is running out of time and the pressure is on; desperate measures need to be taken which could put her own life in danger.......................... Really good. Great main characters and good team interactions. This is a real page-turner,

Jane Isaac is the author of three bestselling detective series: DCI Helen Lavery, DI Will Jackman (based in Stratford upon Avon), and DC Beth Chamberlain (a Family Liaison Officer). “Evil Intent” is the fourth in the Helen Lavery series and is a traditional police procedural featuring the typical, twisted and feared serial killer. - “When a series of women’s bodies are discovered in the heart of rural Hamptonshire with a pentagram gruesomely carved on their chests, DCI Helen Lavery is forced into a dangerous cat and mouse chase with a murderer, who ultimately turns the tables and targets her.” There’s nothing I like better than a first class police procedural featuring a frightening serial killer on the loose and Jane Isaac’s books fits that criteria fully. On top of plots that keep the reader entertained and engrossed, her writing is razor sharp, waffle and filler free and focus purely on the one investigation and only the minimal of personal lives crossing into professional ones. Humour is appropriate with gallows humour virtually non existent, making the deaths sympathetic and believable. The author features realistic and empathetic characters that are truly relatable and who you form an instant connection with. I’ve recently read the third in the series, “A Deathly Silence” which set the scene for this one perfectly but I have to say, these books can very easily be enjoyed as individual reads, there’s enough background information in each to ensure you’re kept up to date. I really couldn’t fault “Evil Intent”, as soon as the first woman was discovered, naked with a pentagram horrifically carved into her chest, I knew this was a story for me and Jane Isaac will continue to remain on my list of automatic ‘go to’ authors! #EvilIntent - 5 stars

I’d like to thank Legend Press and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Evil Intent’, the fourth of four books in the DCI Helen Lavery series written by Jane Isaac, in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. The discovery of Shauna’s body, strangled and mutilated, is just the firsin a series of bodies to be found in rural Hamptonshire laid out by water in a ritualistic pose. Given a limited time to close the case, Acting-Detective Superintendent Helen Lavery realises she’s putting herself in danger but knows she has to act fast to find the killer. ‘Evil Intent’ is a well-thought-out police procedural thriller with an action-packed plot, suspense, drama and twists and turns that’s kept me absorbed from the beginning. I’ve enjoyed catching up with Helen Lavery whose private life comes into the story as she’s shocked to discover that the half-brother of local gang-leader Chilli Franks is living nearby. It’s always a pleasure to read a novel by Jane Isaac who brings a strong gripping story and believable characters to them. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this thriller which I’ve read in twenty-four hours and can recommend it without hesitation.