Welcome to my stop of this blog tour for CALLING DOWN THE STORM by Peter Murphy.
I would of course, as every #BlogTour like to thank Maddy Allen, Anne Carter and No Exit Press for gifting me an early copy of CALLING DOWN THE STORM. I am forever grateful and ensure that the review below is 100% honest and of my own views.
To kick off, we have the “blurb” for the book;
April 1971. Police respond to a call to find Susan Lang bleeding to death, her husband Henry sitting nearby, with a blood-stained knife. Henry claims no memory of the events that led to his wife’s death, leaving Schroeder little to defend a potential murder charge.
Unknown to his strict Baptist wife Deborah, Justice Conrad Rainer has a secret life as a high-stakes gambler. He has already raided his own and Deborah’s resources, and now he has crossed a line from which there is no return. As Henry Lang’s trial starts, Conrad discovers a sinister connection between the trial and his gambling debts. Both Henry and Conrad’s lives are on the line, and time is running out.
So, you want to know what I think?
WOW! I have actually been blown away by CALLING DOWN THE STORM. A full court room drama and I enjoyed reading EVERY single page of it! I had psyched myself up so much in prep for reading this book. I read the blurb and was instantly taken by a crime fiction that featured both a heavy police procedural, but also a courtroom drama. I love me a bit of John Grisham, so I was more than keen to read how another author takes on the sub-genre.
For starters, I found it fascinating that the story is set in the early 1970’s. It gave me the same feels I had when reading TENNISON by Lynda La Plante, where policing was done the old fashioned way with a bit of rough and tumble and didn’t rely exclusively on DNA or computers. Although classed as a ‘Millennial’ (I HATE IT!!), I get rather excited about how things were done before the digital age really took off.
As the blurb suggests – we are introduced to Henry Lang after he is arrested for murdering his wife in the street in broad daylight. He is quickly arrested and placed on trial. A trial which is being judged by Conrad Rainer; this being his first criminal case since his appointment. The story then follows the trial proceedings within the court room, whilst we are given background into Rainer and how his personal circumstances soon have an impact on the case against Henry Lang.
This book is billed as a Ben Schroeder novel and his character certainly is heavily involved in Henry’s case – however he isn’t at the forefront of every detail. What Murphy has been able to do is concentrate on the case in hand with both Lang and Rainer, with Schroeder as the key ‘good’ guy in the story.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and there was enough conclusion at the end to satisfy the case, with just a hint of “what happened next?”. Would highly recommend this for fans of John Grisham!
CALLING DOWN THE STORM is out on June 29th 2017 and can be purchased at the following outlets;
-S.
Be sure to check out the other blogs who participated in this Blog Tour. See below for further details and be sure to follow all of the action across Twitter!
The P.Turners Book Blog 