Welcome to my stop on this Blog Tour for the release of WASP LATITUDES, the latest DI Will Harlan novel by the awesome Allan Watson.
I would like to say that it is truly my pleasure to be invited onto this blog tour! Particular thanks to Sarah Hardy and of course the awesome Allan Watson who gifted me an early copy of WASP LATITUDES. I am forever grateful and promise that the review below is 100% honest and of my own views.
To kick off, we have the “blurb” for the book;
Against a background of brutal attacks on people and property by a rag-tag group of homeless men whom the media quickly dub Berserkers, DI Will Harlan is juggling with a head-in-a-bucket patricide, a lethal wife-swapping session, a sex-tape scandal involving the Royal Scottish National Orchestra – and perhaps most discomfiting of all – a spate of late night phone calls from his favourite serial killer, Howie Danks.
As the wife-swapping investigation spirals into a glut of cold-blooded slayings carried out by a mysterious pair of killers known as the Wasp Queen and the Priest, Harlan has to look into the past where a cold case may contain uncomfortable answers. But it’s in the present where the real danger lies as he follows a twisted path of mind control and madness leading to a cruel land some call the Wasp Latitudes.
So, want to know what I thought?
After coming down from the high of reading HEART SWARM (the first in the DI Will Harlan series), I was ready to get back into the insane life of DI Will Harlan and his team.
Allan did not disappoint. WASP LATITUDES is the most incredible, outrageous, unbelievable – but believe police procedural book. Did I enjoy every page of this book? Abso-friggin-lutely!! I found myself sometimes laughing and gasping at the same time. Both at how completely out of this world and shocking some of the scenes are. This book doesn’t have the gore factor that HEART SWARM had, and for that I am grateful, as it gave me time to catch my breath.
You can certainly get away with reading this book as a standalone, but I find which most police procedural series, it’s better to start at the beginning so you can fully immerse yourself into the world and the characters. This book does mention snippets from the previous novel – but it’s enough that if you go into this book blind, you aren’t going to miss anything major.
I cannot wait to read the next instalment and see what is in store for Will…and Cara…and Trixie! I think I’ve fallen in love with Trixie! She is one of the new additions to Will’s team and is eager to please. I get the same vibe about her that I do with Paula McIntyre from the Carol Jordan & Tony Hill series written by Val McDermid. I really do hope that she comes in her own more in the next instalments.
Alternatively, give me a Trixie novella any day of the week!
About Allan Watson;
Allan Watson is a writer whose work leans towards the dark end of the fiction spectrum. He is the author of seven novels – Dreaming in the Snakepark, Carapace, The Garden of Remembrance, 1-2-3-4, Monochrome, Heart Swarm and Wasp Latitudes.
In between the books, Allan wrote extensively for BBC Radio Scotland, churning out hundreds of comedy sketches, in addition to being a regular contributor for the world famous ‘Herald Diary’.
He occasionally masquerades as a composer/musician, collaborating with crime writer Phil Rickman in a band called Lol Robinson with Hazey Jane II whose albums have sold on four different continents (Antarctica was a hard one to crack)
Allan lives and works in Glasgow, Scotland, but has never worn the kilt or eaten a deep fried Mars Bar. He also once spent three days as a stand-in guitarist for the Bay City Rollers, but he rarely talks much about that…
Links: https://allanwatson.blogspot.com/
Twitter – @allanwatson12
You can buy WASP LATITUDES from the following booksellers (and many more! Support local booksellers where you can!);
-S.
Be sure to check out the other blogs participating 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 