Dead Lands by Lloyd Otis

There is something about a 1970’s novel that I know will capture my imagination. So it was a great pleasure to be asked to take part in the Blog Tour for the debut novel Dead Lands by Lloyd Otis. A thrilling crime novel with a 1970’s London skyline.

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This is a gritty fast paced crime thriller from a new writer with whom I hope to hear more from in the future. After a woman body is found the race in on to catch the killer and so DI Breck and DS Kearns are brought in to get the killer off the streets before he strikes again. Alexander Troy is picked up and but Troy has other ideas after his arrest. The opening is violent and leans towards brutal but this is what makes this crime novel work. The scene is set for a violent thriller.

Going back to the 1970’s meant going back to the old ways of police work and that meant banging on doors and lots of foot slogging to find avenues of enquiries. How times have changed! Credit to Otis for creating such a great pair in Breck and Kearns and how they each go about their detective work. Despite their own issues.

The London skyline of 1977 is very different and this really brings home how times have changed in methods of policing. The dreadful ‘Racial Profiling’ that took place made areas of London tense. So here in Dead Lands the author has succeeded in bringing the setting and historical aspect of crime and policing really jump off the page at you. If you got in the way, then the chances are you are going to get hurt or worse. You tend to forget just what the 1970’s where really like. Here it all is here in Dead Lands. Now the body count is rising and Breck and Kearns must get in there and get to grips with what is happening and fast and just who really is Alexander Troy?

At times harrowing and gritty but also complex this is terrific first crime novel that presses all the right buttons and delivers. Just think of the 1970’s and it is here. From the police to the streets and everything in-between. Nothing is left out. Yet again Urbane Publications have found another fantastic writer and a gritty pulsating debut. If you enjoy a thriller without the modern technology, then pick up a copy of Dead Lands and head back to the late 1970’s.

360 Pages.

Thank you to Matthew at Urbane Publications for the advanced review copy of Dead Lands.

Dead Lands by Lloyd Otis is published by Urbane Publications was published on 12^th October 2017 and is now available through Waterstones, Amazon and all good bookshops.