Now, I have a TBR pile that is enormous with over 900 physical and over 1200 ebooks awaiting my attention so I am not actually accepting new blog tours at the moment. That said, I think it tells you something about my love of Noelle Holten’s writing that I readily agreed to participate in the paperback tour for her third D.C. Maggie Jamieson novel, Dead Perfect. My thanks to Sarah Hardy of Books on the Bright Side publicity for inviting me to take part.

If you read my review of Noelle’s Dead Inside here, and Dead Wrong here, you’ll see why I was so keen to read Dead Perfect.

Out now in ebook from One More Chapter and published in paperback on 24th December 2020, Dead Perfect is available for purchase through the links here.

Dead Perfect

A murdered woman…

When the body of a young woman is found in a local park, DC Maggie Jamieson knows she’s dealing with no ordinary killer.  The murder victim has been disfigured; her outfit changed to resemble someone else.  Someone Maggie knows all too well…her close friend Dr Kate Moloney.

A determined detective…

Maggie is determined to keep her friend safe, but with Kate already struggling with a threatening stalker, Maggie now fears Kate’s life is in real danger.  Who else would want to harm Kate and why else would the killer be turning his victims into exact replicas – his living dolls?

Can Maggie find the depraved killer?  Or will Kate become his next living doll?

My Review of Dead Perfect

This case for Maggie is personal!

I rarely read a series of books and when I do I find it tricky to recall what happened in the previous book, but Noelle Holten has the ability to plunge her reader right to the heart of Dead Perfect without missing a beat from the previous book, whilst simultaneously not requiring them to have read anything before to grasp what is happening effortlessly.

Short fast paced chapters, natural dialogue and realistic police procedures threaded throughout Dead Perfect keep the reader hooked right the way through and make for an exciting read. I love the way the pace escalates towards the denouement with the next book in the series set up so cleverly. What I enjoyed so much about the plot of Dead Perfect was the fact that although it contains surprises, it never feels unrealistic. On occasion I’d have liked the police to behave differently, but at no point did I feel their actions were not completely authentic.

In Dead Perfect, Maggie’s personality is further developed so that I felt I really had come to know her well, and further to that I cared about her even more. She is by no means perfect, frequently quick tempered, sometimes reckless but loyal and determined so that she has a credibility for the reader. Indeed, I found her psychology almost as engaging as the plot.

An aspect of Dead Perfect that I found quite disturbing was the author’s understanding and knowledge of crime, of criminal psychology and of previous real life cases that add extra layers of interest but at the same time made me wonder just what kind of authorial mind can create this kind of book! Noelle Holten knows exactly how much to reveal to her readers to create tension, to make them anxious and to keep them turning the pages, desperate to know the outcome of the case.

Dead Perfect is another crime book winner from Noelle Holten. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and am still wondering what might happen next in the lives of Maggie et al. I will just have to read the next book in the series to find out!

About Noelle Holten

Noelle Holten is an award-winning blogger at www.crimebookjunkie.co.uk. She is the PR and Social Media Manager for Bookouture, a leading digital publisher in the UK, and a regular reviewer on the Two Crime Writers and a Microphone podcast. Noelle worked as a Senior Probation Officer for eighteen years, covering a variety of cases including those involving serious domestic abuse. She has three Hons BA’s – Philosophy, Sociology (Crime & Deviance) and Community Justice – and a Masters in Criminology. Noelle’s hobbies include reading, author-stalking and sharing the #booklove via her blog.

Dead Inside was her debut novel with Killer Reads/Harper Collins UK and the start of a new series featuring DC Maggie Jamieson.

For more information about Noelle, follow her on Twitter @nholten40, find her on Facebook, Amazon and visit her blog.

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