Evil Games by Angela Marsons

Val Penny ♦ December 29, 2019 ♦ Leave a comment

Angela Marsons was a new author to me, although I had heard a lot about her novels and they were highly commended. I’ll be honest, I chose Evil Games because it was on sale. It transpires this is the second book in her DI Kim Stone series, but it really doesn’t matter because this works perfectly well as a standalone novel.

In Evil Games a rapist is found mutilated in a brutal attack, Detective Kim Stone and her team are called in to bring a swift resolution. However, more vengeful killings come to light and it becomes clear that there is someone far more sinister at work.

The investigations are quickly gathering momentum, and the novel becomes increasingly tense and dark. There were parts that even I, as a crime novel officiando found too dark. The character of DI Kim Stone also reminded me a bit of MJ Arlidge’s Detective Helen Grace, so it all felt a bit derivative. Any way, Stone finds herself exposed to great danger and in the sights of a lethal individual undertaking their own wicked experiment. She is up against a sociopath who seems to know her every weakness, each move she makes could be deadly. As the body count starts to mount, Stone must dig deep to stop the killing spree. 

The reader learns more about Stone’s childhood; she starts opening up, just slightly, to her friend Bryant – and she acquires a dog. There are some tight well-written climactic scenes. I would probably read another book in this series, but I wouldn’t shuffle my TBR pile to get it to the top.

Author

Angela is the author of the Kim Stone Crime series. She discovered a love of writing at Primary School when a short piece on the rocks and the sea gained her the only merit point she ever got.
Angela wrote the stories that burned inside and then stored them safely in a desk drawer.
After much urging from her partner she began to enter short story competitions in Writer’s News resulting in a win and three short listed entries. The rest, is history!

Val Penny