I’m dead, for all intents and purposes. Nobody knows I’m alive…
Ben Bracken is on the run for his life. Keeping a low profile from the agencies seeking to silence him, he finds refuge in the quiet town of Horning. Working in a boat yard and lodging with an older couple, Eric and Dot, Ben uses this time to plan. He needs to escape, and realising his only chance will reveal his whereabouts to some unsavoury characters, he plans every detail. Little does he know, even that won’t be enough…
Just before he walks away, murder strikes the quiet town. Ben cannot leave until he is sure that he has not brought any further trouble to the townsfolk. Will he be able to exact revenge? One thing is certain, there is a lot more going on in the town of Horning than meets the eye…
The Penny Black is action packed from beginning to end, keeping you guessing right the way through.
The Penny Black by Rob Parker is the third book in the Ben Bracken series and was published by Endeavour Media on 1 September 2019.
My thanks to the author and publisher who sent my copy for review, and who invited me to take part on this Blog Tour.
Despite the fact that I've not yet read the first two books in the Ben Bracken series, I was soon totally engrossed in this fast-paced and intricately woven thriller.
The author cleverly incorporates enough of our lead character's past into the present story to enable any reader to easily pick up on events past, and to become caught up in his current predicaments!
What I really loved about The Penny Black was the author's wonderfully descriptive writing. Yes, this is an action-packed, pretty gritty crime thriller, but his use of words when talking about the Norfolk countryside, or describing each character is, at times, quite beautiful.
"The dark eyes, brown, wide and granite as ever, fix me with recognition Her features are as flawless as I remember, a perfect image of classical beauty in an imperfect world. A housing-estate Cleopatra."
Ben Bracken is one of those characters that the reader will love even though we really shouldn't; a bit dodgy, with a chequered past, but his sense of social justice and determination to get to the bottom of things is compelling and I couldn't help but cheer him on.
Ben is officially in hiding. He's working the dirtiest of jobs, cash in hand, no questions asked. He's settled in a sleep Norfolk hideaway and is hoping for a quieter life than he's been used to in the past. However, it's clear that trouble follows Ben and sure enough, his past comes back to haunt him and before long he's caught up in trouble with a capital T.
It's a finely woven tale, that will leave the reader breathless at times, and the explosive and unexpected ending sent a shock wave that lingered for quite a while after closing the book.
A gripping thriller, intelligently written with a super sonic pace. I really enjoyed it.
Robert Parker is a married father of three, who lives in a village near Manchester, UK. The author of the Ben Bracken books A Wanted Man and Morte Point, and the standalone post-Brexit country-noir Crook’s Hollow, he enjoys a rural life on an old pig farm (now minus pigs), writing horrible things between school runs.He writes full time, as well as organising and attending various author events across the UK - while boxing regularly for charity. Passionate about inspiring a love of the written word in young people, he spends a lot of time in schools across the North West, encouraging literacy, story-telling, creative-writing and how good old fashioned hard work tends to help good things happen.
Website : www.robparkerauthor.com
Twitter : @robparkerauthor
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