Book review: Blackwater

Author James Henry has taken what he learned from writing three prequels to R.D. Wingfield’s popular DI Jack Frost series and created this police novel set in Essex, featuring DI Nick Lowry, a hard-bitten cop with a talent for boxing. 

James Henry

Riverrun, €15.20

(ebook €7.60)

Set in 1980’s Colchester, the story is very much centred around this being a garrison town.

This plot line is bolstered by the typical top army brass, and army boxing organiser, which cause Nick no end of trouble during his investigation into an incident involving two soldiers, when what started as an accident escalates into murder.

It’s a well-paced read with the events only spanning a short timeline, and serves its purpose to introduce us to Lowry and his immediate colleagues, yet it leaves some loose ends, allowing the development of each character in later novels.