Procure Bye Bye Baby Chronicled By Fiona McIntosh Distributed As Publication

separate parts of England two bodies have been found both of them horribly mutilated, ritually humiliated, . . but strangely, it seems, most of the worst of the atrocities are committed after the men were heavily drugged, Aside from the method, which indicates a single killer, there's precious little obvious connection between these two victims, and Scotland Yard is called in to take over the investigation.
DCI Jack Hawksworth is put in charge of the investigation, despite an horrendous outcome in his last case, He puts together a team of investigators many of whom he has worked with before, DI Kate Carter is smart, ambitious, attractive and excited to be included in that team, Sure she has always found herself attracted to Hawk, but they have worked together before, and she's now engaged and planning her wedding.
Surely they can work together, Meanwhile the killer they seek is after vengeance for crimes past and it is not until Hawk and his team can work that out, that they have a chance of stopping the deaths.


BYE BYE BABY is the first crime novel by wellknown Australian Fantasy author Fiona McIntosh, which makes the reading of this supposedly debut novel make a lot more sense.
There's an aplomb about the structure of the story and accomplishment to the writing that can sometimes be less obvious in a debut novel.
There's also some elements in BYE BYE BABY that did stand out as the mark of a debut crime novelist, This dichotomy makes reviewing this book quite a challenge, There's a bit of tweaking of common crime fiction cliches in BYE BYE BABY, Jack Hawksworth is the gorgeous, much coveted DCI haunted by romantic attachments in the past and the death of a policeman in his last case these events still threaten his career.
He is counseled by his senior officers to take care in his relationships with his new team especially put together to track down this killer.
Kate Carter is attractive in her own right, but she's finding herself questioning her own marriage plans and increasingly feeling attracted to Jack and cannot control jealous reactions when he is encouraging of the younger, female DS in their team.
There's also the source of the original crime the event that triggered this killer's reactions and the killer themselves, Suffice to say there's a twist in there that you can see coming pretty early in the book, There are quite a few elements to the plot that are revealed to the reader much earlier than the police come across the detail which sort of gives the reader a bit of a pantomime feeling you sort of find yourself wanting to yell "he's behind you" or the literary equivalent at points throughout the book.
There is also some interesting characterisations going on there are points in this book that I sincerely disliked every single person police, victims, killer, families and all.
There were other points when it was possible to empathise, to understand but most of the time you weren't too sure whose side you were on.


What's really interesting was that you'd think that some the clunky plot elements, some of the romantic tension, the angst over personal lives, the almost voyeuristic feeling that the reader has in knowing what's going on a long time before the police work it out would detract considerably from the book.
But it doesn't totally turn you off, The aplomb of the writing, the tension of the story and the plot, the compassion you can feel for the killer keeps the reader occupied and engaged and just ever so slightly conflicted about what is really justice.
The final twist ending was, to tell the truth, hard to decide on, Was it intriguing, and in a strange way, a form of ultimate justice, or was it a convenient copout a desire by the author to throw that final massive twist the reader's way.
It's one of those endings that some readers are going to hate, and others are going to like,
Fabulous psychological thriller. I am exhausted and its all Fiona McIntoshs fault, My aunt suggested reading “Bye Bye Baby” by Ms McIntosh knowing my love for good detective stories, She said it was easytoread, wellwritten and almost felt like you were watching a TV show/movie unfold as you read, And she was right. It was wonderful from the first page, I was hooked. Then I read a truly disturbing scene integral to the book, I thought she wouldnt go there, would she She cant! But Ms McIntosh most certainly did, And atoclock in the morning when I had finished reading that part I had then watch Facebook videos for two hours before I could fall asleep the scene was so vividly disturbing.


I vowed not to read any further, Yet the next night I found myself still reading at:am, The next nightam. And every night until finally last night in the early hours I finished, Oh, I loved it. I cant remember the last time a book had me up reading consecutive nights into the early hours, One more chapter became my mantra, And thanks to Kindle, I was able to purchase the next book in the series, “Beautiful Death”,

As a side note as I was telling my colleague why I was so dreadfully sleepy at work, she told me she was having the same experience but with a book called “The Pearl Thief”.
When she finished her book in the wee hours, she discovered it was by the same author, We were both mesmerised, reading on and on as the hours passed, different books by the same author,

Fiona McIntosh. Welldone. I loved this book.
Before Fiona McIntosh made her name and the bestseller list with historical romantic fiction, she tried her hand at a couple of mystery/thrillers.
I picked up this one, the first of a shortlived series, cheaply and thought Id give it a go, Its not a bad book overall but I can perhaps see why she switched genres,

The story revolves around DCI Jack Hawksworth who is heading up the team on the hunt for a murderer who might just be a serial killer, given that two men have been found murdered in very similar ways.


Jack is an okay character but maybe a bit bland, We also get quite a lot from the killers point of view, including their background and motivation for killing, Im not sure what I thought about this I almost found some of the details were a little far fetched,

I wasnt sure about the romantic B plot either, Basically Jack has two potential suitors Kate, one of his underling detectives, and Sophie, his neighbour, It turns into more of a love quadrangle than triangle actually as Kate is already engaged to another man, None of it really works completely for me but I guess some of it might be explored further in the second book.


The length of this book is crazy, Its a hugepages. Obviously there were a lot of scenes that could have been cut Ill say the endless repeating of the background story of the killer it felt like McIntosh went over it again and again.


Also, despite the Bye Bye Baby's size, the mystery plot wasnt that complicated, In fact, one important plot point was glaringly obvious, The book detectives too, must have thought the same as they seemed to solve things and reach conclusions with apparent ease,

Ive got to mention too that McIntosh came across as someone with a bit of an issue with appearances, She probably spentof thosepages telling how handsome Jack was and how beautiful Sophie was, We also got passages and passages dedicated to how fat one of the other characters was, how handsome one of the victims was, and how one of the other potential victims was not handsome.
My care factor was low, I hope her historical fiction books dont always have these extremely cliched beautiful characters in them but I guess they probably do sigh

The Brighton area, on the other hand, doesnt really come out looking good! The old disused pier actually sounded horrid and the description of flocks of starlings living there only evoked thoughts of stinky bird dropping, Im afraid.


I probably will read the sequel though, One advantage of McIntosh abandoning the genre does mean its not too much of an effort to read a series of two books.
However, Ive checked and its crazy long too at almostpages, sigh

I guess Id give thisout of
I think I like these photographs best of all, he said, turning to a series of monochromes.
All of the same place, obviously,
Why do you like them
Theyre awfully lonely, very bleak,

Despite that, I like the defiance of the place probably because its a ruin rather than its onceproud self

Switching between Lincoln, London and Brighton, this thriller of a victim getting the ultimate revenge starts well but then for me, lost its momentum with the killers identity revealed onethird in.
Halfway I was close to a DNF: for a police procedural it suffered from too much bitchslapping and personal dramas with DCI Hawksworths handsome features and long legs choke!, and DI Carters domestic arrangements turning it into a soapopera.
Is this really how Scotland Yard operates The best character other than the killer, was DS Sarah Jones, fresh out of Hendon Police College so untainted by all the bshit.
The gay link was a bit too obvious,

The best part was the settings especially the denouement, As a reader who prefers atmosphere to melodrama, spoilt by too many Peter May novels perhaps I would have liked more in the descriptions the murmuration of starlings, the sounds and smells, but the weather was handled well.
Overall, an average read, but not one that leaves me wanting more, I met Fiona McIntosh at an event in Hervey Bay a few years ago, I didn't know much about her work then as I was still fairly new to book blogging and most of the books for which she's wellknown The Perfumer's Secret, The Chocolate Tin and The Pearl Thief to name her most recent releases are outside of my usual reading genre.


I did know however in addition to fantasy and historical fiction she's written about the art of novel writing and has been conducting writing masterclasses for some time.


Her Australian publisher is rereleasing a crime fiction series McIntosh published under the pseudonym Lauren Crow, which is right up my reading alley!
Read my review here: sitelink debbish. com/booksliterat I'm used to seeing Fiona McIntosh and thinking historical romance,
But she's doing a bloody good job of these crime novels,
Following DCI Jack Hawksworth, British copper, New Scotland Yard,
He is an engaging character, Too attractive to women, including his fellow officers, And a little naive with it too, He keeps being burned and doesn't seem to learn,
But he is a great policeman, if he could keep the women off his case,
Imagine, going to work everyday and not having to worry whether the women are falling in love with him, It means he's distracted from the work, worrying about bureaucracy and being accused of something all the time,
But he is very engaging and these crime stories are good,
This case follows a serial killer, Suddenly,years after a vicious and unreported crime the victim is seeking vengeance, And they are doing a fantastic job of it,
The killer is very clever, plans well, And is so unexpected that she easily tricks her 'now' victims,
And blindsides Jack Hawksworth,
Well done, Fiona. .