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  • First Blood

  • Written by: Angela Marsons
  • Narrated by: Jan Cramer
  • Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (9 ratings)

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First Blood

Written by: Angela Marsons
Narrated by: Jan Cramer
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Publisher's Summary

In the darkness of a cold December morning, Detective Kim Stone steps through the doors of Halesowen Police Station. She’s about to meet her team for the first time. The victim of her next case is about to meet his killer....

When the body of a young man is found beheaded and staked to the ground in a secluded area of the Clent Hills, Kim and her new squad rush to the crime scene.

Searching the victim’s home, Kim discovers a little girl’s bedroom and a hidden laptop. Why is his sister relieved to hear he’s dead - and where is the rest of his family?

As Kim begins to unearth the dark secrets at the heart of the case, DC Stacey Woodward becomes convinced that this murder is somehow linked to a women’s shelter. As a child of the care system herself, Kim knows all too well what it means to be vulnerable.

With the killer about to strike again, Kim is in deep water with a rookie squad. Inexperienced Stacey is showing signs of brilliance but struggling to hold her nerve and, while D.S. Bryant is reliable and calm, D.S. Dawson is a liability. With his home life in pieces, his volatile behaviour is already fracturing her fragile new team.

Can Kim bring Dawson in line and pull her crew together in time to catch the killer before another life is taken? This time, one of her own could be in terrible danger....

Discover where it all began for Kim and her team. An absolutely heart-stopping mystery thriller. Perfect for Kim Stone fans and new listeners to the million-copy best-selling series.

This audio edition includes exclusive bonus content. In conversation with narrator Jan Cramer, Angela Marsons talks about her writing process, her journey to being published, and never-before-told insights into the series and Kim Stone’s character. Not available in other formats.

A detective hiding dark secrets, Kim Stone will stop at nothing to protect the innocent.

©2019 Angela Marsons (P)2019 Bookouture

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Chiilling Crime, Meet the team

First Blood is a prequel to the Kim Stone series. It was nice to go back to the beginning and meet all the members of Kim's team as she does. Seeing their first impressions, personalities and quirks was enjoyable. The case was interesting as it involved someone meting out punishment of crimes committed, often not public or even general knowledge. Ad Kim and her team find more victims of similar crimes, they try to get all the cases brought to them without any luck. It is tough to crack the case. I loved Kim's comment about solving this case is like trying to put together a puzzle with only half the pieces. Each member of the team has their strengths and they work together to figure out who is doing the killing and to catch the killer.

I listened to this book after reading and listening to the first 9 in the series. I still loved this book and was white knuckling it as I listened. This story was not populated by the strong, well-formed team of the other books, but laid them out with all their insecurities, social issues and problems with authority. Of DI Kim Stone is not the easiest person to get to know or work with and you need to earn her trust if you want to stay on her team. I liked getting to know each of them better as some of the backstory gives us insight into why they act in certain ways and who they really are. As they get to know each other, trust begins to build which allows them to put the pieces together to solve this multi-layered crime. Believe me, this was not just an introduction to the team, but a twisted crime spree by an evil or disturbed individual that was as interesting as any other case they have solved in other books. I began listening to the audiobooks somewhere around book 5. Jan Cramer has been the narrator and I love her performances. She gives each character an individual voice that fits what I expected from each of them. She has a strong voice that uses tone and expression to bring intensity and emotion to the story. I recommend the D.I. Kim Stone series to those who like police procedurals and crime thrillers and if you like audiobooks, then I do recommend you listen to them.

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  • Overall
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enjoyable

Jan Kramer is a consistently great narrator (with the exception the voice of Stacey, whose accent is... something) and Angela Marsons writes a consistently good mystery. This was a very solid entry.
The mystery was great, and I was genuinely thrown off track by the red herrings! I didn't figure out the killer, but when it was revealed, I thought "d'oh! of course!" which is always a treat. It was nice to get an introduction to the characters. I appreciated that the author didn't just info dump or go repeat the things we learn in book one, but still managed to provide insight into the characters.

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