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Wednesday, 10 June 2015

‘To Kill For’ by Philip Hunter



Published by Head of Zeus,
1st October 2014.
ISBN: 978-1-7818-5338-2


This is a truly gritty crime thriller about hatred and revenge.   Brutal action is pared down to the absolute basics of vengeance and score-settling by the protagonist, Joe., who returns from fighting in the Falklands to discover that Brenda, the only woman he has ever felt anything for, has been murdered on the orders of a London crime boss.  But there is nothing romantic about this hard man.  The moment in which he buys Brenda a dress from a market stall – the wrong size – is almost the only glimpse the reader is given of an empty heart that has never allowed itself to love. He is not a sympathetic character, yet the reader is strangely drawn into his sad and misdirected life.

He is now a hitman, so ideally placed to exact revenge for Brenda's particularly violent death.  His aim is to take out everyone who had anything to do with it.  There are sub-plots involving drugs and rival gangs, and semi-bent undercover cops. There are more twists and turns in the narrative than in a pitful of snakes.  

If you like your crime reading hard, fast and brutal, then To Kill For ticks all the boxes. 
------ 
Reviewer: Susan Moody

Phillip Hunter has a degree in English Literature from Middlesex University and an MA in Screenwriting form the London Institute. He was part of the team that sequenced the human genome. - See more at: http://headofzeus.com/books/To%20Kill%20For#sthash.F3Z3e6o7.dpuf


Susan Moody was born and brought up in Oxford.  She has published over 30 crime and suspense novels, including the Penny Wanawake series and the Cassandra Swann bridge series.  She is a past Chairman of the British Crime Writers' Association, a member of the Detection Club, a past Writer-in-Residence at the University of Tasmania and a past President of the International Association of Crime Writers.  She divides her time between south-west France and south-east Kent.   Nominated for the CWA short story award.  Nominated for the RNA's award. 

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