‘The Blood We Share’ by Morgan Greene

Published by Canelo Crime,
17 July 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-80436-975-3 (PB)

Dark deeds can lie concealed under the most peaceful and benign façades. Jacob Taylor has lived in Devil's Lake all his life, and despite the small town's sinister name, he's never had cause for concern. Until one life-changing night. He's driving home, very carefully, in an alcoholic haze when a young woman, barefoot and covered in blood, stumbles into his path. She begs for help, and he takes her home with him.  

Next thing he knows, the woman has disappeared and he's in a police cell accused of murder and kidnapping, and two burly officers are trying to kill him. It's all downhill from there, and not only for Jacob. 

On the outskirts of town is a large house shrouded in mystery. Most people avoid it, and all the locals know about it is that top-quality soft fruit is grown in the extensive grounds and sold in the shops and markets. But the young woman has painted a very different picture, and after Jacob escapes from his captors they meet again, and she fills in even more horrifying detail. With the help of his capable sister and a police officer who still has scruples, he sets out to investigate. 

There are four main players: Jacob himself, the young woman, Jacob's sister Steph, and Todd Ellis, the policeman with a conscience. They come across as ordinary people who want to get on with their lives but find themselves entangled in a difficult situation. In the background various others include corrupt policemen and gullible – or trapped – women, but they are less distinctive and more stereotypical. 

The scenario which emerges is fraught with danger and convoluted to the point of labyrinthine, and it's matched by a narrative structure which is almost as complex, jumping from one viewpoint character to another and in more than one timeframe. None of that detracts from the horror of what Jacob discovers. The entire story is not one for the faint-hearted or weak-stomached: a mounting body count and explosive denouement are only part of it. This is crime fiction of the down and dirty variety.
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Reviewer: Lynne Patrick 

Morgan Greene is the pen name of British author Daniel Morgan. He studied Creative Writing and English Literature at Swansea University with a focus on narrative structure and theory. Author of the bestselling Detective Jamie Johansson series, Daniel currently lives in South Wales with his partner. Has strong ties to Scandinavia. 

Lynne Patrick has been a writer ever since she could pick up a pen, and has enjoyed success with short stories, reviews and feature journalism, but never, alas, with a novel. She crossed to the dark side to become a publisher for a few years and is proud to have launched several careers which are now burgeoning. She lives in Oxfordshire in a house groaning with books, about half of them crime fiction.