Originally published: 7 March 2019

Author: M J Arlidge

Published by: Penguin Books

Genre: Thriller

Length: 480 pages

Reading dates: 12-15 March 2019

Adam Brandt is a forensic psychologist based in Chicago, working closely with the police to assess criminals with mental health issues.  Kassie Wojcek is a troubled teenager – she skips school, is into petty theft, is a loner and takes recreational drugs.  She also says she has premonitions – by looking into someone’s eyes, she can see and often feel how they are going to die.

When she bumps into Jacob Jones, a district state attorney on the street and accidentally makes eye contact, she gets a terrifying vision of how he will die and freaks out, trying to warn Jacob.  He assumes she is trying to attack him and she is taken to the police station.  Adam is drafted in to access the state of her mental health.  He knows she must be insane but before long it is clear a serial killer is targeting the city, and Kassie is the only one who knows how and when the next victim will die.

When I have mentioned I was reading this, many other bloggers asked if I had read Arlidge’s DI Helen Grace series of thrillers.  I haven’t, but after reading this, it is a series I will adding to my every growing wish list!

A Gift for Dying is quite a long book but the pace was fast and exciting and the short snappy chapters meant I read it really quickly.  I loved the fact that this was a police procedural style novel – we hear from Detective Gabrielle Grey as well as Adam and Kassie, but the novel also hints at the supernatural.  Should we believe Kassie has this ability, or is she somehow involved in the murders? Or is she just in fact insane?

Gripping and suspenseful, A Gift for Dying is a must read for anyone who loves a good thriller – you won’t be disappointed!

Many thanks to Tracy Fenton for inviting me on the blog tour.  Be sure to checkout the other stops below:

About the author:

M. J. Arlidge is the international bestselling author of the Detective Helen Grace Thrillers, including Hide and Seek, Little Boy Blue, Liar Liar, The Doll’s House, Pop Goes the Weasel, and his debut, Eeny Meeny, which has been sold in twenty-nine countries. He has worked in television for the past fifteen years.

Matt now lives in Hertfordshire with his wife and two children.  He has a fondness for tennis, foreign travel, Bond films and liquorice allsorts.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mjarlidge