A smart police procedural

 

⭑⭑⭑⭑  Risk of Harm grew on me the deeper I made it into the novel. By the end I was sold...mostly. I still harbor a niggling annoyance as to why relationships from Robin's teens should carry so much weight many years later when she, herself, is an adult with a teen daughter of her own? Beyond that, the story improved with time as it spun off in unforeseen, meaningful directions.

The second of a series, but the first I've read, it was easy enough to pick up and run without all the backstory as the earlier years of DCI Robin Lyons were reflected on plenty throughout the text. The investigation into the unidentified young woman found dead in a defunct industrial area of Birmingham led down a number of rabbit holes but was smartly conceived and executed so as to impress the reader. I am easy prey for a good police procedural and this brought with it not only solid police investigative craft but a personal element as Robin navigates the choppy waters of her immediate family and a potential love life. A good series beacons, here, and I look forward to reading more as additional books are published.