Sorrow Bound: The 3rd DS McAvoy Novel (Ds Aector Mcavoy)

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This book is a very dark, depressing book with no humor. The crimes depicted are horrific. The criminals are truly evil. I found that I could only re This book was received free thru the Goodreads First Reads giveaway program. I found that I could only read pages at a time, putting it down to sort thru the characters and how they related to each other and to the events in the book. I read it in 5 days. Perhaps if I had read books 1 and 2 of the series first I would have read it faster.

But it read ok as a stand alone. I have added books 1 and 2, Dark Winter and Original Sin to my want to read category. This is my first Goodreads giveaway book review. I hope that it helps others on deciding if the book is a worthwhile read.

More books by David Mark

To help him integrate back into his role he has to see the Police psychologist to get a clean bill of health. There is no falling out with either his superiors or the most junior members of his team but when it becomes apparent there is a sadistic serial killer menacing the good citizens of Hull, Aector is determined to find the culprit, and of course to catch him there he has to understand the motive.

However, I think the subject matter is given a little lift by the observations such as walls being described as the colour of Elastoplast, the musing over whether his psychologist had been saddled with a rhyming name from birth and one action scene in a laundrette made me smile whilst simultaneously wincing, an art indeed!

Although the serial murder plot is neatly tied up with only a slight rising of my eyebrows as to motive the ongoing issue of the drugs plot that wove its way through the book is left to be continued in the next book where Aector may have to face the consequences of a long kept secret. Jan 29, John Bohnert rated it really liked it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this engrossing police procedural set in Hull, UK. Eager to read the fourth novel in this series. The prologue wastes no time grabbing your attention as we're dropped into the story of a badly burned man running for his life from an ugly mob. In the present, McAvoy is suffering through another mandatory chat with a police psychologist. So when he's paged by his boss Trish Pharaoh, he flees with relief though it's short lived once he gets an eyeful at a fresh murder scene. The victim is an older woman.

She won't be the last. Meanwhile, the cops are dealing with infighting among various criminal gangs. Through blackmail, they've cultivated sources on every level of society including the police force. These are the two main story lines but there are several subplots featuring returning characters that are interconnected.

But the main focus is on Aector. His colleagues see him as "Mr. Clean", a by the book type of guy but when his family is threatened his famous self control begins to crack, revealing a much darker more violent side. Trish comes across as a ballsy, slightly inappropriate career cop juggling the demands of her job with a stressful home life. As for Aector, he's a guy with the weigh of the world on his shoulders.

This is not a nice, tidy police procedural. No doubt fans of this series will be waiting impatiently to snap up the next instalment to see how it all shakes out. Jul 02, Nancy Oakes rated it really liked it Shelves: As Sorrow Bound opens, DS Aector McAvoy in Hull, East Yorkshire, is called to a horrific murder scene which might be gang related - McAvoy's boss tells him that the murdered woman had recently spoken out publicly against street dealers wrecking the neighborhood.

When another woman is murdered, the police make a discovery that throws the gang-related t like a 3. When another woman is murdered, the police make a discovery that throws the gang-related theory right out the window. However, while Aector is busy with the police-mandated shrink, moving his family into a new home and trying to function in this investigation with very little sleep, a drug runner makes a serious error that will bring a cocky, self-styled "prince of the city" drug dealer with a lot of serious, well-placed protection behind him crashing into the life of one of McAvoy's colleagues and into the lives of McAvoy's family.

David Mark's third entry in this series featuring DS Aector McAvoy is the best he's written and also the darkest of all three books. For some people the dark tone of the novel may be a drawback, but for me, it's a definite plus. He ratchets up both the tension and the darkness, and there's nothing at all formulaic to complain about in this series of police procedurals.

Once I picked it up, I didn't want to stop reading it. So here's the big niggle which is really hard to scoot around since I don't really want to give anything away: Then not long afterward, the same person, who you'd think would be so frightened as to listen to advice at this point, does something so foolishly stupid as to be just plain dumb, also very much out of character.

I suspect that the repercussions that may follow for the last scene in this novel will lead to a major game changer for what's next in the series, and to an even bigger angst-fest than I've seen in any of the McAvoy novels so far. While you most certainly can read this book as a standalone, I'm a true series purist so my advice is to start with The Dark Winter and continue with Original Skin before reading Sorrow Bound. Just a heads up: My thanks again to Blue Rider Press for the lovely copy they sent me to read. In my review for the previous book in this series, Original Skin, I said: That is one of the more positive aspects of this book, although some of it is told in more detail than I want.

There are two plot lines going simultaneously in Sorrow Bound. McAvoy and Pharaoh are investigating several deaths which appear to be related. The Serious and Organized Crime Unit that Pharoah heads is in flux; they take on this case although it isn't strictly under their purview. A high profile case related to drug gangs has been shifted to other detectives in the same department, but ends up involving Roisin, McAvoy's wife. I found the second book in the series to contain too much explicit violence for me.

Sorrow Bound (Aector McAvoy, #3) by David Mark

I don't avoid all books with violence; I find that my tolerance for violence varies from book to book. In Sorrow Bound, the violence continued to be a problem for me. As the positive review at Publisher's Weekly says: David Mark includes more elements of the personal lives of his characters in his novels than I am usually comfortable with. This time the family and personal issues of just about all the policemen was very evident, but I felt the story line allowed for that and that element was handled well.

I also felt like this could work very well as a standalone book, until I got to the end. I was not pleased at all with the end of this book.

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There is a cliffhanger ending and it is a doozy. I can accept plot lines that continue throughout a series, even though I would prefer closure. But this one was too much for me. I don't plan to read any more books in this series. This book gets rave reviews; there are very few negative reviews.

Several reviewers whose opinion I respect were very positive about this book. I agree that the plotting and the character development are great. I don't like stories told in the present tense, but that is a minor point. So, if you think this story might appeal to you, seek out some other reviews or give it a try. You will probably like it. Aug 04, Suspense Magazine rated it really liked it. As the novel opens, McAvoy is in a mandatory therapy session with a psychologist, a great way to introduce series newcomers to the big, conflicted Scotsman.

Sorrow Bound

Mark shows an attention for detail that gives readers both a sense of place and sharp insights into the complex, layered characters of the story. This main mystery, linked to a gruesome crime of the past, is an effective and complicated story with some good twists and turns, and it reaches an exciting conclusion. Unfortunately, its development relies on a couple of hard-to-believe decisions by McAvoy and Roisin and ends with a cliffhanger that will challenge the patience of readers forced to wait for the next book to find out exactly what happened.

Jun 12, Janet Newport rated it it was amazing Shelves: I won a copy of Sorrow Bound through a GoodReads give-away in exchange for my unbiased review. As soon as I finished Sorrow Bound, I downloaded his second book to my Kindle and read and enjoyed it before writing this review. I like dark and gritty. David Mark's books are dark and gritty. But there is also a very human element as well. Love the developing relationship between Aector and his boss Trish. Aector is less self-confident in his personal life than in his professional life He's uncomfortable with "tactful ambiguity", but somehow manages to live with it although not peacefully.

He seems to have an unlimited capacity for compassion and forgiveness. I keep waiting for him to "harden", but so far he hasn't. In that respect he reminds me of Louise Penny's Gamache An old and closed crime has to be reinvestigated in order to get a grip on the current killings. The plot is twisty enough that it is not predictable. But it is the characters that make Sorrow Bound shine. Did hate the cliff-hanger ending always do.

Jul 23, Dana Stabenow rated it liked it. Really well written and plotted, with a lot of in-your-face violence to pretty much every character in the book, so don't get too fond of anyone. If you like your mysteries hard-boiled and very, very dark, this one's for you. Sorrow Bound was a dark and gripping read with an original central character in DS McAvoy ; he's not addicted to anything, loves his wife and children and has a strong moral code.

Excellently written ,stylish, descriptive and full of a brooding ,oppressive atmosphere, David Mark also brings the city of Hull vividly to life. There were hints of back story but nothing that s Sorrow Bound was a dark and gripping read with an original central character in DS McAvoy ; he's not addicted to anything, loves his wife and children and has a strong moral code. There were hints of back story but nothing that spoilt the overall story. An excellent and compelling novel which I can heartily recommend.

I'll certainly be looking out for more DS McAvoy books! Whilst I think it's best to have read previous books first, I did really enjoy this book and I will definitely be rectifying the mistake of not having read this author before in the very near future! Just after reading the book's Prologue I knew I would love this book. In the first chapter we are introduced to Aector McEvoy. Straightaway I was intrigued.

McEvoy is talking to a psychiatrist not by Before Sorrow Bound I hadn't read a David Mark book before but knew that this was part of a series. McEvoy is talking to a psychiatrist not by choice and immediately I wanted to know why.

What's happened in the past to get him to this point? Clearly this is a man with demons and a past, I can't wait to read previous books. Aector is a very, very intriguing character. David Mark has definitely created a very unique character here. The book also has a fantastic cast of characters, especially Aector's superior Trish Pharaoh. David Mark does not hold back with this book.

Me personally I like my crime fiction to be as gruesome as possible. However I have read reviews of other books which are particularly gruesome where people say they didn't like it. That certainly isn't the case for me. The descriptions used and the ways in which characters are killed definitely isn't for the faint hearted, very, very brutal.

In a crime fiction book I ask for brutal deaths, non-stop action and a storyline which makes you want to keep reading until you reach the end. I got that with this book, and then some! We learn that there is a long running drug storyline carrying on from books one and two and I can't wait to go back and read more about that. The book was definitely gripping from start to finish.

Murder, blackmail, mystery, intrigue and a bit of humour thrown into the mix. What more can you want? I also enjoyed the setting. A lot of the crime fiction I have read recently has been either set in America or London and so it was a nice change to read one set in Hull. I don't know much about Hull other than it is going to be the City of Culture and it's where this book is set. It is clear however from reading the book that the author has captured it incredibly well.

I always want the place s that books are set to play as much a role in the book as the actual characters and Hull definitely came alive and died within this book's pages. I will definitely be purchasing books 1 and 2 very soon and will be eagerly awaiting book number 4! Jan 19, Gloria Feit rated it it was amazing. This is the third entry in the series featuring Detective Sergeant Aector McAvoy, and is every bit as terrific as the first two.

England has been going through a prolonged and oppressive ho This is the third entry in the series featuring Detective Sergeant Aector McAvoy, and is every bit as terrific as the first two. England has been going through a prolonged and oppressive hot spell, although the sky holds promise of a saturating rain storm at any moment.

In a separate plot line, McAvoy is assigned the investigation into two killings which take place within 24 hours. McAvoy is second-guessing himself, and his career choice: Sat in too many rooms with too much grief; felt too many eyes upon him as he made his promises to the dead. The only connection between the victims seems to relate to events almost 15 years in the past, an even more horrific series of crimes perpetrated by a man who was incarcerated but sentenced to treatment in a psychiatric facility, and is now mostly incapacitated by a stroke.

The novel is wonderfully well written, and gradually the suspense mounts until, with less than a hundred pages to go, I became actually fearful of reading further, not wanting to find out what is about to happen next, as I nonetheless started turning pages more and more quickly. The only certain thing about the plot is that one must expect the unexpected. Jun 19, Jenny Boyce rated it really liked it Shelves: While Sorrow Bound by David Mark is the third book in a series, it certainly proves itself as a standalone book.

This story had me hooked right from the get-go, with palpable characters, frantic plot, and marvelous storytelling. The story follows Detective Aector McAvoy as he discovers the slain bodies of some young women. Originally attributing the killings to drug dealers, the police department quickly changes their minds as more details of the killings http: Originally attributing the killings to drug dealers, the police department quickly changes their minds as more details of the killings and more killings shed new light on the case.

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McAvoy sets out to stop the killer, all the while dealing with his own problems at home. The characters in this book are absolutely tangible. I felt as if I was living right there with them, throughout the pages of the book. The love and loyalty that the characters expressed for each other was easily identifiable throughout the story.

I felt as if the characters were all real people, people that I knew in real life. Throughout the story I enjoyed reading more about the lives of the characters because of how real they felt. The plot of Sorrow Bound was fantastic. Fast moving and deep, the plot carried me away like a swift river, not letting me go until the final pages. There are plenty of plot twists throughout the book and many parts that will leave you guessing, glued to the pages until you find out what happened. This book definitely contains a masterfully woven plot.

Mark certainly understands how to write a good police procedural or thriller. There wasn't a part of the story where I was confused or unsure as to what was going on as Mark smoothly conveyed information to the reader in a clear manner. I will definitely be looking for more works written by David Mark. I would highly recommend this book for those looking for a good police procedural or thriller. I wouldn't go with this book if you're squeamish about dark and depressing topics, although it's a highly good read.

Jun 30, Annette rated it it was amazing. In Sorrow Bound, we see the same confused, compassionate human just trying to do his job, which is catching serial killers. The Dark Winter is his first novel. The World According to Anna. The Unfinished Novel and Other stories. From the Place in the Valley Deep in the Forest. Books David Mark Sorrow Bound: Philippa Longman did what we all aim to do. She did the right thing. She's about to pay for it with her life DS McAvoy has spent his career playing by the rules. He has the scars to show for it.

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