Tag: Latent Damage

Cover Blown

by Ian Robinson
Series: DI Nash and DS Moretti, #2

Kindle Edition, 185 pg.
The Book Folks, 2021

Read: February 24-25, 2021

What’s Cover Blown About?

Fresh off the events of Latent Damage DI Nash’s team dives into a new murder case. Two women have been murdered in clearly connected events, sadly, that’s the only thing that seems to connect them (well, that and they’re cat owners, but does that count?). Nash and Moretti are quickly stymied by the strange circumstances around the cases.

Meanwhile, Nash is helping out an undercover unit on the side. She’s as disciplined as possible with this, keeping her priority on the homicides, but she occasionally has to step away, leaving Moretti to direct the team’s efforts. At some point (and I’m only saying this because it’s in the publisher’s description), evidence is uncovered that indicates DI Nash had been in communication with both victims.

A Thought About DI Nash

I like Nash—watching her juggle the murder cases and the undercover operation is something you don’t get to see often in procedurals (particularly from someone of her rank). We haven’t (so far) gotten too deep with her and what makes her tick—but I like what we’ve seen so far, she’s an interesting character. Which is all I’m looking for—an interesting and compelling character.

That said, I wouldn’t want her as a boss. She’s mercurial, she seems to manage primarily through threats, and while she’ll come through or her team when the chips are down, it’d be good to see her do that before I got to that stage (she’s also better at looking out for them with outsiders than among themselves).

Basically, I like reading about her but wouldn’t want to work for/with her. There’s part of me that hopes she grows into a better manager as the series progresses—but I also enjoy seeing someone successful and flawed.

So, what did I think about Cover Blown?

While this is the Nash and Moretti series, in the first book, there was a definite emphasis on Moretti. This book focused on Nash—I really hope this balancing act continues (think Lydia Chin/Bill Smith books by S. J. Rozan, but in the third person), it’s a good way to tell the duo’s story (and the team’s) without the perspective becoming stale or allowing one character to take over.

The dialogue issues I had in the first book were either absent or so rare in this installment that they never bugged me—and that goes for some of the other stumbles I thought were made in Latent Damage—it feels like Robinson’s more comfortable in this new voice, this new world, and that’s good news for the reader.

The procedural element of this novel is one of the strengths, the sheer effort involved in making the slightest progress in a murder inquiry is something to behold. With these books, Robinson is blending the murder team, the work of those who handle informants, and an undercover unit, which is another layer of difficulty to portray well, and Robinson nails that. I can’t remember if I talked much about it in the post about the last book, but this team spends a lot of time and effort on avenues that don’t ultimately lead where they want to go. I love seeing that—particularly (and I expect realistically) when they end up turning up other criminal activity.

Good characters, fascinating cases, a couple of exciting moments, and an all-around entertaining novel. I’d encourage you to grab hop on to this series here at the beginning—this is a keeper.

4 Stars

Latent Damage by Ian Robinson: A Compelling Series Debut

By HCNewton

On March 10, 2021

In Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Latent Damage

by Ian Robinson
Series: DI Nash and DS Moretti, #1

Kindle Edition, 199 pg.
The Book Folks, 2021

Read: February 16-17, 2021

What’s Latent Damage About?

Being awakened at 5 in the morning on a Saturday morning to come to a crime scene is not what DS Nick Moretti had planned. He’s got a vacation—sorry, holiday—coming up in a couple of weeks, and a homicide investigation could derail that. All part of the fun in the Met’s Homicide and Serious Crime Command.

When he arrives at the crime scene, Moretti discovers that the victim is a Muslim man whose throat was cut just across the street from his mosque. Automatically, the assumption is this is some sort of right-wing group acting out Anti-Muslim sentiment.

Moretti’s DI, Pip Nash spent some time in an undercover unit and still has a lot of contacts there—she’s able to use some of them to help once they get a direction to look in, but first they need to get a motive and some suspects.

While they’re still struggling to get some momentum for the investigation, another body shows up—with his throat cut in a similar fashion—this time, however, it’s an Anglican priest who was the victim.

Now, the team has two members of religious communities murdered in December—this is a PR nightmare in the making for the Met. Will these detectives and the rest of their team be able to stop the killer before another corpse shows up?

DI Nash and DS Moretti

DI Pip Nash is career-oriented, by the book type. She knows what she wants out of members of her team and isn’t afraid to demand it. Her background with the UC team adds a fun twist to things, and watching both the informants’ team and the UC team work with the homicide team is a nice change of pace—I’m used to seeing one of these entities at work, watching them cooperate (to whatever degree) is a great way to start a series.

DS Nick Moretti is less career-oriented (it seems), he’s definitely less by the book (he’s lucky if his alarm gets set in the morning). But he seems to do a good job of rallying the troops and putting the pieces of the murder together. His personal life is in an interesting state (although he has one, and it doesn’t seem that Nash does), and seems like it will prove fertile ground for drama in the future.

I’ve seen versions of both of these characters in books here and there—rarely as a team sharing the name of the series. I think watching their dynamic grow and develop over the next few books will prove just as interesting (maybe more so) than the crimes they investigate.

A Couple of Misgivings

So much of the dialogue in this book was awkward—some was even painful. The characters were trying to joke around or banter and it came off as stilted or excessively wordy—and it’s just off-putting. There were also a few instances of “I’m going to explain my job duties as I carry them out, despite the fact that everyone I’m talking to already knows this is my job.” The latter happens a lot with procedurals, so it’s easy to shrug off (even if these were some egregious examples). The former, however, is another matter. These are supposed to be friends or at least close colleagues, banter should feel natural. I’m going to chalk this up to Robigins just getting used to this world, and (if you count the works under his pen name) this is at least his fifth novel, and the first that I know of where practically every character wasn’t lying to everyone they talk to—it’s possible he doesn’t know how to write for people who aren’t deceiving.

So, what did I think about Latent Damage?

One thing that I’ve always really enjoyed about a good police procedural is the procedure. Watching a team go through the steps, grinding away to get the desired result is a pleasure. Sure, the procedure is dramatized, and usually only bears a passing resemblance to reality. But you can generally get a feel for what authors skew toward authenticity (few of these would be U.S.-based procedurals). And that’s pretty much what Robinson gives us—naturally, that’s helped by his years of actual experience. As such, there are investigative paths that go nowhere, and some that lead to unexpected places—and the amount of effort that goes into making small progress is a great realistic touch.

Yes, the ultimate reveals about the way the killer went about things seems a bit on the outlandish side*—but the way the team came up with his identity wasn’t. Nor was his motive, which seemed very grounded in reality.

* not unforgivably so, I’m not reading True Crime here, I don’t want a dramatized police blotter.

This is a solid, entertaining novel with a few stumbles along the way. But I’m recommending it, and am planning on coming back for at least a couple of more installments in this new series. Nash and Moretti are both the kind of characters you could build a series around, put them together and you’ve got a great foundation; the procedural element was well done, and the ending was as satisfying as you could ask for. Also, under his pen name, Robinson has crafted some of the best Crime Writing of the last few years—this series is going to improve, I know it (and even if it stayed at the same level, it’d still be worth coming back for).

3 Stars