The Toy Taker – Luke Delaney

Crime Fiction
4*’s

DI Sean Corrigan is having a bad time, he is recovering from a wounded shoulder, there have been no new cases for some time and his officers are getting restless.  Out of the blue he is asked to move to Scotland Yard to form a Special Investigation Unit, designed to get results on the more unusual cases.  No sooner have Corrigan and his team put all their belongings into boxes for the move from Peckham to Victoria than George Bridgeman, just four years old, is taken from his bed.

Now child abduction is a tricky subject to write about, after all someone who can come into your home and steal your child while you sleep is every parent’s worst nightmare, but Luke Delaney handles the subject in a far more sensitive way than I had expected.

As Corrigan sets about his investigation he considers the reason why someone would want a child.  However when as time goes by he worries that he has lost his powers of intuition that have guided him in the past.

The book is well-paced I kept turning the pages to see if the likeable DI Corrigan could find the link that will give him his culprit.  Dave Donnelly and Sally Jones are distinct characters with depth, although the story’s focus is Corrigan they are well-rounded with nuanced interactions with the their boss, and the rest of the team.   The Toy Taker certainly has an authentic feel, it is quite a reflective book for a crime novel and gives the reader an insider’s view of a team of officers trying to beat the clock to get the result they need.  Modern policing means using the media to get results and here ‘the brass’ hold press conferences in a bid to find The Toy Taker both for a platform for public assistance as well as warding off criticism from the public for not saving this angelic looking child.

If you want a meaty crime thriller I’d recommend this author, although I would suggest starting at the beginning of the series.

I received a free copy of this book from Amazon Vine in return for this honest review.