In the Line of Duty

Although In The Line Of Duty is the seventh Detective Madison Knight novel in the series, it is the first I have read and I was glad not to have any problems with missing information spoiling the storyline. The murdered police officer narrative is entirely self-contained and cracks along at a thrillingly fast pace - so fast that at times I found myself muttering the 'more haste, less speed' maxim at certain characters! Our lead, Madison, is particularly headstrong and gungho and, while this makes for exciting fiction, I wondered how well her attitude would be tolerated in a real police station. An obligatory burgeoning romance side-story between Madison and SWAT team leader Troy adds additional heartbreak to an already emotional theme.

I liked that Arnold doesn't milk the emotional aspect too much. As a reader I could feel the grief of her characters and their strong sense of loss, but this was never made mawkish or excessively sentimental. I was swept up in the solving of the crime and there is a nicely tangled web of suspects and motives to unravel. Thinking back in order to write this review, there are a couple of moments that jarred and the forensic work does all seem to be completed at superhuman speed, but overall I think this is a great escapist read if readers just go with the flow and don't question everything too deeply! I would happily read other instalments in this series.