One for Sorrow: The new heart-stopping, page-turning crime thriller for 2022 (Di Callanach, 7)

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Helen Field's DI Luc Callenach and DCI Ava Turner series keeps up dramatic suspense in the latest installment. While it is interesting to begin the series with the first book, each can be read as a stand-alone. This addictive story flows so well. I was seriously captivated by the story and before I knew what time it was I damn near done! Had to slow it down some. To my delight we meet tough, no-nonsense and straight-talking Connie Woolwine again, the forensic psychologist commissioned to do a psychological profile of the murderer.

One for Sorrow, Two for Joy: Growing up in 1950s Ireland One for Sorrow, Two for Joy: Growing up in 1950s Ireland

It would work as a standalone, but if you haven't read the previous six books you should really treat yourself. Said murderer is organised, meticulous, a master manipulator, highly intelligent – and way ahead of the Major Investigations Team.

The second part is woven throughout the police procedural and tells the story of a young man who becomes obsessed with a young woman he meets at her place of employment. They begin a slowly developing romance, which feels disconnected from the other part of the book. Thus begins the reader’s introduction into the psychological thriller that awaits them in between periods of policework.At this point the reader either makes a leap of faith based on other information about where this portion of the story is going, or continues to read, perhaps with a suspicion of how the two stories fit together, and hoping they are wrong. In contrast to this extreme behaviour we also become involved in the lives of the delightful, very down-to-earth McTavish family. How does their story of everyday life become entangled with the extreme violence confronting Police Scotland? And amongst these strands is the perennial question: will Ava and Luc finally become a couple? ‘One for Sorrow’ is perhaps the best in the series, so far …! I am always left impatiently waiting for the next book of this series but the ending of this left me truly horrified that I will have to wait for the next book to find out what’s next for this pair of characters. The ending was absolutely brilliant and without giving away any spoilers has been the very best yet!

One For Sorrow | Magpie Nursery Rhyme | Bird Spot One For Sorrow | Magpie Nursery Rhyme | Bird Spot

I've been an avid reader of this series from the start, very few authors consistently write such tense, high stakes, high quality dark crime thrillers. Alliteration: occurs when the poet repeats the same consonant sound at the beginning of multiple lines. For example, “Four for” in line four and “seven” and “secret” in line seven. The beginning of the book establishes two important storylines. Initially there is the police procedural storyline, which starts with a painful view of the coroner's death, captured on tape and being viewed by DCI Ava Turner. If you don’t like violent details, you may want to stop here, because this is just the beginning. DCI Turner is immediately drawn into battle with her superior officer over whether or not she will run the case, a discussion that gets cut short with an urgent call into headquarters requiring available resources to assemble at the scene. The police work and the graphic violence are part and parcel throughout this storyline of the book. The children’s nursery rhyme‘ One For Sorrow’was first recorded in Observations on Popular Antiquities from 1780. There is another well-known version from 1846. It reads:

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I really can’t praise Helen Fields enough she has an uncanny way of drawing you into a story with her superb writing skills and every single book of hers has been just wonderful both the DI Callanach series and her stand-alone’s I have never been disappointed in any of them. The poem follows the same short and long line pattern, but these additional phrases make the poem more interesting overall. My main criticism here is with the dialogue - it’s set in Scotland but other than references to the Polis, nobody sounds remotely Scottish and the characters all speak the Queen’s English - even Luc who is supposed to have a strong French accent. I’m not saying it has to be all “Ach hen” and “Sacré Bleu” and I know Edinburgh is quite English - I lived there for ten years - but some variation in the voices and local colloquialisms would flesh out the characters and make them more realistic. I also got a bit bored with Ava’s angst and the weird dynamic with Natasha. On the plus side, the hilarious Connie Woolwine from The Shadow Man makes a significant cameo appearance. Fields cleverly got me hooked into this story immediately, and from the very first chapter, I was forming incorrect assumptions. It’s one of the best things about her books — the way I can see some of the pieces, make some connections, but never quite figure out the whole story until it’s all laid out for me.

One for Sorrow, Two for Joy by Clive Woodall | Goodreads One for Sorrow, Two for Joy by Clive Woodall | Goodreads

This case is personal, it cuts deep and Ava is determined to catch this killer by any means necessary. You’re by her side, feeling her sadness, pain and fear. After seven books we really know Luc and Ava, we love them and going through this gave me emotional whiplash. Luc and Ava’s relationship is, for me, the highlight of this series and Fields does a fantastic job of portraying their enduring friendship, their struggles, and later, their deep love for one another. Stella’s boyfriend, Christian, seems perfect until he loses his temper. Amuah explores the blight of domestic abuse – how trauma is often intergenerational and the damage long-lasting. She also examines the effects of violence on its bystanders, too paralysed to help. Stella’s pain reveals itself in unexpected ways. She becomes increasingly superstitious, convinced her happiness depends on the daily appearance of two magpies. But with the threat – and body count – rising daily, and no clue as to who’s behind it, neither Ava nor Luc know whether they will live long enough to tell the tale…It’s only been a month since I read book six, but it’s been two years since it was released. So for those that read it at that time, this has been a long time coming! Was it worth the wait? I loved how real this story felt! Its amazing to me really how an author can do what they do. And Helen did the dang thing with this one. It would be a major spoiler to discuss the twists and surprises that exist within this novel, which I choose not to do. I would not want to lessen in even a tiny amount the reader’s enjoyment of the book and the revelations to come. I will say, while some of these turns may be expected and some readers may be braced for the turn, there are at least one or two twists that will come out so unexpected that no reader will be expecting or preparing for them.