If any of our readers were born before 1812, they would have read the very first edition of the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales. It is very different from the polished version known today.
Back then, Rapunzel was impregnated by the prince and the queen in Snow White was her biological mother. In another story, a hungry, desperate mother told her daughters: “I’ve got to kill you so I can have something to eat”, and so forth. Yes, these were the type of stories that have been read at bedtime for more than 200 years!
Well-read like many before him, the precise serial killer in our book puts Grimms’ original fairy tales into practice, and the body count is rising.
The first in a new (2022) trilogy, Once Upon A Crime, is a fast-paced, page-turning thriller featuring detective Chelsea Sullivan who is just about to undertake her first major homicide investigation.
“The murder reminded her way too much of Grimm’s fairy tales. Her father had delighted in reading them to her when she was young. Maybe other little girls had enjoyed the watered-down modern versions turned into multi-million-dollar franchises. She probably would have, too, if that’s what she’d been exposed to. But her father had an ancient tome, a prized possession, of the original versions of the stories. His mother had read it to him when he was a boy, and her mother had read it to her. It went back generations. And that edition was rife with blood and violence and death.”
Briefly, Chelsea is partnered with Jim McPherson, a maverick and experienced detective known for closing impossible cases but better known for how he approaches them. The case becomes unbearable when Chelsea suspects her father to be the Grimm Reaper.
“How far would you go to cover up an honest mistake? Would you destroy your career to protect your family? How much of your soul would you sell to get the life of your dreams? Would you cheat on your husband to keep your children safe? Would you give in to a stalker’s demands to save your marriage?”
It’s a very well-written storyline, a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase that will have you on the edge of your seat. A really good start to this new series and I look forward to checking out the new ones: Twice Upon A Lie and Three Times A Murder.
This book will not disappoint you if you enjoy reading serial killer stories. It comprises fifty chapters of proper police procedural development and a brilliantly written plot.
Dan Costinas is an astute globe-trotter, former diplomat, avid bibliophile, soon-to-be-famous writer & translator, lifelong reader and storyteller whose choice was to retire in Algarve, putting in his soothing two-pennies-worth on the best books he reads.
About the author:
Mr King’s storylines are set in the extravagant world of entertainment’s power players, and you can hear, between the lines, his bold, insightful voice. He is not afraid to explore the darker side of human nature through stories featuring families torn apart by secrets and lies. When not writing, you can find him drinking black coffee and observing humans in their natural habitats.
If, after this wordy review, you still want to discover Nolon King’s Once Upon a Crime, you can find it on Amazon.es from €0.00 (Kindle Unlimited) up to €15.58 (paperback).
