Book Description
The dark heart of a brilliant and ruthless psychopath
A celebrated but haunted detective
A determined young reporter hunting for justice - and the big story
Karl Jackson is a particularly vengeful sociopath with his unique way of 'problem-solving’. DCI Tex Deacon suffers from the trauma of his beloved wife's death and finds it immensely difficult to come to terms with it. As a Detective Chief Inspector specialising in murder and killer profiling, Tex has a relentless workload from his base on the edges of the mountains of the Lake District.
Tex is under pressure from his superiors to take a step back to grieve properly. It’s clear that Susan’s death has ripped out part of his soul. There is no doubt that Tex is suffering, but this DCI is a driven man. Tex’s welfare is the responsibility of his boss Chief Constable Barbara Bracewell, and she and Tex go back a very long way. However, Bracewell must do what is right for Tex and the Cumbrian police force.
Despite falling into a mental abyss, Tex’s instincts for the hunt never leave him. A hyper-intelligent and devious murderer appears in his crosshairs – the self-styled ‘Genius Killer’. So what will Tex do? What can he get away with doing with the Chief Constable monitoring his every move?
And then there’s Debbie Pilkington, a tenacious and hugely ambitious cub reporter at the local paper – The Rimpton Chronicle. Debbie has big stories and a big future in her own sights. A young journalist, a craggy and vastly experienced detective, and one of the most dangerous serial killers Britain has even seen. Their lives were about to intertwine. The chase to stop a cunning killer begins. Tex is a master at breaking down the thinking processes of those he hunts but with Tex enduring his own psychological meltdown, can he penetrate the mind of this supremely malevolent psychopath?
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BLOG TOUR REVIEW
Review for 'The Genius Killer' by Mark Robson.
Read and reviewed via Audible for Mark Robson, Anna Wilson-Hall, Orla Kelly publishing and Zooloos Book Tours.
Publication dates
Paperback: 16th April 2023.
Kindle: 20th April 2023
Audiobook: 3rd October 2023.
This is the first book I have read by this author but it most definitely won't be my last!!! It is also the first book in Mark's 'The Tex Deacon' series.
This novel consists of 72 chapters. The chapters are short to medium in length so easy to read 'just one more chapter' before bed...OK, I know yeah right, but still just in case!
An absolutely epic read from the very talented Mark Robson!!! Absolutely rammed full of twists, suspense, crime, tension and turns!! Congratulations Mark on a fantastic action packed page turner!!
This is an extremely well written book with vivid descriptions that will suck you straight into the storyline and captivated from beginning to end. The synopsis and cover worked perfectly with the storyline.
I had never read a book by Mark before this one but I am definitely hooked after and have already added all his books to my wish list and cannot wait for the next book in this epic series. I was absolutely hooked throughout, a true page turner from beginning to end. Mark is one of those amazing authors who writes these gripping books that when you are reading them you promise yourself one more chapter and then you'll go to sleep but each time he ends his chapters in a way that has you hooked so you have to read just one more, but then another and before you know it you have walked around all day with the book glued to your hands or your earbuds stuck in your ears in my case and have devoured it in one sitting!!! The fantastic Anna who narrates this book also brings the book to life with her dramatic voice that really brings the suspense to life perfectly with Mark's descriptiosn.The storyline was in depth and packed with suspense, police procedure, murder, twists, family, tension, hate, profiling intensity, shocks and everything you could ask for in a page turner!!! I absolutely loved the killer profiling and the fact that Mark has done his research into police procedures and serial killers completely shines through!! It is a pet hate of mine when an author doesn't research their topics enough and their books are then littered with unnecessary mistakes but Mark had no problems at all in this area!!! This book is an edge of your seat, nail biting and heart racing psychological thriller. Mark does an absolutely fantastic job of weaving the chapters written from different protagonists points of views and the ones from killer and investigator together perfectly to slowly drip feed the reader just the right amount of information they need to understand what is going on without giving too much away to allow the reader to work it out too quickly!!! There are also not one but several very clever and very unique storylines that are all weaved together perfectly so there is something constantly happening but not too much as to confuse the reader. I was absolutely hooked from start to finish. I read this book in less than 24 hours and I'm looking forward to reading more books by this fantastic author as well as listening to more books by the brilliant narrator. This book is an absolute rollercoaster ride filled with twists, action, murder, heartbreak, suffering, suspense and everything you could ask for in an absolutely thrilling page turner. I absolutely loved seeing what was going on from the killer's perspective and seeing why he was doing what he was!!! If you want to know more about this absolutely epic page turner which you will have to grab your copy today!! It is one of the best books I have read this year and I really enjoyed and loved the ending!!! Mark ensures you are left needing more books in this epic series and I cannot wait to get hooked into the next book in this epic series! I won't say more as not to spoil it for future readers. It is a true page turner that will leave you biting your nails on the edge of your seat with your heart racing. Hope your busy typing your next book up Mark as I cannot wait!!! Thankfully I can get stuck into your previous books while I'm waiting!! This book would make an absolutely amazing and box selling movie that I would be first in line to see!!!
This is one of the few books that I have listened 100% on Audiobook. If I listen to a book on audiobook I usually also read the physical book between but I listened to the whole book and I was impressed! I must say a HUGE congratulations to the narrator Anna Wilson-Hall who did a great job bringing this story to life. I would listen to it in the car and while walking at any opportunity and Anna did a fantastic job on both male and female characters voices!!! I'm not only looking forward to reading more books by Mark but also to listening to more books narrated by Anna!
Clear your schedules as you will not be able to put down this heart racing thriller!!!
It is always worrying when starting a new series as you have no idea who the characters are. It is very important for me to bond with not only the lead protagonists but also any characters that may make repeat appearances during the series too.
I loved meeting all the characters who were all strong, well defined and unique. I become completely invested in not only DCI Tex Deacon' but also, strangely enough, the killer Karl Jackson as I was completely fascinated by his train of thoughts as well as seeing what he was doing. Karl makes you hate him and intrigued by him all at the same time!!! He is cunning, scary, realistic, twisted and such a uniquely complex character that leaves you needing to know more and more about him!!! I was also completely fascinated by Tex and his profiling at the same time seeing how close he is getting to his killer with his methods and researching. I also enjoyed getting to know Debbie who is a young journalist working alongside Tex. I am not going to get into any further details s I don't want to spoil it for future readers. Mark's fantastic writing skills and Anna's brilliant narrative really do bring each of the characters to life and I won't be forgetting them anytime soon!! A fantastic group of intriguing, realistic and solid characters all brought to life by Mark's fantastic evocative writing skills along with Anna's narrative!
This is exactly why I would like to welcome you to my favourite author club Mark!! Here is to your next guaranteed success 🥂!!
I could not praise this book enough and highly recommend it to anyone and everyone. Mark I cannot wait to read more of your very successful work!!! I would also love to see this book turned into a movie. An absolutely addictive, compelling and gripping true page turner!!!
Overall an absolutely captivating, engrossing and dark page turning serial killer thriller that is compelling and addictive by an extremely talented author!!!
391 pages/11 hours 22 minutes
This book is just £7.99 to purchase on kindle, free with kindle unlimited, £9.99 in paperback and £16.62 in Audible via Amazon at time of review, which I think is an absolute bargain for this book!!!
Rated 5 /5 (I LOVED it ) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Amazon US and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook.
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Author Bio
I've been a journalist and broadcaster for over forty years working almost exclusively in sport. I was employed for fifteen years by SKY Sports, eleven years by the BBC, and three years by UTV. Elsewhere I have worked on significant national contracts for ITV, Eurosport and Viaplay Sport and have freelanced for many top class broadcasters like BT and NEP. I have been involved in BAFTA and Sony award winning programmes. For the last number of years I have focused on rugby, my main sporting passion, as a commentator and reporter with SKY, as well as Premier Sport and, formerly, Setanta Sport and Eirsport. I’ve commentated on four Rugby World Cups and two football World Cups and covered the Olympics in Sydney in 2000. I was working on the Six Nations Rugby as a commentator for NEP when all sport stopped due to the corona virus pandemic, so, after some persuasion from my then girlfriend Petra, I decided to write my first novel.
The seed for the novel came from a comment made to me by a senior member of the fell running community who knew well many members of the amazing, life saving Mourne Mountain Rescue Team in Northern Ireland. We were out for a fell run one day and were talking about the thousands of rescues Mourne Mountain Rescue had carried out. Out of the blue my craggy companion whispered, "If you want to commit murder - and get away with it - the mountains are the perfect place to do it" Fell running has been a passion for me. I’ve run over a hundred races and competed in many navigation focused Mourne Mountain Marathons. Unbelievably, for me, I managed to crawl to the finish line in a couple of 50 mile Ultra races. One was in the Addo Elephant Safari Park in the Zuurberg mountains in South Africa and the other was the Grand Raid des Pyrenees. I was rubbish - always one of the stumblers right at the back of the field! I’ve hiked in the Andes, the Blue Mountains, the Picos de Europa, the Alps and other ranges around the globe so no surprise then that quite a bit of ‘The Genius Killer’ is set in the mountains. In this case the magnificent peaks of the Lake District.
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Social Media Links
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/markrobsonauthor/
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/MarkRobsonAuthor
Twitter : https://twitter.com/rugbyjaffa
Website : www.markrobsonauthor.co.uk
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Purchase Link
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Amazing review - Thank you so much for supporting the tour x