“A woman at home in Liverpool is disturbed by a persistent tapping at her back door. She’s disturbed to discover the culprit is a raven, and tries to shoo it away. Which is when the killer strikes.

DS Nathan Cody, still bearing the scars of an undercover mission that went horrifyingly wrong, is put on the case. But the police have no leads, except the body of the bird – and the victim’s missing eyes.

As flashbacks from his past begin to intrude, Cody realises he is battling not just a murderer, but his own inner demons too.

And then the killer strikes again, and Cody realises the threat isn’t to the people of Liverpool after all – it’s to the police.”

Everything about this book was right for me.  The opening chapter has you hiding behind the sofa and peering out through your fingers.  Listening out for any unrecognisable noises and hoping against hope that you don’t hear any tap-tap-tapping.  It’s the stuff that horror movies are made of!  From then on it’s a fast paced crime thriller featuring the hunt for a vengeful serial killer.  Absolutely everything I love in a book!

Battered and bruised DS Nathan Cody and the MIT are called to the scene of a horrific murder.  What they can’t quite understand is the presence of the raven laid over the victim’s body. It’s not long before DC Megan Webley recognises the deceased as one of their own, a police officer she used to work with.  Then a second body turns up, presented in a similar way to the first victim but with a different dead bird.  DS Cody is on the hunt for a cop killer but will he find the murderer before more bodies are added to the tally, or will Cody’s own demons get in the way…?

DS Nathan Cody is a new favourite detective of mine (I know, I keep adding new favourites to my list but that’s because there are so many great new books out there at the moment!). DS Cody seems like such a nice guy and I love, love, love the chemistry between Nathan and Megan.  What a team!  I also love the relationship between DS Cody and DCI Stella Blunt.

I really enjoyed David Jackson’s writing style; short punchy sentences that get the point across without faff.  I can’t come up with a single thing that I didn’t enjoy about this book….oh, I can.  The clowns!  I really didn’t like the clowns (or the birds for that matter but that’s my strangeness and nothing else).

If you love a good serial killer thriller you have to read this book.  And ladies, I challenge you to not have a soft spot for DS Cody after you’ve read it!

Five out of five stars.

Many thanks to Zaffre, David Jackson and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of A Tapping at My Door in exchange for an honest review.

A Tapping at My Door by David Jackson was published in the UK by Zaffre on 7th April 2016 and is available in hardcover, paperback, eBook and audio formats | amazon.co.uk | amazon.com | Waterstones