Fantastic start to a new series!

I love finding a new series and was delighted when I found this one. It’s a bit different as it’s not a police team investigating but an ex police officer in a new role in civvy street.

The plot is fast paced and keeps you guessing. The seriousness of the crimes is beautifully balanced with humour within Luke’s new team.

If you love a gritty crime story interwoven with a loveable team you can get to know them this is for you.

I’ve already bought and downloaded the next one in the series!

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Great!

I read Taken to the Hills last month and loved it so couldn’t resist when the audio came up for review!

The narration for this book was great. No monotones or annoying voices here! The narrator used different voices for each character and it worked well. It was pretty close to how I imagined the characters sounded.

As I said in my first review, I loved all the twists and turns, the first sign of an excellent crime thriller!

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An Enjoyable Read

The story has an interesting plot with lots of twists & turns, some had me guessing, others not so much. I found all of the characters in the team to be likeable, although one of them got on my nerves from the outset to the point where I considered giving up but I eventually warmed to the character & am glad that I persevered.
Now I’m interested to find out how the characters develop so I plan to read the next book in the series.
In my experience, every book narrated by the wonderful Aubrey Parsons is guaranteed to bring the story & characters to life & his narration of this book was 5*

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Great read

🇬🇧📚 Book Review 📚🇬🇧

Thank you for my ARC 😍

#️⃣ 2023 Books Read: 45
🌟 Rating: 📓📙📘📓(4/5⭐)
🔲 Book Title: Taken to the Hills
🖋️ Author: S J Richards @sjrichardsauthor
📖 Format: 🎧 Audiobook
🎭 Genre:  Crime Fiction 
📢 Tour: @lovebookstours @lbt.crew
📅 Tour Dates: 1st -9th Nov Audiobook Tour  2023
📅 Review date:  9th November 2023
Sorry its a day late,  I got my dates mixed up

#LBTCrew #lovebooktours
.
#bookstagram #bookblog #bookreview #ukbookblog #ukbookstagram #bookworm #readersofinstagram #booktour #lovebooks #lovereading #2023books #bookstoread #bookstoread #BookTourReview #ad #adpr #blogtour #TDEPReviews

💻📖🎧 Book format & quality 💻📖🎧
Audible narrated book.  Clear narration.  I didn't get on with the narrators voice for the first couple of chapters, but then I got into the story and got lost in that,  so was less concerned about the narration.

🌻SpLD comments (from a dyslexic)🌻
Audiobooks are a win for me and my SpLD,  smashed this book out in one sitting, ancouldn't put it down.  I had to know what was going to happen next.

🎨 Artwork 🎨
I really like the cover,  it was eye-catching and fitting fit the book.

✒️ Details 📉
Interestingly, I'm not normally a crime fiction reading fan, which is odd because I love crime fiction on the telly box.  I really enjoyed this book. It was gripping throughout, and you wanted to know more of what was going to happen next. I had a feel of several crime films I've watched before,  all wrapped into an excellent storyline with characters you felt connected to. A must-read for crime fans!

🤓 Author Synopsis 🤓
Abductions and murder are not what ex-DCI Luke Sackville expected when he left the police after tragedy struck his family.


Luke’s return to the workplace was meant to be a soft landing but when a woman vanishes after being accused of taking bribes, he is assigned a disparate team and tasked with tracking her down.


Their search becomes more urgent when her disappearance is linked to the death of a second woman. When a third goes missing the hunt becomes a race against time. Luke’s return to work presents him with the most challenging case of his career as the murder victims mount.


Murder and intrigue are peppered with humour in this fast-paced crime thriller set in and around the beautiful city of Bath in the southwest of England.


Taken to the Hills is the first in the Luke Sackville crime series. If you like a team you can root for then you’ll love this page-turner. Perfect for fans of JD Kirk, LJ Ross, JM Dalgleish and David J Gatward.

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The narrator really captures the different characters - the tension and the humour

This is the first book in the Luke Sackville Crime Thriller series and the first book that I've read by this author.

It is however, the third or fourth book that has been a murder/crime novel set in the South West England - not too far from me - I need to be very careful when I'm out and about 😬

I loved that this book was quite unique in both it's writing style and our main character.

Luke is an ex DCI having left the force after a family tragedy. When he comes back into the workplace, he's taken a job heading the security team of a large company.
I loved this idea.
He has all the skills of a detective, but taking it a bit easier at work for now.
When a woman from the office goes missing, Luke and his team are tasked with tracking her down but things get more complicated as time goes by.
I liked that he also has an interesting back story that will hopefully be explored more over the series.

There was quite a cast of characters but it was quite easy to keep track of who was who - and of course they all seemed as though they had something to hide and I had no clue who the abductor was at all.
There was also a great twist at the end that completely surprised me.

I absolutely loved Josh - and the whole team - but Josh just had me cracking up.
The banter between him a d Luke was priceless at times and I thought they developed a brilliant working relationship by the end - really great to see as it morphed.
I loved all his crazy words and phrases too!

There was a lot of humour in the writing style which is quite different for a novel of this genre. I often find humour in the cosy crimes but not in this kind of crime thriller.
I found this really refreshing and thought it added a little something to this fast-paced story.
As the tension built and had me racing ahead and on the edge of my seat - there would be an injection of humour that would just stop me dead and have me chuckling.

A really quick read with a refreshing unique style, relatable characters and a great storyline.
I can't wait to see what book 2 holds for the team.



I also listened to this on audio book a d thought that the narrator was brilliant!
He really captured the characters brilliantly and projected the sense of tension and humour well.
I couldn't stop listening to this one!

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Fast paced West country murder mystery.

The story moves at a rapid pace. The Narrator, Aubrey Parsons brings the characters to life.
Highly enjoyable.

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Brilliant Listen.

This is a brilliant debut novel from SJ Richards. It is skillfully written with characters you can't help rooting for. Luke, the ex DCI, Josh, the young wanna-be with his own blend of the English language, Helen and Sam the accountant and Maj the ex security guy are all thrown together in this fast paced, action packed edge of the seat thriller. I found it impossible to put down and it's had me chuckling in me boots at times and at others holding my breath. A 10 star listen if that were possible. A book I shall definitely be listening to again, I hope there will be many more in this series. Highly recommended. Aubrey Parsons narration was outstanding as always and he is the perfect choice for this kind of detective story. **********
I was kindly given a copy of the book by the narrator and leave this honest unbiased review.

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You can only make one first impression.

This is a brilliant debut novel. Luke is a likeable leader that anyone would be proud to call guv. His sidekick Josh is just fantastically funny. The story has plenty of breathtaking turns that make this book difficult to put down. The narrator brings each character to life in a way few other people could, and has such a range of voices you would be forgiven for thinking you were listening to a full cast. Overall this was an absolute pleasure. I very much look forward to seeing more from this very fine author.

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Loved this!

What a brilliant book! I listened to the audiobook version and I loved Luke and Josh the Joker as I called him. Josh is the inexperienced newbie but Luke takes him under his wing and helps him to progress in the case. What a brilliant story for Luke and Josh to follow up on! The disappearance of two women. What's the motive, who's taken them and what do they gain from it? Luke and Josh are on the case.

I could quite happily re-listen to this as soon as it finished, it was well thought out, well written and flowed. Loved the description with the interviews or "interrogations".. thanks Josh! His catchphrases made me laugh and his endearment for Luke as "Guv" was nice to hear. He's a young guy that needs guidance and Luke is there help him on the way.

I cannot wait to read/listen to more Luke Sackville stories in the future!

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Brilliant narration

Always looking for new authors and enjoyed this, especially the narrator.

If, like me, you’re old enough to remember the Famous Five there’s an element of farce about the plot but it’s an enjoyable listen.

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