A Child's Game

Karen Sharpe #3

by John Connor

Friday 31 December 1999. In the early hours of the morning in a luxury central Leeds penthouse, masked intruders douse a terrified victim with petrol, set him alight and throw him burning from the fifteenth floor roof garden; a human torch. DS Pete Bains is night duty CID at Milgarth when the call comes in. The body is quickly identified as Nicholas Hanley, a wealthy local property developer. Bains' attempts to pull together an enquiry stall when he cannot locate the victim's lover and next of kin, Anna Hart. Unknown to him Hart is only five miles away, but the nightmare she has been sucked into has catapulted her into a world of danger and horror unlike anything she has ever had to cope with. She was meant to be taking her 11 year old daughter on a trip to see in the new millennium. But instead of delivering a surprise visit to a Caribbean paradise, Hanley's plans bring brutal violence and danger to Anna as the real secret of his business success explodes in her face and both she and her daughter are kidnapped at gunpoint. But finding her isn't Bains' only problem. Special Branch are looking for DC Karen Sharpe. Sharpe and Bains have a bitter history. Now she has disappeared for real. Bains would like to keep it that way, but Sharpe has a nasty surprise for him. As the day progresses he is forced to re-evaluate everything he knows about her. If Karen cannot pull her shattered personality together the last day of the millennium will be the last day of her life.

Genres: Fiction, Crime, Mystery, British Literature

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

John Connor is the pen name of Tom Winship. John Connor recently left his job as a barrister to write full time. During the fifteen years of his legal career he prosecuted numerous homicide cases in West Yorkshire and London. He advised the police in numerous proactive drugs and organised crime operations, many involving covert activity. He now lives in Brussels with his wife and two young children.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Devika Sreedharan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hey folks,

So, I just wrapped up "A Child's game" By John Connor and, uh, I didn't realize it was part three of a series until I was knee-deep in it. My bad! And here's the kicker- I didn't vibe with it much. Like, at all.

Honestly, I struggled to figure out what the whole point was. It felt like there was this big message or lesson, but it just went over my head. And I gotta admit, not having read the first two books probably didn't help. My bad again for not checking that out before diving in.

Looking back, jumping into book three without the backstory from the earlier ones was probably not the best move. It's like walking into a movie halfway through- you miss a lot of the setup and character development.

So, here' the deal- I don't think I'm the right person to give a solid opinion on "A Child's Game." I probably should've read the whole series to really get it. Lesson learned, right?

For those who are eyeing this series, do yourself a favor and start from the beginning. Trust me, it'll make way more sense that way. As for me, I'm holding off on passing judgement until I've read the whole shebang. Context is king when it comes to stories, folk!

My takeaway? Always check the series order before you jump in! Cheers!

[Iwan Santoso · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kita dibuat ama gemas dengan karakter-karakternya yang selalu melakukan tindakan bodoh. Padahal dikisahkan di awal mereka adalah karakter tangguh. Menyebalkan sih.

[Naofumi Iwatani (from The Rising of The Shield Hero) ☯ (ヅ) ꧁꧂✨ ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡ ✿◕ ‿ ◕✿ · Rating 1 out of 5]

I honestly was not impressed

[lynda rankin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gripping

As always, brilliant!!! Waiting for the real Karen Sharpe to emerge, truly believable character.
Can't wait to read the next one.

[Grainne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unnecessary extreme violence and a jumble of characters, terrible book

[Caroline Ingvaldsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third Karen Sharpe police procedural is a brutally explicit, sharply written thriller.

[Aleisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn’t love this one April. Lots of characters, violence and really not the best ending…

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh, OK but just didn't clock for me
.

[Anděla Seklová · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok.

[Raphaëlle Marion-Forcier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Infiltrée

[LJ · Rating 1 out of 5]

A CHILD’S GAME (Police Procedural-UK-Cont) – DNF
Connor, John – 3rd in series
Orion, 2006- Hardcover
DS Pete Baines is called in on a case where a man has been set afire and fallen/pushed/jumped from a balcony to his death. During the investigation, they cannot locate the man’s fiancée, Anna. Baines doesn’t realize that Anna is DS Karen Sharpe, who took her daughter and walked out on him several months before. Now Anna/Karen and her daughter are in the danger of their lives.
*** I generally read police procedurals and darker books, but even I couldn’t stay with this one. The rape/torture of a woman with the child there, and terrorizing of a child are beyond my limits.

[The Cats’ Mother · Rating 3 out of 5]

The third in this series, featuring the most unsympathetic heroine ever, Karen Sharpe, this picks up 18 months after the end of The Playroom. Karen has been living with Pete Bains, but for dubious reasons has gone undercover with her daughter, to infiltrate a crime syndicate. The bad guy is really nasty and there are some sickening scenes, but it was pretty gripping, so the end was a little disappointing - as with the previous books, it just stops and I guess you have to wait for the next one to find out more.

[Andy · Rating 1 out of 5]

not sure I can mark as read as I only got 50 pages in
first book in many years that I have started but not finished
just seems a mess of characters - or names anyway - can't see any redeeming feature that would cause me to continue.
so after 50 pages, I'm taking the rest of the time I would have spent on this back.

[Kirsty · Rating 2 out of 5]

A difficult novel to get in to, mainly due to the many different names, most of which are not intrinsic to the storyline. I think there was a decent plot here somewhere, it's just a shame it was marred by bad grammar, annoying info-dumps, and the protagonist referring to herself in the third person.

[Vincent Eaton]

Met this author two or three times in Belgium. Finally had a chance to read one of his books. Made it to not-quite page 50. Television-level imagination without a budget. Ideas, prose and execution second, no, third-hand. I wanted to cheer on someone I barely knew.

[Dar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not for the squeamish, a very graphic thriller. Not the usual style of book I would go for, I was intrigued though & wanted to find out the ending.
I realised partway through that it was the 3rd book in the series, & it did make me want to track down the other books. An interesting read.

[Carolyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Acts of violence piled so high on top of one another that the whole plot collapsed into a messy heap. The narrative and characterisation was about as credible as a six dollar note. Thank heavens I only borrowed this.

[Ann Tonks · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd read and rather enjoyed a sequel to this novel and was looking forward to it. I simply became irritated by the violence and the superficality of the characters and it become a book I skimmed rather than read.

[Alice · Rating 2 out of 5]

Highly implausible thriller. The central character never became sympathetic, and the ending was sadistic.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series with Karen Sharpe is a bit different and enjoyable.

[Melisande · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://accrocdeslivres.blogspot.fr/20...

[Catsalive · Rating 2 out of 5]

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/9...