What do you think?
Rate this book
DI Sean Corrigan #0.6
The Network
A chilling short story taking us back to DI Sean Corrigan’s days as a detective from Luke Delaney, ex-Met detective and author of COLD KILLING. Perfect for fans of Mark Billingham, Peter James and Stuart MacBride.
INCLUDES AN EXCLUSIVE EXTRACT FROM THE TOY TAKER.
DI Sean Corrigan is not like other detectives. The terrible abuse he suffered as a child has left him with an uncanny ability to identify darkness in others. Early in his career as a Detective, Corrigan is approached for an undercover assignment. He must take on the identity of a prison inmate and befriend a suspected paedophile, then on release infiltrate an early internet child abuse ring. Can he tap into his dark side for long enough to uncover the identities of the abusers without serious harm to himself?
48 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 2, 2014
23 people are currently reading
289 people want to read
About the author
Luke Delaney
39 books289 followersLuke Delaney joined the Metropolitan Police Service in the late 1980s and his first posting was to an inner city area of South East London notorious for high levels of crime and extreme violence. He later joined CID where he investigated murders ranging from those committed by fledgling serial killers to gangland assassinations.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
June 17, 2020
This was a hard read.
Luke Delaney just prior to the release of his third novel: The Toy Taker featuring his detective Sean Corrigan, uses ebooks to issue a short story in the career of his protagonist.
This kindle addition is to bridge the gap between novels and find new readers for his work.
A short story is a good investment as they are usually cheaper, quick reads and a fine introduction to an author and/or a new crime series.
With a tease introduction to The Toy Taker.
Being a new fan myself, The Network represents the second pre-Cold Killing short story. So I have yet to dip into the novels reading the books in some chronological sequence.
Here Sean’s has moved into undercover work and he gets a new assignment based on his ability to think on his feet and understand the criminal psyche.
Corrigan is given a hard role to adopt going undercover as a child sex-offender. This hints at something in his own upbringing as a victim rather than a perpetrator. The time undercover has real difficulties for him and as a reader the subject matter was hard to be fully comfortable with as the plot unfolds.
Perhaps there are some dark places Sean has to re-visit in later novels but I don’t feel it can ever become tougher for him as in this episode.
While I enjoyed the author’s clear skills demonstrated here, I can only repeat it was a difficult subject to read about.
Happily Corrigan survives many dodgy moments in this high stacks thriller where discovery would be a death sentence.
Happily, I too survived and had time to review with the impetus to repeat only that you should read this author. Next for me, the novella, The Rain Killer which was released originally to promote novel number 4.
Luke Delaney just prior to the release of his third novel: The Toy Taker featuring his detective Sean Corrigan, uses ebooks to issue a short story in the career of his protagonist.
This kindle addition is to bridge the gap between novels and find new readers for his work.
A short story is a good investment as they are usually cheaper, quick reads and a fine introduction to an author and/or a new crime series.
With a tease introduction to The Toy Taker.
Being a new fan myself, The Network represents the second pre-Cold Killing short story. So I have yet to dip into the novels reading the books in some chronological sequence.
Here Sean’s has moved into undercover work and he gets a new assignment based on his ability to think on his feet and understand the criminal psyche.
Corrigan is given a hard role to adopt going undercover as a child sex-offender. This hints at something in his own upbringing as a victim rather than a perpetrator. The time undercover has real difficulties for him and as a reader the subject matter was hard to be fully comfortable with as the plot unfolds.
Perhaps there are some dark places Sean has to re-visit in later novels but I don’t feel it can ever become tougher for him as in this episode.
While I enjoyed the author’s clear skills demonstrated here, I can only repeat it was a difficult subject to read about.
Happily Corrigan survives many dodgy moments in this high stacks thriller where discovery would be a death sentence.
Happily, I too survived and had time to review with the impetus to repeat only that you should read this author. Next for me, the novella, The Rain Killer which was released originally to promote novel number 4.
February 21, 2016
This book was dark!!! Sean is a so imperfect character but still
I was draw to him and his actions. The plot was good too.
And we know that between the lines.
Sean remember me a lot Dave Gurney by John Verdon
but a lot more with sex appealing.
I was draw to him and his actions. The plot was good too.
And we know that between the lines.
Sean remember me a lot Dave Gurney by John Verdon
but a lot more with sex appealing.
March 21, 2019
In another prequel to the DI Corrigan series, Corrigan is a Detective Sergeant working underground in a paedophile ring, despite his own abusive childhood
August 15, 2021
think that to enjoy this sort of storytelling, the readers needs to enjoy cliches strung together, and separated by run-on sentences, some of which were 60+ words long!
Utterly unengaging, I've read first-drafts that had more care and skill put into them than this one. The characters were inexpertly drawn, and none seemed real. The prose was devoid of detail, and I had only the broadest images in my mind as I ploughed doggedly through this forgettable piece.
Utterly unengaging, I've read first-drafts that had more care and skill put into them than this one. The characters were inexpertly drawn, and none seemed real. The prose was devoid of detail, and I had only the broadest images in my mind as I ploughed doggedly through this forgettable piece.
June 13, 2023
holy hell. the end was so hard to listen to. but damn, can luke delaney write an engaging short story. it kept me on my toes most of the time and had me anxious for sean corrigan.
best novella in this series so far. also, this book made me feel somehow empathetic towards corrigan and his past.
however, i found myself a bit bored at the start. and eventually got invested into the plot after a chapter or two.
ergo, 4🌟
best novella in this series so far. also, this book made me feel somehow empathetic towards corrigan and his past.
however, i found myself a bit bored at the start. and eventually got invested into the plot after a chapter or two.
ergo, 4🌟
August 21, 2025
DI Sean Corrigan is not like other detectives. The terrible abuse he suffered as a child has left him with an uncanny ability to identify darkness in others. Early in his career as a Detective, Corrigan is approached for an undercover assignment. He must take on the identity of a prison inmate and befriend a suspected paedophile, then on release infiltrate an early internet child abuse ring.
Very good but there's no escaping the fact this was a hard read, even though it was only a novella.
Very good but there's no escaping the fact this was a hard read, even though it was only a novella.
May 31, 2017
Second short story of Corrigan's early career as an undercover cop, both prequels to the first normal length novel of this series, Cold Killing. It is very dark, subject matter is disturbing (child pornography and worse) so not for the faint-hearted. It is very gritty, very down to earth and totally believable. It's looking like a really great detective series.
May 6, 2019
Sean under cover. I did enjoy it but I would have liked it even more with more in-depth insight into Sean's mental state.
June 20, 2014
NO SPOILERS
I enjoyed this though the writing is still raw and needs the refinement that comes with experience. Some parts were too unbelievable so these led to me making it a 4 star not a 5 star. That said it kept me hooked and I bought the follow up and will stick with Luke Delaney I think.
Whether he will rank in the crime hierarchy time will tell but there is potential definitely potential.
The story takes you to some dark places and there are some shocking insights into the sickness of humans, some people will no doubt find it too disturbing. It isn't graphic as such but it is heartfelt overview which is somehow worse/better.
Crime readers who like to get into the nitty gritty you should definitely read this and the follow up. Be patient with a new author though.
I enjoyed this though the writing is still raw and needs the refinement that comes with experience. Some parts were too unbelievable so these led to me making it a 4 star not a 5 star. That said it kept me hooked and I bought the follow up and will stick with Luke Delaney I think.
Whether he will rank in the crime hierarchy time will tell but there is potential definitely potential.
The story takes you to some dark places and there are some shocking insights into the sickness of humans, some people will no doubt find it too disturbing. It isn't graphic as such but it is heartfelt overview which is somehow worse/better.
Crime readers who like to get into the nitty gritty you should definitely read this and the follow up. Be patient with a new author though.
September 28, 2015
This is a short story which cries out to be a novel, needing much more development and extension to make it credible. I found it difficult to believe in the plot because it was so rushed and I felt that a reader new to the Sean Corrigan character would have missed out on his depth. In addition, the paedophilia storyline was very unpleasant and hard to read. And Mr Delaney definitely needs to get himself a new proofreader. An undercover officer going ROUGE and a car's BREAKS being hit. Seriously?!
February 28, 2015
This was a great short read where Sean goes undercover in jail posing as a prisoner doing time as a pedofile so he can infiltrate a pedofile ring known as The Network. Sean struggles with this at times and has flashbacks to his own childhood where he was also abused by his own father so it's pretty tough for Sean but Sean always gets the job done even with the demons that still haunt him❤❤❤
September 3, 2014
I didn't realize this was a short story when I borrowed it from the library. It was an ok quick read. I enjoyed the undercover assignment that made me nervous and wondered why someone would undertake a job assignment like that.
April 13, 2015
Following on from the other novella/short story I really enjoyed this. I am looking forward to see how the character develops. This one was better than the first.
Read
May 13, 2016a fast paced well written short story
Read
August 11, 2016not for the faint hearted
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews