The Day of the Roaring

by Nina Bhadreshwar

Silence protects the victims… And the killerDon't miss this award winning debut crime thriller set in Sheffield introducing DI Diana A grizzly murder has Diana questioning everything she knows, and secrets come to light that threaten to tear her world apart

When the dismembered body of a headmaster is found on the derelict site of a former school in Sheffield, DI Diana Walker finds herself chasing shadows.

Faced with missing teachers, unreported crimes and silent witnesses, Diana is running out of leads. Her colleagues insist this is just another instance of gang violence, but Diana knows there’s something more. Something everyone’s too scared to talk about.

With her reputation on the line, Diana is determined to find the truth. Her search for answers leads to Sheffield’s neglected underbelly, where she finds distrust, horrifying secrets and a whole new understanding of justice.

Genres: Crime, Thriller, Fiction

391 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 30, 2025

About the author

Nina Bhadreshwar is a crime fiction writer and journalist who also self-publishes poetry and non-fiction.

Reviews

[Leeanne 🥀 The Book Whor3 🥀 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really looking forward to reading this book, as it’s labelled as “award winning”, but tbh I was sadly disappointed.
The story started off really well, but I sadly became disinterested. There were a lot of stories within the story, but I felt that there were too many plots, and far too many characters, which became confusing, which is a pity, as it could have been a fantastic read if it had been a bit simpler.
NB is a very good author but the plots could have been broken up and probably saved for the next book.

Thanks to the author, Hemlock Press, and NetGalley, for providing me with this free ARC, with which I leave a voluntary review.

2 ⭐️⭐️

[Jo Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two stars have always been very rare for me to dish out, I tend to be a fence sitter. However, this unfortunately just didn’t merit much more. It was clunky, chaotic and confusing. The plot was extremely loose, there was way too much unnecessary dialogue, and I found a lot of the derogatory language to be equally unnecessary.

Sadly it wasn’t for me, I didn’t enjoy the writing or the narrative. Usually I find with multiple narrators there is at least one that you are inclined to warm to, but not this time.

Apologies again. I hate a bad review. It seems I’m having an unlucky run.

My gratitude as always goes to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK Audio for the opportunity to review the ALC 🎧

[Yvonne G · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Silence protects the victims... And the killer"


A debut crime thriller set in Sheffield introducing DI Diana Walker: A grizzly murder has Diana questioning everything she knows, and secrets come to light that threaten to tear her world apart

When the dismembered body of a headmaster is found on the derelict site of a former school in Sheffield, Diana finds herself chasing shadows.

Faced with missing teachers, unreported crimes and silent witnesses, Diana is running out of leads. Her colleagues insist this is just another instance of gang violence, but Diana knows there’s something more. Something everyone’s too scared to talk about.

With her reputation on the line, Diana is determined to find the truth. Her search for answers leads to Sheffield’s neglected underbelly, where she finds distrust, horrifying secrets and a whole new understanding of justice.

…

Awarding a rating for this book was so difficult, a real 'head v heart' decision. Logic and reason was telling me that 3* was a fair assessment of how much I had enjoyed the underlying detective storyline, whilst emotion and conscience heightened by the many societal issues the author raised, demanded the full 5*. In the end, I chickened out of making the ultimate decision and plumped for 4* in the certainty that, like myself, most readers will come away from the book with a multitude of differing and opposing views and feelings.

DI Diana Walker, black, female, disorganised and dyslexic, is definitely one of the growing list of detectives whose personal baggage and dysfunctional lives, means that they are rarely focussed 100% on the job in hand and are often bolstered and supported by one dependable partner, in this instance, DS Robertson, a married man who is the perfect foil for Diana's shortcomings in neatness and lapses in concentration, but who is every bit as dogged as his boss when it comes to seeing justice done and is prepared to cover her back when other colleagues barely conceal their disdain and dislike for her.

The case in hand and the difficult circumstances surrounding the investigation, was in itself quite a strong premise around which to build a storyline, albeit that there were many suspects and motives and keeping track of them all was quite a challenge, especially when it became obvious that Diana's own mother and the members of her 'Black Sistahs' book club were in some way involved. Crimes which were considered to be community centric went unreported and potential witnesses remained stoically silent and unresponsive, both about their own secrets and the growing list of murder victims being discovered.

However, I felt that the investigation was overshadowed by the many issues of FGM, coercion, rape, gaslighting, refugee immigration, race and ethnicity, sexism and sexual grooming, county line drugs, embezzlement and gangland violence, which all vied for attention and a fair hearing. It isn't obvious that many, or indeed any, of the wrongdoings are personal to the author, however, she seemed in such a rush to get her words and thoughts about all of them down on paper, that the whole thing became rather overwhelming and simply too much to take in, despite the optimum length, well-signposted chapters.

Diana's mother and her fellow readers have closed ranks against her, to the point where she begins to think that her mother is ashamed of the career she has chosen in their adopted country. A visit from Diana's grandmother does put things into a new and positive perspective for her though, a place where she feels valued and respected, even though at work things are not quite so amicable.

The overwhelming knowledge that the institutional failings inside the police service haven't really changed or moved on substantially since 2010, which is when this storyline is set, is disappointing, but no real surprise. Systemic racism and misogyny amongst some of Diana's police colleagues, together with the inference that she is only tolerated by her immediate superiors, who would be more than happy to see her fail, plays a large part in defining who Diana is as a person, as she strives to prove that her methodical stance, leaving no stone unturned and never assuming that a situation is as it first appears when solving a crime, is as much her way of dealing with her tormentors, as it is proving that she is worthy of her position.

The action took place in and around Sheffield, England and whilst replete in enough detail to enable me to envisage many of the dark and less celebrious areas of the city and some of their least desirable inhabitants, I never really felt the strong connection between people and location, which was a little frustrating.

The author's writing style is realistic, sharp and pulls no punches, the storyline multi-layered, complex and multi-faceted. So, if this is scheduled to become a series, I would like to think that there is a place on my shelf for this new and unconventional detective and I look forward to reading at least one more book in the series, to give Diana a fair chance to redeem herself as a first class detective, now that her own emotional baggage has been exposed and partially dealt with.

Thanks go to publisher Hemlock Press and NetGalley for my ARC copy of the book. This is my personal review and I have received no recompense for sharing my thoughts and words.

[Mandy White (mandylovestoread) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Crime and police procedural books are my absolute favourite kinds of books to read. This one had so much potential, but for me, it was just too chaotic. There were far too many subplots and way too many characters to keep straight. It was a slow burning story that just did not hold my attention. On top of that, there was a slang sort of language that just confused me even more. I wanted to enjoy this but it was a miss for me.

Thanks to the publisher on Netgalley for the chance to read this book, our in late January 2025

[Milly Reynolds · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published 30 January 2024. The premise of this one sounded so good. The severed head of the former headmaster of a school that is being demolished is found in a locked filing cabinet on site. Add on to this a female DI - Diana Walker, a Black woman who has moved from Sheffield for reasons that aren’t apparent at the beginning and who is having to contend with racism and sexism from her colleagues and whose relationship with her mother is strained. However, thread after thread seemed to be added to the mix - organised crime, drug running over county lines, fraud and even female genital mutilation (FGM). For me it was almost too much, Walker was trying to tie everything together and going against her superiors. Not only that but there was her mother’s book club and the women involved in that and her MaMa - her grandmother - who had come over from Kenya and was part of an action against British soldiers in the 1950s. So many threads and characters and I feel that there was too much going on. It was a dark read at times and the sections about FGM were hard reading. As for DI Walker, she was up against it, no one believed that this case was not about organised crime and she was out on her own a lot of the time, aided by Robertson who she was able to rely on. For me this fell short and I felt the tension was lacking and the use of dialect and jargon did not help. It was slow going at times but the way that everything tied up at the end was quite clever, even if it seemed a bit rushed. Any one of these threads would have worked perfectly on their own and I feel that pushing them all together diluted some of the themes which was a pity.

[Nadine-Sue Sargent · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a medium-paced story. There's a switch between characters at various points which doesn't disrupt the story at all. It gives an interesting change without us losing the story.

Diana is a strong character and you can't help but feel for her as she tries to work through their investigation with challenges from all sides. You can feel her frustration and determination throughout. I think she gets it from her MaMa who is also a strong character with a desperately sad backstory.

The content is a mix of police procedural who dunnit along with themes around cultural differences, gender imbalance and inequality and FGM. Diana is eager to do right by all victims in her case and unearth the truth the best she can. It isn't easy for her but things do come out in the open. I think the tricky part in this is the person charged with murders in the end. You can understand their actions and reasoning behind it but still, things should have been different!!

I enjoyed reading this and felt that it gave insight into practices(FGM) that a lot of people are either unaware of or ignorant to. Most assume that it's not something that happens in the UK or that it happens nowadays.

There are some great characters in this and you do get wrapped up in their individual stories, wanting to know more about them and wanting better outcomes for some of them.

[Gloria (Ms. G's Bookshelf) · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️3 Stars⭐️
This debut has so much potential, it could of been such a good read but for me personally it was way too confusing and disjointed. The story begins with a dark and unnerving crime, the dismembered body of a headmaster.

The story is set in Sheffield and addresses an important issue as in the atrocities African women endured (FGM) but there were so many characters to keep up with and multiple timelines and the dialect in some parts of the story was hard to grasp.

I found the last third of the book flowed easier, I liked Diana’s character, she’s a strong and determined detective and I also found her grandmother (MaMa) who comes from Kenya to stay a likeable and interesting character.

The author writes in a wonderfully descriptive style and I was invested in wanting to unravel the murder mystery and the secrets of the women.

Themes of racism, misogyny, corruption, domestic abuse, sexism and drug running.

Publication Date 12 February 2025
Publisher Imprint Hemlock Press GB

Thank you to Harper Collins Australia for a copy of the book to read.

[Rina · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

When the dismembered body of a headmaster is found on the derelict site of a former school in Sheffield, DI Diana Walker finds herself chasing shadows. Her colleagues insist this is just another instance of gang violence, but Diana knows there’s something more.

This was one that sounded right up my alley, on paper. It was a police-procedural style crime fiction involving dismembered body parts and a strong main protagonist with mysterious family history involving hardship and abuse.

Unfortunately, I struggled a bit with names and pronunciations because of the rich Yorkshire x Nairobi accents in the audiobook. Obviously, this was completely on me and my own inability to comprehend accents I wasn’t used to, and not at all due to the narrators’ performance.

I found myself attracted more to Diana’s grandmother’s background story than to the mystery itself. While the dismemberment of the headmaster captivated me at the start, the mystery lost its grip on me while Diana was busy talking to various characters about other characters who could potentially lead back to the main mystery. She even had time to attend book clubs in the middle of the case.

Fortunately, the suspense got there in the end after the long winded road, and I was pretty happy with the conclusion.

(Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for a gifted review copy)

See my bookstagram review.

[Brooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

When the headmaster’s head is discovered on the site of his former school in Sheffield, DI Diana Walker is called to lead the investigation. With another teacher missing and a series of dead ends, Diana’s colleagues are convinced that the murder is related to gang crime. However, Diana suspects there is something more. With nobody willing to talk she is determined to get to the truth, but the horrifying secrets she uncovers will turn her world upside down.

Told from three points of view, The Day of the Roaring felt like it was actually two stories in one. There was the murder of the headmaster, but also the secrets being kept by Sheffield’s neglected communities. This tied in well with the story of Diana’s own grandmother and her traumatic past in Kenya. I was much more invested in this aspect, but felt like the link to this latest murder was a bit clumsy. I also had some difficulty early on actually reading the book as parts are written in an accent. This made some of the dialogue a bit hard to decipher.

The second half of the book was a lot more compelling as the police procedural parts came to the fore and Diana started to uncover more secrets, but overall it was a good but not great read for me. However, I did read an ARC, so some changes may have been made in the final version.

[Trina Dixon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very busy book with lots of leads and crimes commited that from the start feel as though it could be one or two novels. However by the end the trail comes back to one path.
DI Diana Walker is a diligent police officer, unfortunately for her, apart from Robertson, she is surrounded by incompetent misogynistic colleagues who completely disregard her thoughts and feelings related to the case.
However she persists in her motion to get justice for all the victims.
A strong debut novel

[Tara B · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Day of the Roaring is an absolutely compelling police crime thriller, set mainly in and around Sheffield.

Following the discovery of a human head in a filing cabinet on the site of an old school and another missing person report, DI Diana Walker gets sent to the scene to investigate.

Although the storyline was a little slow to start, it gained momentum and took you on a ride through some grim and dark places.

It was such a good gritty read, however it did try to cover so many community, cultural, societal and other complex issues, such as FMG, sexual assault, harassment, domestic violence and drug/gun running, that I felt there was too much to absorb and detracted from what was a great thriller with plot turns and twists aplenty.

The author, Nina Bhadreshwar, has a wonderful writing style, descriptive and reflective throughout, and so easy to read.

Still, I loved the overall read, I hope DI Walker returns soon.

[Naomi (aplace_inthesun) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a fascinating premise and addresses important issues despite being fiction, however it is entirely undone by trying to do too much.

There are multiple storylines, narrators and changes in dialect that make for a slow-moving, somewhat confusing journey instead of being a snappy, murder mystery. Whilst the novel is undoubtedly reflective of culture and subculture and gives tone to the story, interspersed as it was it made for challenging reading.

What shone through were the elements of family, expectation, class and gender distinctions, senses of otherness, misogyny, corruption, and for our detective, doggedness and determination.

Thanks to Harper Collins for sending me an early copy to read ahead of its release.

[Bichons_and_books_nz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is0 a slow burn with multiple characters and periods, which made it difficult to get into at first. The initial crime was gruesome, and the victim felt like someone who almost deserved their fate.

I was completely gripped by the present-day investigation, following DI Diana Walker as she navigated the crime scene and unravelled the mystery of who killed the victim—and why.

The backstory of the sisters from Africa, their past, and the atrocities they endured were essential to the plot, but I found it confusing to follow.

I wonder if the storytelling would have been clearer with a structured approach—perhaps dividing the book into parts rather than alternating POVs each chapter—to better introduce the different plotlines.

[The Pastel Bookshelf · Rating 2 out of 5]

This started off well and I was invested in the story straight away. However, the slow pace and multiple storylines just felt a bit messy and unfortunately the format just didn’t work for me.

In my opinion it would have worked better if the author had stuck to one plot/storyline. I quickly lost interest and struggled to finish it to be honest. It’s a shame because I do think it had a lot of potential but unfortunately, for me, it just wasn’t an enjoyable read

[Esther Turnbull · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started off well, but I thought it was too long and got bored with it.

[Lydia Omodara · Rating 2 out of 5]

When the severed head of a headteacher is found locked in a filing cabinet on the site of his closed former school, DI Diana Walker is determined to find out who committed this grisly crime and why. In the face of her superiors' intransigence, Diana sets out to follow every lead she can find - from the disaffected teenagers left to fend for themselves when their school closed to the mysterious death of another former teacher and even her own mother's book club.

What follows is a convoluted battle against secrets, corruption, bureaucracy and poor record keeping, as Diana tries to convince her boss that trying to work out who had a key to the filing cabinet *inside which the headmaster's head was locked* is not a waste of time. Diana is a dogged, if not brilliant, detective, but her investigation is hampered by all but one of her colleagues being either awful or useless or both. I get the point the author is trying to make vis à vis the barriers Diana faces as both a Black police officer and a female detective, and I hypothetically would be here for this, but the procedural elements are so frustrating that I struggled to buy into Diana and her world.

I've found that police procedurals follow one of two routes in order to draw the investigation out enough to fill a novel: some deploy clever twists and turns which require incredible police work to solve the crime; others rely on the total ineptitude of the investigators, who never make connections or logical deductions and take countless pages to reach the conclusions that most readers came to themselves immediately: 'The journal entries, texts just suggest the average stress and chaotic life of an overstretched single professional,' Diana bafflingly concludes after reading a string of openly threatening texts and a journal entry which details a brick being thrown through the writer's back door. She then proceeds to spend the rest of the book wondering who might be behind the threatening texts, apparently not considering either of the two aggressive, dangerous men who are involved in the case. The first type of story keeps the reader guessing till the very end - the point at which everything falls into place and we marvel at the skill of the detectives; in the second type, we are more likely to marvel at the fact that these characters have advanced to the rank of detective when they are clearly very bad at it. Unfortunately, The Day of the Roaring falls into the latter camp.

Author Nina Bhadreshwar lived quite the life before she came to write her first book. She worked as a journalist in her native Yorkshire before following a Mexican-American theatre group on tour, covering one of the major Mexican gang truces, relocating to Los Angeles and becoming the press officer and biographer for the infamous Death Row Records. (She thanks Tupac Shakur in the acknowledgements, referring to him as her first reader.) In her mid-20s, she retrained as a teacher and later graduated from the prestigious University of East Anglia Crime Fiction MA programme. All of this to say, she undoubtedly has plenty to draw on, which is perhaps why The Day of the Roaring ends up feeling over-stuffed and under-cooked.

Off the top of my head, Bhadreshwar sets out to tackle the following themes and storylines in a book which comes in just shy of 400 pages:
- the 1950s Mau Mau uprising in Kenya, and Diana's grandmother's experience of it;
- the legacy of colonialism in Africa;
- female genital mutilation within East African communities;
- county lines drug trafficking and organised crime;
- police corruption and incompetence;
- domestic violence and abusive relationships;
- institutional racism in the police force;
- generational trauma;
- adoption trauma;
- school corruption and financial mismanagement;
- how Ofsted ruins teachers' lives;
- hunting;
- butchery;
- reading.
Most of these are worthy topics, and many of them complement each other well, but trying to cover so much ground just breaks down the narrative cohesion and inevitably leaves many threads under-developed. A more streamlined narrative would have been more powerful and more engaging - the author could have written an historical fiction novel set in 1950s Kenya or a police procedural focused on a Black female detective or an exploration of the lives of three generations of Kenyan women. Any of these could have been great books, but The Day of the Roaring tries so hard to be all of these stories that it doesn't really do justice to any of them. The decision to skip between several different narrators only adds to the lack of cohesion.

Bhadreshwar has some really interesting points to make, for example, about secrecy and shame - the idea that protecting female victims of violence from reputational damage has the by-product of protecting their assailants from facing justice - and about friction between different generations of the same community brought about by inexorably increasing exposure to, and assimilation with, western culture - for better or worse. Ultimately though, it's all spread too thin to resonate as much as it could.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Melanie]

DNF

[Roo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once I'd sorted out the different story lines. and the vast cast of characters, I really enjoyed this book.

[Papergirl · Rating 1 out of 5]

I extend gratitude to Nina Bhadreshwar, Harper Collins UK, Harper Collins Fiction, and Netgalley for the Advanced Reader Copy of this novel. What follows is a summary of how I found the book and the reading experience.

I grabbed at the opportunity to read this book because I am a sucker for a debut. I love seeing where an author’s journey begins and watching how they develop because if they continue writing, the chances are I will seek them out for a second innings. I also liked the fact that it was set in Sheffield. Not too many moons ago, I was in Sheffield, house hunting, fearing I had been priced out of the London market. I spent a considerable amount of time cruising and perusing the different districts and so I was eager to potentially retrace some steps. I was even more excited when I was met with an intriguing prologue. I am a huge fan of prologues that take you to around the climatical point, or ones where they are set in another time and place, and you are left guessing how the scene fits with the rest of the novel until the narrator/key character/author feel fit to unleash the big reveal. This prologue is the latter. The reader is transported back in time to 1955 to some remote part of Kenya. A righteous woman is being interrogated and ridiculed by a gang calling themselves Loyalists, but she swears they are traitors to their nation. At this point there are no clues about the exchange that takes place in broken English with a smattering of a Kenyan tribal tongue thrown in. Although we are left intrigued about who the mystery woman is trying to protect.

Flash forward to 2010. DI Diana Walker is soon on an active crime scene looking at the dismembered head and fist of a victim that has been deposited at an abandoned building. At this point there was no clue how this murder was linked to the prologue, thus creating an air of mystery. I had taken the bait and was on the hook, anticipating how the novel would develop. However, I was unceremoniously cast back out to sea quite early on. Within a couple of chapters, the story began to drag, and I found myself struggling to stay awake to consume the tale. The book grew tiresome very quickly indeed.

Some of the things that turned me off included:
• The dialect – The tribal dialect used in the prologue was fine. There was some broken English when the characters spoke that made sense and added an authentic dimension to the exchange. However, when we were transported to Sheffield the narrator’s dialect would alternate between a Northern accent and neutral dialect. I did not appreciate this. I personally prefer that regional dialects apply only to speech.
• The contractions re: obscenities – If you are going to swear, then swear. I found it really confusing when the f-bomb was omitted, i.e., instead of ‘f-bomb hell,’ you got ‘kin ‘ell.’ Or simply ‘sake’ instead of for ‘f-bomb sake.’ It slowed my reading and had me going back and forth to reread what I was already finding a bore.
• Unnecessary scenes – I know back stories need to be woven into the novel, but DI Diane Walker’s mother’s love of kitchen gardening was not a topic that needed a whole chapter dedicated to it. The back story should be threaded in beautifully, bit by bit, as and when necessary.
• Too many characters – too many people were introduced in too short a period and I could not connect with anyone. I could not decide who to root for, which again, enhances the boredom and drags out the novel.
• Multiple plot lines – It is easy to forget what the book is actually about because the author has inserted a wealth of subplots, enhancing the confusion.
In the end, I skipped to the final 20% of the book and even then, I struggled through it. The pace remained a dawdle and the investigation into the murders was going nowhere fast.

I am unable to suggest who might benefit from this book and find it enjoyable. I enjoy crime novels, mysteries and who-dunnits but let us just say, producers are not going to be queuing up to adapt this for Netflix. I love reading about investigations whether they are successful or not, but this was a little too literal in documenting the daily progress (or lack of).

If potential readers are interested, they should be aware of trigger warnings for FGM, rape, racism, and misogyny (including within the police force).

[Anja · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley & the publishers for this arc.

I want to start off by saying you should definitely read the trigger warnings before reading this book. There are a lot of serious/sensitive topics within this book that may cause distress. However, the author has shown care & respect when discussing them and I do believe these subjects are extremely important and should be spoken about to bring awareness.

However, sadly I don’t think this book was for me. From the beginning it was hard to read and get into. It felt like sometimes the sentences were incomplete & they were not in the slang sections or northern dialect but within the plot of the book itself. The dialect I found was also inconsistent. The book did jump from scene to scene without explanation making it quite confusing and I found that a lot of the time sections just didn’t make sense. Some bits were also overly descriptive for no reason adding to the confusion.

I did also feel like I was reading a book within a series rather than a stand alone (unless I’m wrong that it is in-fact a stand alone) as there were many times things were introduced but not explained and just assumed the reader knew what was going on. I found that there were just too many things going on, too many characters, too many narratives & different storylines that made it overly complex and also hard to read. I appreciate the sensitive topics discussed and how they each deserve to be brought to light but it was just too much. I also found the book to be quite repetitive and felt like I had to drag myself through it, the main character is very hot and cold, to which I couldn’t connect and ended up (although admiring her determination) feeling quite annoyed at her random out bursts that didn’t serve a purpose, going round in circles and being inconsistent. Towards the end of the story it did really pick up and I was intrigued to see what happened but the plot seemed jumbled, things were happening in weird orders and actions were being repeated that didn’t make sense. There were also a lot of editing issues but I assume this is down to it being an arc.

Over all I think it had a lot of potential and some really hard hitting aspects that I respect being brought to light but I just really struggled with it.

[Jon Ray · Rating 1 out of 5]

I very rarely feel the need to explain my grading of a book, and I I don’t think I’ve ever given one star.
This just wasn’t for me, multiple narrators made it tough to focus, but halfway through the book I suddenly realised I didn’t care about the characters.
Some odd things happen, I’m a criminology student so I try not to be too critical of procedure- a booked based on pure police protocol would be a text book and we don’t want that 😂 however, we do need some structure to make us believe what’s happening, interviewing a book club? Not sure a about that one,
I look forward to reading the next one though

[Christine Rennie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The. Day of the Roaring by Nina Bhadreshwar is a debut book by the author and I would look forward to reading more in the DI Diane Walker police series in the future.
It was an ambitious first novel with the three women in Diane Walker’s life all playing a part in the storyline, including Diane.
Her grandmother is in Sheffield because she is reporting to the British Commission about events in Kenya when she was growing up and as a young woman in Kenya.
Then there is her daughter who plays a part as a member of the. Black Woman’s Book Club in Sheffield and knew two of the victims of the story and then there s Diana, a young black police officer in Sheffield and the Senior Officer in a murder inquiry.
There are many serious issues discussed as part of the story and it is only at the end of the story that you know that Diane has accomplished many closures in her case that other police officers discounted as irrelevant.
An accomplished first novel and I enjoyed the narration of the story by Netgalley Audio.
Highly recommended

[Fiona · Rating 3 out of 5]

I debated whether to rate this 2 or 3 stars. I've gone for 3 stars because it is a debut novel and I feel that the editor should have done a better job. There are important issues explored, most importantly FGM, rape and sex discrimination but there were other themes as well and this just made for a very complex plot with too much going on. The author has thrown ecmverything into the mix and this is where a good editor would pare it back a bit. Added to this, there are so many characters that it is hard to keep track. The pace is quite slow and too much detail is given for minor, irrelevant storylines. I kept feeling that there should be a prequel somewhere to explain some of the relationship dynamics. For example, Diana and her mother. At no point are we told why there relationship s so strained, it just is. There is a lot of telling rather than showing which makes the action plod a bit.
There is a good story here but it would work better if the multiple strands and characters were reduced to allow for a more in depth development so that the reader is more engaged with the outcome. As it is, I didn't really care much about most of the characters, MaMa being the exception.

[Emma Maddison · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rubbish is all I can say about this book.
Far too many unnecessary sub plots within the story - just pick a plot and go with it. You don’t need all these side stories that neither contribute to the main story or add anything.

If felt like the author was trying to tie all these stories together but it didn’t do this.
I skim read sooooo much of it as there was just too much unnecessary writing in it.
Felt like it was a way to fill in the word count rather than anything else.

I disliked the main character - found her to be highly annoying.

And I still can’t see what the point of the prologue / grandmas story was. It had VERY loose links to a plot in the story but it was just pointless. The link was so tenuous to the main plot.

I literally can’t think of a good thing to say about this book. And I felt like it took me forever to read.

Avoid avoid avoid

[Robin Price · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nina Bhadreshwar blows away all the cobwebs clinging to police procedurals in a brave, innovative crime fiction debut. As a curtain raiser to a literary career this is pitch perfect.
The author uses fiction to shine a spotlight on some of the cultural and racial tensions of modern day Sheffield and uncovers a battery of heinous crimes, including female genital mutilation.
This is a novel full of strong female characters, challenging generational stereotypes, and a complex plot that spans continents and centuries without ever losing its focus. The narrative is evocative and compelling reading and littered with unexpected twists and turns.
The author writes with honesty and integrity enthusing hope amidst the darkness of a cruel world.

[Tiyasha Ganguly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved this one. A bit of a slow burn after the introduction but it did keep me gripped. It has a lot of underlying themes and narrative threads. An enjoyable thriller overall.

Thank you HarperCollins UK, Harper Fiction and NetGalley for this e-arc in exchange of my unbiased review.

[Chris Bissette · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book really appealed to me and I was really happy to receive a copy through NetGalley. Gritty northern crime novels are right up my street, and I desperately wanted to love this. And initially I thought I was going to.

The Day of The Roaring starts strong. We have a grisly crime that doesn't make any sense and a compelling lead character in DI Diana Walker, a Black woman working in the police in the late 00s, who's moved away from Sheffield due to some events we aren't fully privy to at the start of the novel and is having to juggle her career and all the politics of race and gender that come with it at the same time as a complicated family life. Tie this together with some strong writing and a fairly authentic regional dialect on the page and I thought I was going to be in for a good time.

Unfortunately it falls off fairly quickly. The Sheffield dialect that works so well in the opening chapters starts to feel more like a bad parody of what northeners sound like (and I say this as a northerner, albeit from the other side of the Pennines). Half the time Bhadreshwar seems to forget that her characters are meant to speak in this way, and it's completely abandoned by the final act. And some of the decisions about how to render this speech are simply annoying; I never want to read "fk" in place of "fuck" ever again.

This is a shame because there are moments of brilliance on display in the writing. At times the prose slips into a really stunning cadence that reminds me of the best literary fiction, but the rest of the time it's a bit of a mess.

The biggest problem for me is that it doesn't really work as a mystery. It becomes obvious who the perpetrator is very early on, but none of the police who we're following pick up on this or connect the dots. This can work when it's done deliberately but here it was just frustrating, as I spent more than 300 pages wondering when the investigators were going to connect the very obvious dots. And when they do work out what's going on - right at the end, with barely 20 pages of the book left - it happens off screen, so that we're denied that "Aha!" moment that this genre thrives on. We jump from a fairly unrelated event to the arrest with no connective tissue to show us how DI Walker came to her conclusion and - crucially - how she convinced her colleagues to go along with it. This seems like a particular oversight, since so much of the narrative is concerned with how little they respect her and how they keep denying her instincts and holding back the investigation as a result. I really wanted her to get that moment of "I told you so" and it never happens.

Much like my frustrations with the writing - moments of brilliance hidden in a mess of clunky prose that feels like it needs a second draft - it's frustrating that the convoluted plot and poor research (the Bullring is in Birmingham, not Sheffield; MDMA has been a Class A drug since the 1970s; nobody has ever been in a mosh pit at a Def Leppard concert; the age of consent in the UK is 16, not 18) detract from the fact that Bhadreshwar is writing about some pretty serious issues that I don't think I've ever seen tackled in fiction. Her Afterword makes it clear that she's put a lot of time into researching FGM and speaking to people who have actually been impacted by it. I wish the final product of that work was better, because this feels like an important conversation to be having and fiction feels like a good place for it to start.

I've spent a lot of time criticising this. It's not terrible, but it feels half-baked - especially in the back end, which is demonstrably less polished than the opening. I suspect that were this not a review copy I would have DNFd somewhere around 60% as I felt things starting to unravel and the plot seemed to just be spinning in circles and never going anywhere. There's some bloat here, particularly involving sections from the point of view of a secondary character called Bruno that don't add anything and simply bog down the pacing. When it's good it's clear that it had the potential to be great, and that makes it incredibly disappointing that it's largely a failure to launch.

[Anschen Conradie]

#TheDayOfTheRoaring – Nina Bhadreshwar
#HarperCollins
#JonathanBall

If this novel had a soundtrack, it would include the popular hit song by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel: “…silence like a cancer grows / Hear my words that I might find you / Take my arms that I might reach you / But my words like silent raindrops fell / and echoed in the wells of silence.”

Silence may appear to wear a cloak of protection, but, whilst it protects the victim, it also protects the perpetrator.

It starts anything but silently. Parts of a dismembered body are found in a derelict filing cabinet at a school that is being demolished. The decapitated head reveals the identity of the victim as that of the former headmaster. The last person to see him alive, a former colleague, is missing, his car abandoned. A hit by an organized crime group cannot be excluded; drug trafficking was rife before the closure of the school, and funds seem to have disappeared from the books. But the potential witnesses are either dead, missing, or silent.

Diana Walker, a third-generation Kenyan, is the investigating officer. Her family history is shrouded in silence; her mother regards herself as a British citizen and spends her time fiddling in her vegetable garden and attending book club meetings. When her grandmother arrives to pursue compensation for historic sexual violence suffered at the hands of the British and African loyalists and the atrocities of confinement camps during the so-called Mau Mau uprising, the walls of silence start cracking: “I saw things I cannot unsee.” (282)

The truth about modern-day ritualistic female sexual mutilation (FSM) is not the only revelation shocking Diana to her core; the book club that her mother so religiously attends and supports, is a front for something far more sinister, and the evidence that slowly reveals itself, is indicative of more than one suspicious death.

The plight of minority groups in Britain is a recurring theme in this debut novel. FSM and gender-based violence are specific concerns, but the paradox of the FSM supporters being female, is neither concealed, nor denied: “...women who were sliced with a razor, sewn up with thorns, bound for days with sheet and cord as children by women they should trust.” (118). The horrors that should have remained behind when fleeing Africa is alive and well in the adoptive country: “I thought we were leaving all that madness behind when we left Mogadishu. But we just brought it with us.” (227)

The generational gaps manifesting as opposing views, inability to truly communicate, and the resulting superficial connections, are also emphasised: “When she talks, a mass of noise starts in my head. I don’t understand her theories and rage.” (50)

Ironically, and unfortunately, Diana’s boredom and frustrations are transferred to the reader when page upon page comprises little more than her building a paperclip chain and lamenting: “…days of diddly squat, but paperwork…” (200). The pace is slow, and irrelevant scenes and conversations cloud the narrative.

The closing chapters are very well written and are likely to save the novel from being labelled negatively: “And when silence speaks, it roars” (375) but it may be too little too late for readers unwilling to persevere.

#uitdieperdsebek

[Mary Picken · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Day of the Roaring is a powerful and intelligent read. Dealing with complex issues, it manages to be a compelling police procedural as well as shedding light on a number of social issues affecting inner cities, in this case, Sheffield.

It starts with a bleak and grim finding; the head of a man in a locked filing cabinet on a building site. D.I. Diana Walker is called to the site, which used to be Legley Road High School before the school was closed and then demolished. The victim turns out to be the former Headmaster of the school. She follows every lead, even those which seem tangential to the main case. It is this thoroughness that opens up the possibility of a more complex motive than at first seems likely.

There are a number of barriers, however, to Diana progressing her case. As a female investigator, Diana is looked down on by her largely misogynistic fellow officers, who are far too ready to assign this murder to the organised crime gangs who run the county lines in Sheffield, and they threaten to run roughshod over her case.

This case also throws up connections to her Kenyan community and to members of her own mother’s book club, whom she needs to interview. But this group of women have gained strength from coming together to talk about their own experiences. They have little trust in the police and that is true of Diana’s own mother, Rhema. So, tensions at home also threaten Diana’s peace of mind.

Diana follows her hunches, which, going against the accepted police motive, threatens her professional standing. Undeterred, she follows her instincts, braving her superiors’ wrath, and unearths a web of corruption and abuse.

When her grandmother, MaMa, comes from Kenya to stay, Diana learns a lot more about her struggles as a Kikuyu woman, and understands how little her own mother knows of her grandmother’s history. MaMa’s stories of the savage atrocities committed by some of the British soldiers in Kenya during the Mau Mau uprising are chilling and as Nina Bhadreshwar makes clear, the British government still, to this day, refuse to take any responsibility for that brutality.

Bhadreshwar’s characters are warm and vivid; her descriptions of Sheffield’s poorer and struggling inner city youngsters, and the opportunities lost to them, are all too clear.

I found the voices and the perspectives to be authentic and the character’s stories fresh and exciting, touching on a whole range of issues. This is not an easy book – often dark- it is also harrowing in places, especially when dealing with some honest and graphic discussion of female genital mutilation.

Verdict: This is a layered and wide-ranging police procedural that excels in the inter-generational perspectives and makes the conversations between the teenagers and younger people in the story feel so realistic. Misogyny, racism, endemic drug use, corruption, FGM and blatant, bullying sexism all feature but through it all, finding the culprit remains D.I. Walker’s focus. I loved the informative and authentic dialogue and the sadly all too plausible scenarios that make this book excel. I’ll be looking out for the next in this compelling series. Highly recommended.

[Meg Pearson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Day of the Roaring by Nina Bhadreshwar is a gritty, multi-layered crime thriller that weaves together social commentary, historical injustices, and a relentless pursuit of justice. Set in Sheffield, the story follows DI Diana Walker, a determined and resilient detective tasked with solving the shocking case of a severed head found in an abandoned school. What unfolds is far more than a murder investigation—it’s an exploration of systemic failures, generational trauma, and the silent battles women endure.

The novel tackles a myriad of serious topics, including racism, sexism, domestic abuse, and female genital mutilation (FGM), blending them into a deeply complex plot that keeps the reader both engaged and disturbed. The story also delves into the horrors of British colonial rule in Kenya, as recounted through haunting flashbacks from Diana’s mother’s generation. These elements add depth and historical weight, making the narrative more than a standard police procedural.

DI Diana Walker is a compelling protagonist, navigating a hostile work environment rife with misogyny while dealing with personal challenges, including her connection to the case through her mother’s book club. The group, composed of strong women supporting one another against a system that frequently fails them, provides a powerful counterpoint to the institutional indifference depicted in the novel.

While the themes are undeniably important and handled with care, the narrative occasionally feels overwhelmed by the sheer number of subplots and characters. The investigation touches on everything from organized crime and police corruption to community secrets and familial ties, which can make the story feel cluttered and disjointed at times. However, the writing is evocative, and Bhadreshwar’s vivid depiction of Sheffield adds an atmospheric quality to the book.

The novel is not an easy read, given its harrowing subject matter and the emotional weight of its themes. Yet, it is a necessary one, shedding light on issues that are too often ignored. Despite some predictability in the resolution, the journey to uncovering the truth remains gripping, with Diana’s tenacity serving as the emotional core of the story.

The Day of the Roaring is a thought-provoking debut that combines crime fiction with a deeper exploration of societal ills. While its complexity may challenge some readers, those who persevere will find a story that is as enlightening as it is unsettling. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this impactful book