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Detective Jason Smith #0
Phobia: Detective Jason Smith's early years
Phobia is a series of five Detective Jason Smith cases that he worked on before we met him in the first book 'Smith'. We are given insights into what moulded him into the Detective Sergeant we first get a glimpse of in 'Smith'. As a young detective disillusioned by life, Smith quickly realizes that police work isn't always cut and dried. Justice is not always black and white; there are many shades of grey in between.
327 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 25, 2015
103 people are currently reading
53 people want to read
About the author
Stewart Giles
83 books85 followersAfter reading English at 3 Universities and graduating from none of them, I set off travelling around the world with my wife, Ann, finally settling in South Africa, where we still live. After Ann dropped a rather large speaker on my head I came up with the idea for a detective series. DS Jason Smith was born. Smith, the first in the series was finished a few months later. 3 years and 8 DS Smith books later, Joffe Books wondered if I would be interested in working with them. As a self-published author, I agreed. However, we decided on a new series - the DC Harriet Taylor Cornwall series. The Beekeeper hit the shelves and hit the number one spot in Australia. The second in the series, The Perfect Murder did just as well. The third in the series, The Backpacker I have self-published and is now available.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 21, 2018
This is such an entertaining book! It introduces the reader to Jason Smith before his series actually begins.
There are five different full-length stories starting with the things that turned him away from the law defending thugs into a rookie police officer. From there, he rises up the ranks until in Book 5, he is DS Jason Smith.
It's quite a journey watching him grow and mature from his very first day on the job to a man who has developed and honed his instinctive feelings that make him an exceptional detective.
The crimes are unusual, some misleading and I liked watching the door to door interrogations rather than depending solely on forensics.
Jason is an extremely likable character. He's a straight-shooter, dedicated to catching criminals, and bringing justice to the victims and their families.
I highly recommend reading this one first before Book 1 of the series ... SMITH. There are a total of 9 books .... terrific for a marathon of reading.
Many thanks to the author / Books n All Book Promotions for the digital copy of PHOBIA, a crime fiction. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
June 12, 2018
I am a big fan of Stewart's books they are easy to read and are a little bit different (but I can't put my finger on why) and I have LOVED every single one. So I was very excited to be reading this book.
I have to say this is an absolutely brilliant way of bringing the reader up to date with the time before Smith became a DS. I haven't seen this done before we usually get snippets throughout the series that you need to put together or a prequel novella so this was an enlightening breath of fresh air.
I also need to add that I am not a fan of short stories I like a book I can get stuck in to. I usually find that short stories don't give enough insight into the characters or depth to the story. Here, again, Stewart has excelled himself. Each of the 5 stories is gripping and interesting absolutely no padding these are straight down the line detective stories.
I wont say much about the stories as they are short and I don't want to spoil them for anyone.
Smith: well he grows and develops in each story and we learn more about his character and history but most of all about him and his unique talent for putting together the clues quickly and effectively.
Absolutely brilliant and well worth the 5 stars.
I have to say this is an absolutely brilliant way of bringing the reader up to date with the time before Smith became a DS. I haven't seen this done before we usually get snippets throughout the series that you need to put together or a prequel novella so this was an enlightening breath of fresh air.
I also need to add that I am not a fan of short stories I like a book I can get stuck in to. I usually find that short stories don't give enough insight into the characters or depth to the story. Here, again, Stewart has excelled himself. Each of the 5 stories is gripping and interesting absolutely no padding these are straight down the line detective stories.
I wont say much about the stories as they are short and I don't want to spoil them for anyone.
Smith: well he grows and develops in each story and we learn more about his character and history but most of all about him and his unique talent for putting together the clues quickly and effectively.
Absolutely brilliant and well worth the 5 stars.
June 11, 2018
I have got to start by saying that I don't normally read short stories, but I had read and loved Smith, which is a full length novel of one of Smith's cases, so I jumped at the chance to read these five short stories which give the background to how and why Smith joined the police. An added bonus is that the series is set in York which is so close to my home in the North Riding of Yorkshire.
Despite working for a Law degree, Jason Smith is devastated when his grandmother dies after being mugged and he chooses to work chasing criminals rather than defending them. He joins York police and these five stories give us a flavour of his maverick personality and his intelligence as his thought processes are revealed to us. He has an inability to toe the line in personal relationships along with a deep determination to reveal the truth in as many crimes as he can which can lead to some head-butting between him and his superior officers but we know he will always get his man! I find him a quirky but attractive character and I love the way we are shown how his relationships develop with his colleagues, with the hope of a more personal relationship arising from one of them!
If you love police procedural novels with strong characters and written with a love of the area they cover then these are the books for you. Phobia is a 5 star for me!
Despite working for a Law degree, Jason Smith is devastated when his grandmother dies after being mugged and he chooses to work chasing criminals rather than defending them. He joins York police and these five stories give us a flavour of his maverick personality and his intelligence as his thought processes are revealed to us. He has an inability to toe the line in personal relationships along with a deep determination to reveal the truth in as many crimes as he can which can lead to some head-butting between him and his superior officers but we know he will always get his man! I find him a quirky but attractive character and I love the way we are shown how his relationships develop with his colleagues, with the hope of a more personal relationship arising from one of them!
If you love police procedural novels with strong characters and written with a love of the area they cover then these are the books for you. Phobia is a 5 star for me!
June 13, 2018
I have a confession to make. Although I have all of the DS Jason Smith books on my ever increasing ‘TBR’ (to be read) pile, I have only actually read one (‘Unworthy’) of them prior to picking this one up. I loved reading ‘Unworthy’ and I just knew that I would love ‘Phobia’. I was not to be disappointed. I absolutely loved reading ‘Phobia’ which, as it says on the tagline, is a perfect introduction to DS Jason Smith.
What can I say about DS Jason Smith? He is one hell of a man. He is originally from Australia but has moved over to the UK. Originally he wanted to be a lawyer but following an incident with his gran, he became disillusioned with the court system and so he decided to become a policeman. Let’s just say that his career gets off to a flying start and he soon starts making a name for himself. The first story sees him starting work as a police constable but thanks to staff sickness he is soon seconded to CID, where he makes some impressive breakthroughs in cases. Smith is an ambitious and feisty policeman. He doesn’t suffer fools gladly and he certainly has a way of wheedling information out of somebody. Smith has a keen gut instinct and he knows that if something doesn’t seem right to him, then it usually isn’t and the matter warrants further investigation. To start with I get the impression that Smith feels a bit lonely. Smith was ever so close to his grandmother, who has sadly passed away. Smith doesn’t have much of a social life, nor does he really have that many friends. Smith works well as part of a team but equally he works perfectly well on his own.
Blimey oh riley this was a fantastic introduction to the dreamy sounding DS Jason Smith. I am not usually a huge fan of short stories but I totally loved this collection. The stories were well written and well plotted. This collection of different short investigations/ stories were the complete package. By that I mean that they started in a memorable way, they got straight to the point, they were relatively fast paced and the different stories ended well, although I disagreed with the ending of one particular story. Even with that story though, it shows that the law isn’t perfect and the police don’t always get the result that they were hoping for.
I have to say that I was hooked on ‘Phobia’ from the moment I picked up my Kindle and began to read. Reading ‘Phobia’ became a serious addiction and I just had to keep getting my next fix of just one more page, one more chapter and one more story. The pages and the time seemed to pass by in a blur and I didn’t realise quite how quickly I was reading until I happened to look up and realise that a few hours had gone past and I had read 50% of the book. I just managed to totally immerse myself in the different stories and investigations and to shut out all other distractions. Usually I have the attention span of a gnat and I am easily distracted but not in this case. I found that reading ‘Phobia’ was much like being on a rollercoaster ride with twists and turns and unexpected developments.
I admit that I loved the settings of these stories. The stories start off in York which is not that far from where I live and so I was familiar with the different areas of York. I was even more excited (sad I know) when my home town made an appearance in the second story. That’s Darlington by the way. I kept trying to fathom out where certain characters lived even though I didn’t have any street names to work with. I chuckled along at the name of a certain nightclub and the fact that Darlington had its first strip club/ pole dancing club. Certain criticisms were made of Darlington police and I found myself wanting to jump into the pages of the book and stick up for Darlington police. I just love the fact that the stories are set in the North East of England, which I feel is underrepresented in fiction.
In conclusion ‘Phobia’ is one hell of a read and I strongly recommend that you read it. I can’t wait to read the other books in the series and I look forward to reading them in order. I am a bit OCD and like to read series from the beginning and in order. The score on the Ginger Book Geek is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.
What can I say about DS Jason Smith? He is one hell of a man. He is originally from Australia but has moved over to the UK. Originally he wanted to be a lawyer but following an incident with his gran, he became disillusioned with the court system and so he decided to become a policeman. Let’s just say that his career gets off to a flying start and he soon starts making a name for himself. The first story sees him starting work as a police constable but thanks to staff sickness he is soon seconded to CID, where he makes some impressive breakthroughs in cases. Smith is an ambitious and feisty policeman. He doesn’t suffer fools gladly and he certainly has a way of wheedling information out of somebody. Smith has a keen gut instinct and he knows that if something doesn’t seem right to him, then it usually isn’t and the matter warrants further investigation. To start with I get the impression that Smith feels a bit lonely. Smith was ever so close to his grandmother, who has sadly passed away. Smith doesn’t have much of a social life, nor does he really have that many friends. Smith works well as part of a team but equally he works perfectly well on his own.
Blimey oh riley this was a fantastic introduction to the dreamy sounding DS Jason Smith. I am not usually a huge fan of short stories but I totally loved this collection. The stories were well written and well plotted. This collection of different short investigations/ stories were the complete package. By that I mean that they started in a memorable way, they got straight to the point, they were relatively fast paced and the different stories ended well, although I disagreed with the ending of one particular story. Even with that story though, it shows that the law isn’t perfect and the police don’t always get the result that they were hoping for.
I have to say that I was hooked on ‘Phobia’ from the moment I picked up my Kindle and began to read. Reading ‘Phobia’ became a serious addiction and I just had to keep getting my next fix of just one more page, one more chapter and one more story. The pages and the time seemed to pass by in a blur and I didn’t realise quite how quickly I was reading until I happened to look up and realise that a few hours had gone past and I had read 50% of the book. I just managed to totally immerse myself in the different stories and investigations and to shut out all other distractions. Usually I have the attention span of a gnat and I am easily distracted but not in this case. I found that reading ‘Phobia’ was much like being on a rollercoaster ride with twists and turns and unexpected developments.
I admit that I loved the settings of these stories. The stories start off in York which is not that far from where I live and so I was familiar with the different areas of York. I was even more excited (sad I know) when my home town made an appearance in the second story. That’s Darlington by the way. I kept trying to fathom out where certain characters lived even though I didn’t have any street names to work with. I chuckled along at the name of a certain nightclub and the fact that Darlington had its first strip club/ pole dancing club. Certain criticisms were made of Darlington police and I found myself wanting to jump into the pages of the book and stick up for Darlington police. I just love the fact that the stories are set in the North East of England, which I feel is underrepresented in fiction.
In conclusion ‘Phobia’ is one hell of a read and I strongly recommend that you read it. I can’t wait to read the other books in the series and I look forward to reading them in order. I am a bit OCD and like to read series from the beginning and in order. The score on the Ginger Book Geek is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.
June 10, 2018
(3.5 rounded up to 4)
So I’ve previously read a book of Stewart Giles published through Joffe Books and enjoyed it, so when I was offered the chance to read his self published stories I jumped at the chance.
The book contains five stories:
Cause and Effect
This has Smith’s very first case as a PC and shows how he goes from studying law to the police. After a nasty bout of flu he’s drafted up to CID to help on a spat of armed robberies of Post Offices.
The Girl In The River
Now a detective constable, Smith is given his first murder case. A young woman is found dead in the river. Suspicion quickly falls on her dodgy boyfriend. Smith’s superiors think it’s an open and shut case but far from happy he digs further.
Lost boys
A teacher from the local school is found bludgeoned to death in her own home. Bizarrely the murder weapon, an ornamental rock has been wiped clean and placed on her stomach. Yet when a known felons fingerprints are found at the crime scene, the other members of Smith’s team think they’ve found their man but he is so sure.
Two Brothers
A man phones the police when his neighbour’s dog won’t stop barking. Smith and his colleague DC Bridge are sent to investigate further. They find a gruesome scene of a young man bludgeoned to death and another in a bathtub, seemingly having taken his own life. Is it a case of murder/suicide or is it just plain murder?
Phobia
Smith passed his sergeants exams and is now DS and heading up his first case, the suspicious deaths of two students from York University found laid out on the beach of a small town called Saltburn. Due to an incident when he was sixteen Smith is now terrified of the sea, will he be able to get over his fear and investigate?
Having not read any of his Jason Smith books before (even though I do own a couple, they are sadly languishing on my lengthy tbr pile), these short stories are a perfect introduction to the detective if like me you have yet to dive into this series.
It’s not very often that we get to follow a detective from when they joined to police force. Smith is definitely a character! He moved to England from Australia as a teenager, he lives in the lovely city of York, a place I have visited a couple of times, so I have a little soft spot for it. So much tragedy in his past too, from his father’s suicide to his sister that has gone missing and the death of his beloved grandmother. He has this knack of rubbing people up the wrong way but not letting go until he feels justice is served.
Each story is split into short sharp chapter making it a quick and pacey read. I don’t often say this with a collection, I could not pick a favourite, they were all fantastic! Each story was well plotted, action packed and entertaining.
I’m now really looking forward to reading the first full length novel Smith (watch out for my spot on the blog tour next month!).
So I’ve previously read a book of Stewart Giles published through Joffe Books and enjoyed it, so when I was offered the chance to read his self published stories I jumped at the chance.
The book contains five stories:
Cause and Effect
This has Smith’s very first case as a PC and shows how he goes from studying law to the police. After a nasty bout of flu he’s drafted up to CID to help on a spat of armed robberies of Post Offices.
The Girl In The River
Now a detective constable, Smith is given his first murder case. A young woman is found dead in the river. Suspicion quickly falls on her dodgy boyfriend. Smith’s superiors think it’s an open and shut case but far from happy he digs further.
Lost boys
A teacher from the local school is found bludgeoned to death in her own home. Bizarrely the murder weapon, an ornamental rock has been wiped clean and placed on her stomach. Yet when a known felons fingerprints are found at the crime scene, the other members of Smith’s team think they’ve found their man but he is so sure.
Two Brothers
A man phones the police when his neighbour’s dog won’t stop barking. Smith and his colleague DC Bridge are sent to investigate further. They find a gruesome scene of a young man bludgeoned to death and another in a bathtub, seemingly having taken his own life. Is it a case of murder/suicide or is it just plain murder?
Phobia
Smith passed his sergeants exams and is now DS and heading up his first case, the suspicious deaths of two students from York University found laid out on the beach of a small town called Saltburn. Due to an incident when he was sixteen Smith is now terrified of the sea, will he be able to get over his fear and investigate?
Having not read any of his Jason Smith books before (even though I do own a couple, they are sadly languishing on my lengthy tbr pile), these short stories are a perfect introduction to the detective if like me you have yet to dive into this series.
It’s not very often that we get to follow a detective from when they joined to police force. Smith is definitely a character! He moved to England from Australia as a teenager, he lives in the lovely city of York, a place I have visited a couple of times, so I have a little soft spot for it. So much tragedy in his past too, from his father’s suicide to his sister that has gone missing and the death of his beloved grandmother. He has this knack of rubbing people up the wrong way but not letting go until he feels justice is served.
Each story is split into short sharp chapter making it a quick and pacey read. I don’t often say this with a collection, I could not pick a favourite, they were all fantastic! Each story was well plotted, action packed and entertaining.
I’m now really looking forward to reading the first full length novel Smith (watch out for my spot on the blog tour next month!).
June 16, 2018
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I really enjoyed this book, we get to read five stories featuring Jason Smith which set the scene and tell us more about his character before the first full length novel - Smith.
I read the stories over a few nights and it was a treat for me as I learnt more about one of my favourite characters. The stories are short but well written and they contain a lot detail. They are as well written as the full length books so it was a real pleasure to read them!
4.5 stars from me rounded up to 5 stars for Amazon and Goodreads - I really enjoyed it and love this series - very highly recommended!!
I really enjoyed this book, we get to read five stories featuring Jason Smith which set the scene and tell us more about his character before the first full length novel - Smith.
I read the stories over a few nights and it was a treat for me as I learnt more about one of my favourite characters. The stories are short but well written and they contain a lot detail. They are as well written as the full length books so it was a real pleasure to read them!
4.5 stars from me rounded up to 5 stars for Amazon and Goodreads - I really enjoyed it and love this series - very highly recommended!!
June 20, 2018
DS Jason Smith started here
I saw the name of author Stewart Giles while watching a BBC show on PBS which I enjoyed. So I looked him up on Amazon & found his books. Starting at the beginning of DS Smith's seemed like the best way to go so I did. And it was. Writers from the countries in Great Britain are easy for me to read because if their logic while the mysteries are intriguing & challenging. Giles writes stories that are top of that line & very hard to put down. Am starting the next one, "Smith", right now.
I saw the name of author Stewart Giles while watching a BBC show on PBS which I enjoyed. So I looked him up on Amazon & found his books. Starting at the beginning of DS Smith's seemed like the best way to go so I did. And it was. Writers from the countries in Great Britain are easy for me to read because if their logic while the mysteries are intriguing & challenging. Giles writes stories that are top of that line & very hard to put down. Am starting the next one, "Smith", right now.
Read
December 27, 2017Interesting lead character!
I started reading this series here, a good place to meet Smith. He quickly catches you with his quirky personality. He is surrounded by equally well-developed and individualized supporting cast members. The author puts all of these into fascinating plots in five shorter stories. I will read more of these stories!
I started reading this series here, a good place to meet Smith. He quickly catches you with his quirky personality. He is surrounded by equally well-developed and individualized supporting cast members. The author puts all of these into fascinating plots in five shorter stories. I will read more of these stories!
December 30, 2022
An introduction to Smith. In this he begins his police career and progresses to Detective Sergeant. There are several short stories, each one a case and giving the reader more of Smith's background and his introduction to both police work and to Whitton. A very entertaining read which I loved.
December 31, 2022
Great beginnings
I was just beginning to read ‘Smith’ when I saw this & decided to start hear. A very clever set of stories that lead up to the start of the main series. Well recommend ed.
I was just beginning to read ‘Smith’ when I saw this & decided to start hear. A very clever set of stories that lead up to the start of the main series. Well recommend ed.
July 16, 2025
Looking forward to this series.
October 31, 2023
I loved learning more about Smith's earlier life and career through these cases.
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July 11, 2018Even if, like me, you haven't read any of the Smith series then this is a brilliant place to start - in fact I would recommend starting here as I have since listened to Smith (the first original book in the series) and enjoyed it more after listening to this one first.
This is a collection of five shorter stories all following Smith as he is a lowly DS working for the York Police and investigating different cases.
The first case deals with the death of Smith's grandmother and how he ends up in the police force and gets stuck into his first case.
The next four stories all deal with different cases and how Smith matures over the stories and learns so much to become the DI he is in the Smith series.
In relation to the audio version I thought the narrator was brilliant and really got the different accents and voices down, although it took me a while to work out where Smith was from as he sounded South African for a while, but once I learnt he was from Fremantle it all fitted into place.
Overall I loved this book and it made me jump straight into the Smith series proper so I could learn how he progressed to DI and what happened in the meantime. I can highly recommend either reading or listening to this book as it is a great story and very well narrated.
This is a collection of five shorter stories all following Smith as he is a lowly DS working for the York Police and investigating different cases.
The first case deals with the death of Smith's grandmother and how he ends up in the police force and gets stuck into his first case.
The next four stories all deal with different cases and how Smith matures over the stories and learns so much to become the DI he is in the Smith series.
In relation to the audio version I thought the narrator was brilliant and really got the different accents and voices down, although it took me a while to work out where Smith was from as he sounded South African for a while, but once I learnt he was from Fremantle it all fitted into place.
Overall I loved this book and it made me jump straight into the Smith series proper so I could learn how he progressed to DI and what happened in the meantime. I can highly recommend either reading or listening to this book as it is a great story and very well narrated.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews