Caved-In

Dr. Hannah Nightingale #5

by Roy Chester

Josh Cavendish goes missing on the island of Anglesey. Eight months later, his body is found in a cave. His skull has been smashed in, but someone has lovingly placed a crown of flowers on his head.

The disappearance is a massive embarrassment to the police. The boy came from a powerful family and the area was searched and nothing found. Detective David Mallory and criminal profiler Dr Hannah Nightingale from the Garton police are called in to crack this baffling case.

Hannah discovers that the boy is not all that he seemed. There is a nasty streak of violence that seems to have roots in the family’s past. And Josh’s father and uncle are both concealing something from the police.

Dark family secrets lie in the background of this complex mystery. Can the police find out who killed Josh and why, before anyone else suffers?
THE DETECTIVES: David Mallory is an old-school policeman who has made some powerful enemies within his own department. DCI Gary Falcon is an ambitious young man on the rise, but his father’s legal work for the city’s criminal does not play well with his fellow officers.

THE PROFILER: Dr Hannah Nightingale an up-and-coming forensic psychiatrist who is employed as a consultant profiler by the Toybreaker team. The Nightingale family are prominent in the Garton social scene and Hannah has to fight hard to be accepted by a sceptical police force.

THE SETTING: Garton is a fictional port city in the north of England. It’s faced years of industrial decline, but a strong community spirit and sense of humour give hope of revival. But there are still pockets of rundown inner-city criminality.
DR HANNAH NIGHTINGALE SERIES
Book 1: THE TOYBREAKER
Book 2: ANGER MAN
Book 3: PREY
Book 4: VENGEANCE
Book 5: CAVED-IN

255 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 13, 2017

About the author

I retired as the Proudman Professor of Oceanography in the Department of Earth & Ocean Sciences at the University of Liverpool in 2001.

I am the author of over 125 papers in the mainstream scientific literature and have written a number of textbooks.

I have also served as a lay member of the Mental Health Tribunal for over 25 years.

Since retirement, my writing has focused on crime thrillers.

Reviews

[Alan Cotterell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the 5th book in the Dr Hannah Nightingale series, but it has a different plot line/feel to the other books, partly because she didn’t play a very big part in the proceedings. Maybe she was having a rest after book 4! It is more of a David Mallory book - not necessarily a bad thing. Overall an enjoyable read, with a pace that speeds up towards the end, which is not quite as dynamic as most of the other books, but still has a great twist at the end.

Rating this book caused a bit of a dilemma. As a standalone it was an easy 4.5 maybe 5 star book, but as part of the series it was down to 2.5 -3 stars (The ending helped boost its score). Which indicates, in my mind how great the others were. Two of them were 6/5 stars to me. In the end I averaged it to 4 stars.

[Tracey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Caved-In

The Garton Police are called in to run a second investigators into the Josh Cavendish case. But Hannah Nightingale and the team soon discover that both Josh and his family had secrets.
This really is Roy Chester's best book. Well written and full of twists, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Recommended.

[Sarah Rife · Rating 5 out of 5]

Received this ebook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!
This is my first book out of the nightingale series, I have never even heard of this series before or this author, So i went into this completely blind. At times I kind of felt like i was missing out of on a few of the things mentioned, most likely things that happened in a previous book, so i wouldn't say it's one of the books that can be read as standalone.

Although this didn't seem like the type of book i would normally read, something happened while i was reading it, somehow i got dragged into this story, this book would not let me put it down. I started this book last night, read for about 6 hours straight and fell asleep with my kindle on my chest, I didn't even want to put it down to go to sleep! As soon as i was free in the morning i started reading again and did not stop until i was finished. Something about this is surprisingly addictive, I had to know what happened to Josh, I had to know what would happen next, and i was not giving up until i knew every word of this story! I didn't exactly love it or hate it but it was like i had to read it all no matter what. Weird that it's a Hannah Nightingale book, I don't feel like she paid a huge part in this book, I mean she was there in all the meetings and was pretty much a part of the whole book but I don't feel like she really had much of a impact, it was like the story could have been written without her in it at all, It felt like a David Mallory book to me. Maybe she has a bigger part in the other books I don't know but i just feel like i finished this book and don't really know much about Hannah at all. But overall I liked it, It kept me VERY interested and it was a pretty suspenseful fast paced read.

[Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

4 and 1 / 2 stars

Josh Cavendish is a thirteen-year old boy who went missing eight months earlier. His body has now been found in a cave in West Wales.

Mallory and his team arrive to re-investigate the case upon finding the body because the local force has been pilloried in the press and some things were done incorrectly.

The investigation takes a weird twist when the officers at the cave scene are attacked by a person dressed as a samurai in full armor. The scene of the murder has been carefully staged. The psychologist for the case believes it shows some care has been taken and the police take a closer look at the family of the victim.

Some of the Welsh police officers are taking issue with Mallory’s outside team taking over and the situation must be managed carefully.

Mallory’s investigation starts moving apace when certain discoveries are made. As his team follows the clues, interviews people and seeks answers, the story gains tension. Some surprising discoveries aid the investigation and rather quickly progress is made.

While my primary suspect in the book turned out to be the killer, I still very much enjoyed the process of getting there and reading the novel.

This book is very well written and plotted. It moves along steadily, but picks up the pace as we come closer to catching the killer of young Josh. I have read other Roy Chester novels, but I do believe I like this one the best.

I want to thank Netgalley and Joffe Books for forwarding to me a copy of this great book to read.

[Sue Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Caved-in by Roy Chester.
Peter Murchison chief constables of the West Wales and borders force. He is the liaison officer  of the Josh Cavendish investigation team. Along with acc David Mallory who is in charge of the investigation. Josh went missing around eight months ago in August. He simply disappeared.  Until two days ago when his body was found in a cave in the beach cliffs.
The seven-member investigation team is made up of officers from the garton force--DCI falcon DI Logan acting DI Sarah Maltravers Dss Martha Lomax and Dave Cantrill. From the home office they have Lancelot Jefferies he reports directly to them. The two police officers guarding the caves were attacked by someone dressed as a samurai warrior. Now they need David Elton who is head of the team and hannah will need to go in the cave first to get new photo coverage of the cave.  They also get deputy chief constable Michael Longman. He was closely associated with the initial investigation into the disappearance of josh Cavendish. Will Peter and his team find out who the killer is before another body is found?
This was a good read with likeable characters.  Although I couldn't figure out who the killer was I still enjoyed it.  4*.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the 5th Dr Hannah Nightingale story and features many of detective Mallory's team of police.

A refreshing change for this story is a move from north west England to a coastal location on Anglesey in North Wales.

It is a fast moving story, investigating the disappearance of Josh, a member of the Cavendish family.

Is it missing person search?
Is it a murder?
Is it a normal family?

It certainly is a fast paced novel.
It also has several interesting twist. A great ending!

My thanks to Netgalley and Joffe Books for a copy in exchange for this honest review.

[Christine Hutchinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great twist

A different storyline to the other books in the series but very enjoyable. A great twist at the end. I hope there's another in the series soon .

[Abi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating - 3.5

[Vicki - I Love Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hannah Nightingale
1. The Toy Breaker (2008)
2. Anger Man (2009)
3. Prey (2016)
4. Vengeance (2013)
5. Caved-In (2017)
-----------------------------
I have now read the whole of this series and thoroughly enjoyed it. Another edge of your seat gripping story line featuring criminal profiler Dr Hannah Nightingale.
This one did not disappoint and anyone who has read the previous books will really enjoy this instalment. I'm saddened that I've caught up and I could happily carry on reading these.
Great story lines that keep you gripped.

[Debbie Lawrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The previous reviews stated the main characters lacked depth, and sadly this remains to be the case. We had a little hint into Hannahs's past but nothing to gain empathy or interest and she could have been killed and I would not have felt any remorse. The story is engaging but flaws and humor in the characterisation were the missing ingredients to warrant it any further stars.

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Different pace to previous books in the series and it seemed to fit better with more of an emphasis on the police rather than the Psychologist. A good strong story line with plenty of twists and turns

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story with interesting characters but some large plot inconsistencies.

[Richard · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book free from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. Written by Roy Chester and published by Joffe Books, London in 2017, this is a short mystery and British police procedural novel that is set in Wales, U.K.

Teenager Josh Cavendish has gone missing in West Wales more than eight months earlier. He is never found, even after an intense search by police. The press discovers that a lead had not been followed up by police and they accuse them of “losing” evidence. A small earthquake exposes the entrance to a previously hidden cave, and Josh’s body is found inside. His skull has been crushed, and his body has been posed. Then, the entrance to the cave has been sealed with limestone blocks. A new crack investigative team is brought into the investigation, and Assistant Chief Constable David Mallory is put in charge. This will probably be his last assignment because the police services are being reorganized, and he has decided to retire.

Confusingly, the actual beginning of the story seems to be at Chapter 12, which is 16% of the way into the book. My inclination was to like Caved In because I generally like British police procedurals and mysteries, such as those written by the late, great Reginald Hill. But this novel is a bit short of the quality of writing produced by Hill. The plot is a far-fetched, and the dialogue seems stilted.

The prose in this story is very dry. Reading it is very much like reading some sort of government or business report, with very little description or emotion to be found within. The characters are very two-dimensional. We don’t really get to know any of them. Reading it is more like watching a PowerPoint presentation than like watching a good movie or TV show. It loses much of its entertainment value as a result.

At one point, Assistant Chief Constable Mallory (the protagonist) decides to interview the entire Cavendish family in one place, and at one time. He chooses a large room at police headquarters with a raised platform at one end, and rows of chairs across the floor facing the platform. He arrays his investigators across the platform facing the seats, and then seats the family in the front row of the chairs facing the platform. This arrangement sounds very, very formal. Yet, as a part of his introduction, ACC Mallory tells the family that “We felt it would be more personal like this . . .” More personal? More like a military tribunal, actually.

The plot seems chaotic and confused. The murder victim, Josh, had been seen on the beach, but then had supposedly left the beach in an automobile. His body is found in a cave, even though a search of the caves at the time of the disappearance failed to find him. We also later learn that he was apparently fighting with somebody in the cave, but we don’t know who it was that he fought with. How and when did he get from the beach to the cave? Who was driving the car? That’s part of the mystery. Even more mysterious, the police actually believe that seven (or eight) year old Sybil could be the killer. Really?

Then, there is John Sturman. Who is John Sturman, you ask? Oh, he’s the local drug dealer whose body is also found in the caves shortly after Josh’s body is discovered, and as a result of ACC Mallory’s directives to the police underwater recovery team. Now we’ve got two dead people in the caves, both of whom have crushed skulls. Who did it? Was it seven (or eight) year-old Sybil, who doesn’t know her own strength? Maybe it was sister Janet, who is an 18 year-old goth. Perhaps it was her mother, Flora, who wants to protect her children. Or was it Uncle Paul, who has a secret to hide? Keep reading. All will soon be revealed.

There are quite a number of inconsistencies in the story. For example, at 27% into the book, the author gets around to describing Martha Lomax, one of the investigators. This is, however, several pages past the point where her name had already been introduced in a meeting. Normally, we would expect the description to accompany the initial introduction of a character. At 12% into the book, Sybil Cavendish’s age is given at a police briefing to be “Aged eight.” But later, at 52% into the book, her age is given as “seven.”

At location 2285, 55% into the book, a body is apparently found by the police underwater search team after it had been washed into a different cave by “torrents” of water that had flooded the cave system. Despite having been washed into its position by flooding, and even though being concealed in a damp, dark cave for months, the rucksack that is found with the body contains a fair amount of dry dust that is vacuumed from it. Is dust commonly found in wet, dark limestone caves that are sufficiently cold to preserve dead bodies for months? At 56% into the book, the Medical Officer, acting as a medical examiner, reports that “John Sturman died of natural causes from a severe blunt trauma to the head and a broken neck.” Natural causes?? What is natural about having one’s head bashed in and a neck broken? In the United States, such a death would be categorized as either an accident or a homicide.

The police in this story are not very likable or deserving of respect. They act more like the “Keystone Kops” than a crack investigative police team. They make mistake after mistake. First, they allow witnesses to leave the scene of the initial disappearance before being interviewed, and those witnesses are later all killed in a bus accident in Peru. Then, after the body is discovered in the cave, two police officers who are supposed to be guarding the crime scene are knocked unconscious by somebody carrying a sword and dressed as a Ninja warrior. Evidence is removed from the cave before it can be recovered and processed by the police. And still, the police suspect that seven (or eight) year-old Sybil could be the killer.

On the plus side, at the end of the book the author has included a glossary of British terms and their American meanings. Readers in the US might find it very helpful.

This author’s writing philosophy seems to be one of quantity over quality. Throw as many facts and factoids at the reader as possible, with little regard for believability. All that really does is make the story difficult to follow and even more difficult to believe. As the story progresses, the author introduces more and more new characters, and new plot twists.