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Grey and Villere Suspense Thriller #5
False Move
When an ex-cop goes on the run from his employers, his daughter seeks help from an old friend . . . Tess Grey. Ex-cop Aaron Lacey is on the run from Elite Custodian Services, a protection service of ex-military and police - and his current employers - and they will stop at nothing to track him down. His disappearance results in his daughter reaching out to her old schoolfriend, Tess Grey. But when Tess's mother urges her to turn down helping her friend, Tess begins to question why. Is her mother simply being overprotective, or is there more to her past with Lacey than Tess realises? Why has Lacey gone underground and why are the Elite so determined to catch him? As Tess and her partner Nicolas Villere get involved, they need to figure out who can be trusted and what secrets they are hiding.
306 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 31, 2019
31 people are currently reading
64 people want to read
About the author
Matt Hilton
87 books240 followersMatt Hilton worked for twenty-two years in private security and the police force in Cumbria. He is a 4th Dan blackbelt and coach in Ju-Jitsu. He lives in Cumbria with his wife and son.
Matt is the author of the best-selling Joe Hunter thriller series, as well as standalone horror thrillers and short stories that have appeared in a number of collections and anthologies. Matt's first novel - Dead Men's Dust - was a Sunday Times best-seller and was shortlisted for the ITW New Novel Award 2009.
Matt is the author of the best-selling Joe Hunter thriller series, as well as standalone horror thrillers and short stories that have appeared in a number of collections and anthologies. Matt's first novel - Dead Men's Dust - was a Sunday Times best-seller and was shortlisted for the ITW New Novel Award 2009.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
April 30, 2019
This is 5th in a series featuring Private Investigator Tess Grey and her partner, both professionally and privately, Nicolas 'Po' Villere, who not only is her back-up, but an ex-con as well.
Ex-Cop Aaron Lacey is wounded .. and running. His employer, a protection service of ex-military and police, will stop at nothing to take him out. Lacey has already killed two of his colleagues in self defense. What is it that Lacey knows .. or has .. that makes him so dangerous to his employer?
His disappearance has his daughter worried, so she calls on Tess Grey ... someone she once went to school with years ago. But now Tess is conflicted. Her own mother has warned her not to help her friend. Her mother is not being only overprotective ... she's lying to Tess. What does she know and why would it affect her ability to help her friend?
As Tess and her partner Nicolas Villere get involved, they need to figure out who can be trusted and what secrets they are hiding.
I like this author's writing. There is much movement and excitement in his words. Story premise is excellent. The book is fast-paced, with characters that I really enjoy reading. Although 5th in the series, it is easily read as a stand-alone. This is one series I highly recommend starting at the beginning. The characters are unique ... with diverse backgrounds. Opposites attract maybe?
Many thanks to the author / Severn House / Netgalley for the digital copy of this excellent crime fiction. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
April 27, 2019
I had not read anything from this author previously, although knew the name from the UKCBC Facebook group; he’s British but writes thrillers set in the USA. This is the fifth in his Grey and Villerre series about a couple of Private Investigators based in Portland, Maine, who are also life partners. It’s a page-turning action romp that worked fine as a stand-alone although I would’ve probably enjoyed it even more knowing the personalities and backstories of the characters.
Ex-police officer turned PI Tess Grey and ex-con Po Villere are asked to track down the father of her childhood friend Stella, Lacey, a corrupt ex-cop who has stolen a memory stick from his employers, a shady private security company, Elite Services, with the intention of blackmailing them. He’s injured and on the run, having killed a couple of the mercenaries sent after him in self-defence, and Elite’s psychotic guns for hire will stop at nothing to prevent him exposing a famous client’s shocking secrets, but a chance discovery gives Tess a more personal reason to find Lacey before the killers do.
This was a fast-paced competently written thriller with an appealing central duo and some fun side characters, especially larger-than-life Pinky. The plot was fairly predictable, and the villains a bit of a caricature. Some of the fight scenes were rather overblown and hard to follow but that might just be me. I enjoyed the relationship between Tess and Po as they throw themselves into the job, while trying to negotiate their personal relationship. I’d be keen to read the earlier books of the series, although this could take a while, as I have far too many books already to be buying more just now, especially at their current price.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review. False Move is published on 01.05.19.
Ex-police officer turned PI Tess Grey and ex-con Po Villere are asked to track down the father of her childhood friend Stella, Lacey, a corrupt ex-cop who has stolen a memory stick from his employers, a shady private security company, Elite Services, with the intention of blackmailing them. He’s injured and on the run, having killed a couple of the mercenaries sent after him in self-defence, and Elite’s psychotic guns for hire will stop at nothing to prevent him exposing a famous client’s shocking secrets, but a chance discovery gives Tess a more personal reason to find Lacey before the killers do.
This was a fast-paced competently written thriller with an appealing central duo and some fun side characters, especially larger-than-life Pinky. The plot was fairly predictable, and the villains a bit of a caricature. Some of the fight scenes were rather overblown and hard to follow but that might just be me. I enjoyed the relationship between Tess and Po as they throw themselves into the job, while trying to negotiate their personal relationship. I’d be keen to read the earlier books of the series, although this could take a while, as I have far too many books already to be buying more just now, especially at their current price.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review. False Move is published on 01.05.19.
June 28, 2019
I've read the 1st two of the "joe Hunter" series and enjoyed them immensely, but being a library guy it was very difficult to continue the series and when another Matt Hilton series showed up on the "New" shelves, I jumped at the chance to read it..."False Move" is the 5th in the series of a female PI Tess Grey, former cop, and her back-up, a very able & tough, Southern ex-con Po Villere...good chemistry, but it being the 5th in the series, a lot of backstory was missing...In this installment, pages flew by on a story dealing with our two heroes racing a professional security company to find one of their employees, an ex-cop who has damning evidence on a rich client...Quick, fun read!!!
January 25, 2019
Not my normal read, however this really is a brilliant book. plenty of action, thrills and spills all the way. Will be reading more from this author.
April 23, 2019
Tess and Po are back! I've only read one of this series so this was more or less a standalone for me but that didn't stop me from enjoying it. This time out, they're looking for Aaron Lacey, a former police officer who has since gone to work for Elite Custodian Services and who is now missing. Tess' mother doesn't want her to take on the job and as the tale progresses, Tess begins to question her mother's thinking. What was their relationship, really? Po figures less but he's still critical to the search and the plot. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good fast read.
May 27, 2019
This book is another fine book from Matt Hilton. I love the cases Tess and Po take on, and their friend Pinky's involvement. The last two cases have come to Tess's attention as they both involved old friends. I'm really looking forward to reading more of these books and obviously continuing with the Joe Hunter series too
March 5, 2019
An entertaining read but not my sort of book.
An ex-cop Aaron Lacey goes on the run from his employers, Elite Custodian Services and they will stop at nothing to track him down and kill him if necessary.
His daughter, Stella, reaches out to her old school friend, Tess Grey, who together with her partner, both personally and professionally, Nicolas ‘Po’ Villere are asked to help with the search. Po has served 14 years in prison himself so has many enemies who would be happy to see him killed.
The book becomes a competition between the ‘heavies' of Elite Custodian Services and Tess and Po to discover Lacey's whereabouts first. Tess' mother, Barbara whose husband was Lacey's partner years before is reluctant for Tess to get involved and when Tess meets up again with Stella after many years, she becomes concerned at their likeness. Was her mother more involved with Lacey than she is letting on?
I quite enjoyed this story and the ending, but it did not hold my attention. I suspect this may be because this is the 5th Book in this series. I did not really connect with the characters, but this often happens if you have no knowledge of their previous history.
Dexter
Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review
An ex-cop Aaron Lacey goes on the run from his employers, Elite Custodian Services and they will stop at nothing to track him down and kill him if necessary.
His daughter, Stella, reaches out to her old school friend, Tess Grey, who together with her partner, both personally and professionally, Nicolas ‘Po’ Villere are asked to help with the search. Po has served 14 years in prison himself so has many enemies who would be happy to see him killed.
The book becomes a competition between the ‘heavies' of Elite Custodian Services and Tess and Po to discover Lacey's whereabouts first. Tess' mother, Barbara whose husband was Lacey's partner years before is reluctant for Tess to get involved and when Tess meets up again with Stella after many years, she becomes concerned at their likeness. Was her mother more involved with Lacey than she is letting on?
I quite enjoyed this story and the ending, but it did not hold my attention. I suspect this may be because this is the 5th Book in this series. I did not really connect with the characters, but this often happens if you have no knowledge of their previous history.
Dexter
Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review
September 10, 2019
Tess Grey and Po are people you would like to count as friends. They journey from Maine to Boston and New York City to look for and try to help a former partner of Tess’s grandfather in the NYPD. The story is well told. Family conflicts. Some shoot em up. And a reasonable blurring of exactly what is a bad guy. The variety of well drawn characters are interesting and in several cases unique. Looking forward to more reads from Matt Hilton - and have 16 to go back and read in this and another series.
August 30, 2022
Having read all of Matt Hilton's Joe Hunter books, when I read the first Grey & Villere book I was a bit taken aback. It was far removed from Joe Hunter and I could not really identify with the main characters too well. However 5 books on and they are growing on me. Po's character has grown and I quite like him, Tess is still a work in progress. I do like Pinky and how he will drop things at a moments notice to help them. The story lines are good - somewhat predictable in nature - although this one had a personal element for Tess like a previous one did for Po. This gives us more of insight into her background and does make her more appealing. All in all I liked this book - the series has improved for me.
December 27, 2023
What I am really enjoying about this series is that as the author Matt Hilton grows into writing these characters, they are becoming fully fleshed and really engaging. With that, the stories that are being created are a cracking read and hard to put down. I only rate this 4 and not 5 because this was one story that I felt could have been given another couple of chapters to really develop the finish and give some greater backstory to the protagonist's group and the motivations for the Lacey character - I liked where Hilton took him but felt some of the explanations for the character's decisions were a tad lopsided. I am hoping that some of the plotting around Grey's family history will be explored in future books, there is a LOT there that can be unpacked through the rest of the series!
January 13, 2022
Brilliant
Loved it kept me guess I g and LovE the way kinky talks can't wait to get stuck into the next book ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨
Loved it kept me guess I g and LovE the way kinky talks can't wait to get stuck into the next book ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨
August 12, 2022
Book 5 FALSE MOVE
Excellent storyline , enjoyed every line, just have book 6 to go now!
Has so far been a very good series.
Would recommend!
Excellent storyline , enjoyed every line, just have book 6 to go now!
Has so far been a very good series.
Would recommend!
April 13, 2024
good read
February 4, 2022
Old life vs New life
I enjoy this author's writing. Suspenseful, thrilling. Very difficult to put her books down until finished. I like the interaction between these characters. I would like to see more books with these characters.
I enjoy this author's writing. Suspenseful, thrilling. Very difficult to put her books down until finished. I like the interaction between these characters. I would like to see more books with these characters.
January 30, 2022
Valve move
I recommend this book to readers who like a well explained and knowledgeable written book a fast moving mystery murder I loved it I couldn't wait to see what happened next all the way through.
I recommend this book to readers who like a well explained and knowledgeable written book a fast moving mystery murder I loved it I couldn't wait to see what happened next all the way through.
January 21, 2022
Fast Pace thriller that I enjoyed.
Tess Grey and Nicolas 'Po' Villere working together, Aaron Lacey is on the run for killing in self defence, and the Police want to take him out. His daughter calls in Tess and Po its a race against time, this book is so full of action I just could not put it away, it can be read as a stand alone as you easy get into all the characters that you get to like and loathe, that is exceptionally good to send your emotions hell fire, as you see it slow burning WHAM more comes along, this is a new author for me and I do love a challenge and this book definitely gave me that and going to watch out for more to come. A brilliant cracking ending that I did not see coming Tess and Po a classic road trip song 'Route 66' is all I'm saying read it for yourself for this action packed story.
Tess Grey and Nicolas 'Po' Villere working together, Aaron Lacey is on the run for killing in self defence, and the Police want to take him out. His daughter calls in Tess and Po its a race against time, this book is so full of action I just could not put it away, it can be read as a stand alone as you easy get into all the characters that you get to like and loathe, that is exceptionally good to send your emotions hell fire, as you see it slow burning WHAM more comes along, this is a new author for me and I do love a challenge and this book definitely gave me that and going to watch out for more to come. A brilliant cracking ending that I did not see coming Tess and Po a classic road trip song 'Route 66' is all I'm saying read it for yourself for this action packed story.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews