What do you think?
Rate this book
Scent of a Killer
The hunter has become the prey ... The headless corpses of three men are found in a London side street. Their mutilated torsos are witness to an unspeakably agonizing death. It becomes chillingly clear that this discovery is a horrific message to the Metropolitan Police - and to one officer in particular. DI Stacey Collins finds herself on the hunt for a psychopathic killer. But it would seem that this is no ordinary homicide ... all the victims had themselves been predators, terrorizing the innocent. Is this a twisted vigilante mission, or something far more sinister? Meanwhile, Collins must battle her own demons as the MET's Internal Affairs department investigate her past and her connections to London's underworld. Collins faces her toughest challenge yet - torn between justice and revenge
430 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 24, 2010
4 people are currently reading
252 people want to read
About the author
Kevin Lewis
10 books44 followersBorn in 1970 in Southeast London, Kevin's childhood years were spent in the city's rough council estates. The violent and depraved conditions that Kevin lived in are documented in his autobiographical books The Kid and The Kid Moves On. Today Kevin combines his creative skill with his knowledge of the inner cities to write novels with gritty realism. Kevin currently lives in Surrey with his wife and two children.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
October 27, 2023
Slow, very slow.
Yet, it was a bit interesting, what was happening was insane indeed!
Crazy, very crazy.
The details, the informations given, the cruel reality.
Heartless, very heartless.
The way some people act, without ever thinking of the circumstances of their own actions, that might not appear at the soon future, but one day, at the far future, something may wake up on them, and might be too late to handle or stop.
It’s hard to know who to blame, or who to hate, but again, it’s not an excuse to forget nor forgive whats happening now.
It felt like a show i am watching, fun and boring between whiles, good to take breaks in between as if waiting for the next episode to be released, i hated some scene and felt they were ridiculous, but i also loved some and was amused by it.
I am still not over the amount of details it got, and the fact that looking them up just proved how real they were, and how cruel the real world might be.
It’s a book like i have never read before, it’s smart and apparently got a big amount of knowledge which means it was worked hard for which is very appreciated, but i feel like it could’ve been written better, or more exciting and shorter, or at least longer at certain more important scenes than the others.
Yet, it was a bit interesting, what was happening was insane indeed!
Crazy, very crazy.
The details, the informations given, the cruel reality.
Heartless, very heartless.
The way some people act, without ever thinking of the circumstances of their own actions, that might not appear at the soon future, but one day, at the far future, something may wake up on them, and might be too late to handle or stop.
It’s hard to know who to blame, or who to hate, but again, it’s not an excuse to forget nor forgive whats happening now.
It felt like a show i am watching, fun and boring between whiles, good to take breaks in between as if waiting for the next episode to be released, i hated some scene and felt they were ridiculous, but i also loved some and was amused by it.
I am still not over the amount of details it got, and the fact that looking them up just proved how real they were, and how cruel the real world might be.
It’s a book like i have never read before, it’s smart and apparently got a big amount of knowledge which means it was worked hard for which is very appreciated, but i feel like it could’ve been written better, or more exciting and shorter, or at least longer at certain more important scenes than the others.
June 6, 2021
This was a really average crime book.
I've read plenty of crime thrillers in my time and unfortunately this one just doesn't stand out.
The writing was fine. The plot was interesting but not particularly original and I didn't really care for any of the characters.
Annoyingly, I think this book is part of a series but it doesn't state it anywhere on the book. Although, it did make sense on its own.
The author had clearly done their research on serial killers and profiling, which was nice to see.
There wasn't anything particularly wrong with this book, it just wasn't amazing and I'm not inspired to pick up other books by this author in the future.
TW: murder, violence, gore, blood, child abuse and pedophilia
I've read plenty of crime thrillers in my time and unfortunately this one just doesn't stand out.
The writing was fine. The plot was interesting but not particularly original and I didn't really care for any of the characters.
Annoyingly, I think this book is part of a series but it doesn't state it anywhere on the book. Although, it did make sense on its own.
The author had clearly done their research on serial killers and profiling, which was nice to see.
There wasn't anything particularly wrong with this book, it just wasn't amazing and I'm not inspired to pick up other books by this author in the future.
TW: murder, violence, gore, blood, child abuse and pedophilia
April 13, 2025
Points positifs : tension qui monte petit à petit, plots twists dans l’enquête, l’enquêtrice est une femme (reine), anglais facile à suivre etc…
Points négatifs : scènes violentes beaucoup trop descriptives pour mon petit cœur donc j’enlève une étoile
Points négatifs : scènes violentes beaucoup trop descriptives pour mon petit cœur donc j’enlève une étoile
June 19, 2012
Kevin Lewis was born in London in the 70's and grew up on rough council estates. His rough upbringings are documented in his two bestselling autobiographical books The Kid and The Kid Moves on. He followed these books with his first fictional book in 2006 Kaitlyn followed by Frankie in 2007.
In 2008 he wrote his first in the D.I Stacey Collins series entitled Fallen Angel. In this book we meet Stacey who is a single mum now working as a DI after her own rough childhood upbringing. We also see her meet and mix with a criminal by the name of Jack Stanley. I read this book back when it was published and loved it just as much as his first two fictional books. The fact that Kevin Lewis had created a character to form part of a series cheered me up as I am a fan of many other authors that have series characters such as Peter James with Roy Grace and Karin Slaughter with Sara Linton.
His latest release Scent of a Killer is no less thrilling than his last. We meet Stacey Collins a few years on. Stacey is being reprimanded for her association with Jack Stanley and her superiors are trying to determine whether she has given her informant Jack any information on the police. While the internal investigation goes on Stacey is dragged on to a case run by DCI Anderson, a man that neither knows nor trusts her. She has to earn his respect as she is asked to get actively involved when three corpses are found in a car.
What the team soon realise is not only do they have three dead bodies, but those three dead bodies are badly mutilated. It soon becomes clear this is no ordinary case, but that of a serial killer. Stacey is trapped between being a good police officer and being a good parent to her teenage daughter Sophie. Stacey has her own secrets which she wants to remain that way but with the pressure on her from both sides it is only a matter of time before something breaks.
I finished this book over two days and literally could NOT put it down. The publication date for this book was actually put back and I began to wonder whether this book was going to be a bit of a let down. Nothing could be further from the truth. Kevin Lewis has managed to take us to the next stage in Stacey Collins life as well as recreating some awfully chilling murder scenes. This was extremely well written, edgy and fast, with lots of twists from very early on. Lewis has created a rock solid book in my opinion that manages to answer all the questions readers had from book one, and for us to begin to wonder what will happen in the next instalment. I cannot recommend this highly enough; the only disappointment is the long wait until the next one.
In 2008 he wrote his first in the D.I Stacey Collins series entitled Fallen Angel. In this book we meet Stacey who is a single mum now working as a DI after her own rough childhood upbringing. We also see her meet and mix with a criminal by the name of Jack Stanley. I read this book back when it was published and loved it just as much as his first two fictional books. The fact that Kevin Lewis had created a character to form part of a series cheered me up as I am a fan of many other authors that have series characters such as Peter James with Roy Grace and Karin Slaughter with Sara Linton.
His latest release Scent of a Killer is no less thrilling than his last. We meet Stacey Collins a few years on. Stacey is being reprimanded for her association with Jack Stanley and her superiors are trying to determine whether she has given her informant Jack any information on the police. While the internal investigation goes on Stacey is dragged on to a case run by DCI Anderson, a man that neither knows nor trusts her. She has to earn his respect as she is asked to get actively involved when three corpses are found in a car.
What the team soon realise is not only do they have three dead bodies, but those three dead bodies are badly mutilated. It soon becomes clear this is no ordinary case, but that of a serial killer. Stacey is trapped between being a good police officer and being a good parent to her teenage daughter Sophie. Stacey has her own secrets which she wants to remain that way but with the pressure on her from both sides it is only a matter of time before something breaks.
I finished this book over two days and literally could NOT put it down. The publication date for this book was actually put back and I began to wonder whether this book was going to be a bit of a let down. Nothing could be further from the truth. Kevin Lewis has managed to take us to the next stage in Stacey Collins life as well as recreating some awfully chilling murder scenes. This was extremely well written, edgy and fast, with lots of twists from very early on. Lewis has created a rock solid book in my opinion that manages to answer all the questions readers had from book one, and for us to begin to wonder what will happen in the next instalment. I cannot recommend this highly enough; the only disappointment is the long wait until the next one.
October 21, 2011
3.5 stars
Enjoyable and absorbing crime thriller with an unexpected and quite scary villain.
I didn't find police heroine Collins to be an especially deep or sympathetic character, and the pacing wasn't as good as some other crime thrillers I've read (Jack Kerley, for instance), but readability and grossness go some way to compensate for this.
Recommended for any crime thriller/police procedural fans.
Enjoyable and absorbing crime thriller with an unexpected and quite scary villain.
I didn't find police heroine Collins to be an especially deep or sympathetic character, and the pacing wasn't as good as some other crime thrillers I've read (Jack Kerley, for instance), but readability and grossness go some way to compensate for this.
Recommended for any crime thriller/police procedural fans.
September 15, 2011
I have a little fascination with novels about serial killers that prey on other predators, and this doesn't disappoint.
Great stuff, from start to finish!
Great stuff, from start to finish!
January 30, 2013
Second of the series and an excellent read, hope there is more in the pipeline.
February 23, 2015
Meh. The story was interesting, but poorly written. But where is the editor? Why did nobody stop you from using the same cliché comment over ten times? Or having dialogue so predictable a child would correct it? Or skipping over something with ridiculous comments like "and so they talked for a while and discussed many things"? Where are you, editor??
September 20, 2015
3.5 stars.
May 19, 2020
When three headless corpses are found, DI Stacey Collins and her team are left with a long list of questions, none of them guiding them towards the killer. Tasked with, what seems impossible, the job of finding out who the victims are and who the sadistic murderer is, it soon becomes a struggle for Stacey to balance her work life with her everyday life. With no suspects, no names for the victims, and nobody to turn to, Stacey must use all her time and energy to find answers. But this time-stealing task makes her miss a few things that are right under her nose...
When I say that Scent of a Killer was horrible to read, I don't mean that I didn't enjoy it or that it lacked something for me. What I mean is - this was horrible to read! It was scary, gory, and described some very disturbing things that even I, someone who rarely flinches at horror movies and thrillers, found myself having to put the book down for a while. Not only were the descriptions of the murder incredibly detailed and fear-inducing, but the depictions of dog-fighting, child predators, and sexual assaults were incredibly detailed and, I'll admit, made me wince.
It's no secret that I do like horror movies, and find that one of my favourite series' is the Saw movies. However, reading this book often made me feel uncomfortable and before recommending it to people, I will definitely be telling them that. It's definitely not for the light-hearted, nor for those who think they're not light-hearted simply because they enjoy a few horror movies!
So, is there a fine line between shocking gory details and delivering a good book? Yes. Definitely for me and definitely in this case.
Though I found the villain to be nightmarish, incredibly scary, and unsettling, I feel like this shock-factor somewhat sugarcoated how I felt about some other elements of the book. For example, I found the main character unlikeable, and though I was rooting for her she soon became incredibly cliched and sometimes a little annoying. But I am able to forgive that simply because the horrific plot was gripping enough for me to keep on reading.
I also found that some of the writing was a little bit heavy and unpolished. There was some dialogue that was incredibly long and way beyond its means, offering almost nothing extra to the plot whilst also not offering enough distraction to point you towards any red-herrings. However, I did find that the plot was incredibly gripping, though disturbing, and I was in complete shock when the villain was revealed. I definitely didn't see it coming!
Overall, Scent of a Killer is a tricky one for me to rate. I'm settling for 3.5 stars, 4 at a push, simply because I felt like it lacked something that was hidden by the unsettling and gory details.
When I say that Scent of a Killer was horrible to read, I don't mean that I didn't enjoy it or that it lacked something for me. What I mean is - this was horrible to read! It was scary, gory, and described some very disturbing things that even I, someone who rarely flinches at horror movies and thrillers, found myself having to put the book down for a while. Not only were the descriptions of the murder incredibly detailed and fear-inducing, but the depictions of dog-fighting, child predators, and sexual assaults were incredibly detailed and, I'll admit, made me wince.
It's no secret that I do like horror movies, and find that one of my favourite series' is the Saw movies. However, reading this book often made me feel uncomfortable and before recommending it to people, I will definitely be telling them that. It's definitely not for the light-hearted, nor for those who think they're not light-hearted simply because they enjoy a few horror movies!
So, is there a fine line between shocking gory details and delivering a good book? Yes. Definitely for me and definitely in this case.
Though I found the villain to be nightmarish, incredibly scary, and unsettling, I feel like this shock-factor somewhat sugarcoated how I felt about some other elements of the book. For example, I found the main character unlikeable, and though I was rooting for her she soon became incredibly cliched and sometimes a little annoying. But I am able to forgive that simply because the horrific plot was gripping enough for me to keep on reading.
I also found that some of the writing was a little bit heavy and unpolished. There was some dialogue that was incredibly long and way beyond its means, offering almost nothing extra to the plot whilst also not offering enough distraction to point you towards any red-herrings. However, I did find that the plot was incredibly gripping, though disturbing, and I was in complete shock when the villain was revealed. I definitely didn't see it coming!
Overall, Scent of a Killer is a tricky one for me to rate. I'm settling for 3.5 stars, 4 at a push, simply because I felt like it lacked something that was hidden by the unsettling and gory details.
February 14, 2025
I must say. This book scared me enough to be called a masterpiece of horror/ mystery! This book takes to the far end of your imagination, even you could not comprehend what will happen next! I could not take my hands off from this book. It is so capturing. A must read.
April 17, 2018
Gripping!
Could not out down,refreshingly different and enjoyable,2nd book I have read of this author and looking forward to the next
Could not out down,refreshingly different and enjoyable,2nd book I have read of this author and looking forward to the next
April 6, 2019
A great crime/thriller read, would recommend, not for the feint hearted.
February 19, 2024
I enjoyed this and although I worked out the twist it was still a good story.
September 14, 2016
Lewis’s work is new to me. I was recommended the author/book by a friend, and lent a copy. Lewis’s own upbringing was very troubled, and with his hard won knowledge and experience of south London estates, crime and violence he brings realism to his story many readers will find disturbing. Combined with great research into police process and procedures, including the role of a pathologist, a vivid imagination and ability to tell a story, he has written a very engaging, if not disturbing book.
It’s usual for fiction writers take normality and add twenty percent exaggeration to keep the reader turning the pages – I hope this is the case with this story! Combining reality, with imagination and research, Lewis has produced a gripping read – jeopardy is in abundance. My only negative is a chapter on dog fighting which I felt was gratuitous violence and could be omitted – it didn’t progress the story.
If you are a fan of CSI type television programs you’ll love this book. I’m now going to seek out “The Kid,” Lewis’s debut novel.
It’s usual for fiction writers take normality and add twenty percent exaggeration to keep the reader turning the pages – I hope this is the case with this story! Combining reality, with imagination and research, Lewis has produced a gripping read – jeopardy is in abundance. My only negative is a chapter on dog fighting which I felt was gratuitous violence and could be omitted – it didn’t progress the story.
If you are a fan of CSI type television programs you’ll love this book. I’m now going to seek out “The Kid,” Lewis’s debut novel.
July 17, 2016
This book took awhile to get me "hooked" but last 200 pages were brilliant. There were alit of characters that were linked in some way shape or form but at first got confusing and i couldtlnt keep up. I think that is what stopped me getting hooked atraight away. The ending was good and left it open for next book to follow in a series. I am not sure if i will continue this series though. I would of given this book 5 out of 5 but because it took ages to get into i gave it 4. I would reccomend but i will say try to read first 200 pages slowly to keep up.
March 14, 2014
A serial killer is on the loose in London and a female detective with a complicated family life investigates.
The first few chapters were good, then I found the writing / dialogue became clunky and the plot deteriorated – it started to read more like a draft / outline rather than a polished / finished book.
I rated this 3 star but it was really 2.5.
The first few chapters were good, then I found the writing / dialogue became clunky and the plot deteriorated – it started to read more like a draft / outline rather than a polished / finished book.
I rated this 3 star but it was really 2.5.
April 13, 2011
I thought Scent of a Killer was a decent book, based on this work alone though I'm not sure if Kevin Lewis is entirely deserving of the title "king of crime" as the rear of the book promises. It took me a long time to warm to this book but once I did it was enjoyable enough.
May 7, 2015
If you like graphic horror, this may be the one for you. I think he would make a good movie write. There were some scenes of animal cruelty in this that I skipped. For some reason I find it harder to read about horrible things happening to animals than I do about humans...
May 12, 2011
Though the book starts out bleak, it crawls into becoming irresistible!
June 3, 2011
One of the most disgusting murders I have ever read about in detail. Amazing!
July 8, 2011
amazing, recommend to all murder-mystery fans
January 8, 2012
Pretty good read. Bit gruesome and gory in places and was somewhat clichéd and predictable in places too. A good read though.
August 17, 2013
Ridicously Brillint
unfortuntly theres only 2 boksin this series but i do hope for more
unfortuntly theres only 2 boksin this series but i do hope for more
January 26, 2015
I did enjoy this book on the whole despite it failing to grip me as I expected it to.
February 13, 2016
I wanted to give this 4 stars for the gruesome content but felt it was far too predictable.
July 22, 2010
another good book by Kevin Lewis
August 4, 2015
enjoyed book
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews