The Hurting by R. J. Mitchell

THE HURTING finds DS Angus Thoroughgood recovering from injuries from his most recent adventures in ‘Parallel Lines’ and questioning his career with the Glasgow police force. After handing in his resignation, Thoroughgood is pulled back into the line of duty once his recovery at the police convalescence home, Castlebrae, is complete.

Terrorist attacks in and around Glasgow see Thoroughgood, alongside his partner DC Hardie, return to action. As their world as they know it and the city they love falls apart, the pair work alongside MI5 in a race to discover the source of these attacks.

The second installment in the DS Thoroughgood series of novels by RJ Mitchell, The Hurting picks up right where Parallel Lines left off and sends Thoroughgood and Hardie on a rollercoaster ride through Glasgow’s seedy underworld and that of international terrorism.

The Hurting sees author RJ Mitchell drawing from his 12 years of experience as a Glasgow police officer to provide an accurate portrayal of real life police work whilst guiding the reader through an intricate plot filled with lies and subterfuge.

Author Bio.

Robert James Mitchell was brought up in Stirling. Mitchell was initially detailed beat duties out of the former Blackhill Police Office and then Baird Street Police Office in the former ‘D’ Division, or the North, as it was known to all the men who served in the division. In January, 2007, while recovering from an appendicitis, Mitchell decided to write the first draft of ‘Parallel Lines: The Glasgow Supremacy‘, drawing heavily on his own experiences and featuring the characters of Detective Sergeant Gus Thoroughgood and DC Kenny Hardie. 

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Review.

‘The Hurting’ is the second instalment in the DS Thoroughgood series and I found this one even better than the first. It was just spine chilling for me in places.

DS Thoroughgood is recovering from the events in the first book badly, so he has been sent to Castlebrae to recuperate and start to heal from the death of Celine. Unfortunately, it hasn’t helped and Hardie is at a loss of how to help him and it doesn’t help that Gus has a death wish. To help ease himself back into work they pick up a missing persons case but when they are at the persons flat they are attacked by a knife wielding maniac, find items of a jihadi nature and a notebook that points to terror events in Scotland. So much for an easy case eh Gus!

SPOILER AHEAD ABOUT THE FIRST EVENT IN THE BOOK

Now I don’t normally let my reviews have a spoiler included in them but I need to explain why I found this so personal to my life. The first terror event happens at Braehead shopping centre and during a Davis Cup event. Now I go to every single event in Glasgow for the Davis Cup and where the bomber picked his seat is exactly where I sit every single time. Due to this it just resonated to me that terror events can happen anywhere. As a city Glasgow has had one - the attempt on Glasgow Airport which thankfully did not succeed. But it could have done. I remember the air of suspicion that occurred in Glasgow afterwards. My husband was even stopped and searched by the police at a random train station and he is the most atypical Scottish ginger person going. I also live in one of the most predominantly Asian areas of Glasgow, Pollokshields and seeing the treatment towards the community that took place afterwards was hard to watch. Anyway, back to the review…..

SPOILER OVER!

This was definitely a fast paced and actioned packed book. It jumped from one event to the next without giving you time to recover from the last one. But I am sure that is how fast paced a terror investigation actually is. Unfortunately, all the events in the book don’t seem unrealistic as all of they been employed by terror groups as a means to further their cause. It’s due to this that the book can make uncomfortable reading and but also more enthralling at the same time. It’s a fine line a author has to take take on subjects like this as you want to make it seem believable as a means to educate people as well as entertain them and I think RJ has done that in this case.

Let’s roll onto book three next week!