A Killer of Influence by JD Kirk
What price would you pay for fame?
Following a convention in the Scottish Highlands, eight social media influencers vanish without a trace, leaving their followers – and families – in a state of shock, and the police clueless as to their whereabouts.
And then, the livestreams begin.
Broadcast live from their squalid underground cells, the young influencers are forced into a sadistic battle for survival.
With each livestream, their captor pits them against each other in a twisted competition for likes. The influencer with the fewest positive reactions faces a gruesome end – live on camera.
As the likes increase and the death toll rises, DCI Jack Logan and his team must traverse both the Scottish wilderness and the darkest corners of the internet to try and save the remaining captives.
But how do you catch a killer who is always one click ahead?
A Killer of Influence is the 20th book in the multi-million selling DCI Jack Logan series from internationally bestselling Scottish crime author, JD Kirk.
About the author
JD Kirk lives in the Highlands of Scotland with his wife, two children, and a number of sturdy umbrellas. He also doesn't exist. JD is, in fact, the pen name of award-winning author, comic book writer and screenwriter, Barry Hutchison, who also, coincidentally, lives in the Highlands with his wife, two children, and the aforementioned umbrellas.
He has no idea what the 'JD' bit stands for.
Review
This is the twentieth book in the series and could be read as a standalone but I would recommend reading the previous book as quite a lot of the narrative does carry over. Basically, I would recommend the whole series as they are cracking reads and probably some of my favourite crime books of all time. It is the grit mixed up with the humour that makes them that perfect combination, they are packed full of characters that now have a place in my heart.
When eight influencers go missing after a convention in Inverness, the team are called in straight away as whoever has taken them are live-streaming their capture. What comes next is a battle for survival both for the influencers but also for DCI Logan as this turns out to be a very personal case for him. The team has his back but the repercussions might change everything forever!
JD Kirk needs to stop giving me heart attacks when reading his books! He really did toy with his readers here and come up with a fantastic plot that is bang up to date with modern cultural norms. The book starts out with a bang and then the punches keep on a rolling as revelation after revelation emerges. The tension radiates off the page as each character has to deal with what they are seeing on screen and hearing from Logan. Everyone is affected. I flew through this book in a day as its compulsion at its finest. JD did say he wanted the 20th book to be special and boy was it that!
People really become obsessed with this series and it is down to one thing. The members of the team - Ben, Tyler, Hamza, Dave and Sinead. Plus Hoon of course. They have become lodged in my sub conscious and that is because they are real and believable. They are down to earth, well part from Palmer. When stuff happens they flounder like normal people and then gather themselves after a wee pep talk. But we love Hoon’s over the topness and Tyler’s desperate attempts to please. Some of this book broke my heart as this case nearly tears the team apart. And that would be terrible as they are the best team out there!
Let me know if you pick this one up!
