Shaking Hands With the Devil Bryan J Mason blog tour @ zooloosbooktours

What happens when a serial killer and a hapless ambitious detective start to really get on each other’s nerves?
Over 30 years since it first emerged, this hilarious novel is out at last.
Clifton Gentle is an ordinary man without very much to distinguish him. Not much, that is, apart from being a serial killer leaving bits of young men scattered over North London.
Dave Hicks is the flawed, verbally clumsy detective determined to catch him, but his attempts to capture the man he calls ‘the nutter’ through a combination of hunches, sheer optimism and personal abuse do not go well. All that turns up are yet more body parts.
In a London dogged by growing sleaze during an IRA bombing campaign, the gruesome murders spur a crazily over-the-top media and merchandising frenzy.
An increasingly personal feud ends up in a race against time as murderer, detective, a would-be victim, and a deranged copycat killer each try to find out what – or who – they blame for their predicament.
‘It’s time for us to say goodbye, I’m afraid. I’m beginning to go off you, and you’re beginning to go off.’

My review

What I liked about author Bryan Masons’ writing is that it starts in full swing of action with the main characters, that are very interesting to read about, and told with humour.

A serial killer which actually wakes up in a panic thinking he is covered in blood, but what amazed me he is well liked at work finding his amusing and witty. My first thoughts of this serial killer is that perhaps he has two sides to him?

The other main character that I thought was amazing is 34 year old DCI Dave Hicks, who has solved an incredible amount of crimes, and now is leading the hunt for a man that has committed recent sexual assaults, with a number of body parts that have been found in the London area. I loved the words from DCI Hicks, ‘We are on this case like a boner Fido bloodhound’.

I recommend this book as Shaking Hands With the Devil that is easy to get into and to follow. This novel by Bryan J Mason has been very well written, without any complications in following what’s happening.

I would like to thank Zoe at Zooloos book tours for sending the paperback to read and review and for inviting me to take part in the blog tour.

About author Bryan J Mason

Author Bio 

Bryan J Mason wrote his black comedy about a serial killer in the late 1980s, but reluctantly put it away in a drawer after his agent narrowly failed to get it published. He concluded that he was a failed author, so might as well be a failure at something else instead. However, every ten years or so he dug it out and read it and each time he did was surprised to find that he still found it funny. He has now managed to get it published after making some changes, including firmly placing the action in the late ʼ80s and early ʼ90s for today’s reader. 

He has worked as a brush salesman and rent collector, made sound effects for BBC Radio and been a tax inspector and occasional actor. He writes regular theatre reviews for StageTalk Magazine and Bristol 24/7. 

He is a member of the Crime Writers Association and currently working on a new novel featuring a Jewish detective investigating a series of serial killings in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, called An old Tin Can. 

 

Bryan lives in Bristol with his wife and has two children in their twenties. 

Follow him at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bryanjmason89/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bryanjmason/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BryanJMason

Website: www.bryanjmason.com

 

 

Amazon UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shaking-Hands-Devil-Bryan-Mason-ebook/dp/B09GKQF66Z

Amazon US https://www.amazon.com/Shaking-Hands-Devil-Bryan-Mason-ebook/dp/B09GKQF66Z