Double Tap by Hania Allen

Double Tap

By Hania Allen 

‘Double Tap’ is a complex, fast moving and very satisfying crime novel. The main character, Von Valenti, is ex-Police and now working as a Private Detective. She thinks she’s working on a missing person case, but when her path crosses that of a colleague from her Police days who is investigating a double murder she starts to realise there is a whole lot more to it than that.

I loved the characters in this book. Von herself is complex; caught between the demands of her job, the demands of her errant daughter and the desire to have some sort of life for herself. And the relationship between Von and her former police colleague, who is more than a little bit in love with her, is brilliant.

The author has also made great use of setting. Edinburgh forms the backdrop of the story and is a character in its own right as Von gets deeper into both her own missing person case and the investigation of the professional hit style ‘double tap’ murders. The case takes her into a paintballing club and a gun club, and brings her up against some very unpleasant characters.

 I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interesting in a slightly unusual crime novel with an interesting premise, robust characters and a great setting.

This book is the second in a series featuring Von Valenti. I haven’t read the first, but suspect it is also pretty good!

Thanks very much to the publishers for a review copy of this book.

You can find out more here.