I love reading crime thrillers as do a lot of the UK (crime thrillers and police procedurals are the most popular genre). A lot of them that I read involve serial killers and lots of murders, usually quite gruesome murders. For this review, I have just finished a short UK crime thriller by Tom Batt called Enemies Closer which features no serial killers or gruesome murders but a bank robber and a police detective that join forces to pull off a large heist and try to save their families in the process.
Tom Batt is a UK author who writes books and screenplays. Enemies Closer is his latest book, a short crime thriller at just 166 pages. It is a fast-paced story that is quick to read with its short chapters and has an intriguing storyline and some great characters.
Mike Palmer is a Detective Inspector with the London Metropolitan Police Flying Squad. A jaded detective in his 40s, he has been trying to capture a suspected bank robber, Donovan Carter, for the past eighteen months. When his latest attempt to catch Carter in the act of another robbery goes wrong, Palmer is flattened when the case is handed over to his younger partner Detective Sergeant Jade Edmonds as lead detective. If that wasn’t enough, his ex-wife has applied to take their daughter to live in another country.
Donovan Carter is struggling with his own problems too. Since coming out of prison he wanted to go straight and is trying to build up a successful legitimate business. But he is under the thumb of an old dying criminal and has to commit a series of bank robberies to pay off a debt to the old-time gangster. That’s stressful enough but he also has to try and keep his illegal activities secret from his wife.
A totally dejected Palmer is not going to allow his daughter to be taken out of the UK to live in another country, but a custody battle is going to be expensive – money he doesn’t have. He will do whatever it takes to stop the move and approaches the only person he knows with that kind of money, his old adversary Donovan Carter! Palmer is soon enlisted to help commit his last heist.
DS Jade Edmonds is an up and coming detective with big ambitions and is soon on the tail of Carter and Palmer, getting very close and hoping to take them both down. But will she succeed or with Carter and Donovan get the best of her?
Overall, I really enjoyed reading Enemies Closer. Whilst it is a short book, one that can be read in one sitting, it has a good storyline with some great characters and never feels rushed to a conclusion. Whilst the story is quite predictable, it is an exciting read.
The book is not just about cops and robbers but also looks at the reasons why Carter is committing bank robberies and why a police detective hot on his tail for eighteen months and desperate to catch him would switch sides, and the damage it causes to different relationships.
The characters are engaging and feel “real”. The story is very well-written with an excellent plot that makes it that bit different from a lot of crime novels. It has been excellently plotted and the family dramas and the reasons for the crimes gel very well together making it a very enjoyable read.
Enemies Closer by Tom Batt is a police procedural crime thriller that is an enjoyable fast read with an excellent exciting plot.
If you can’t beat them… join them. And keep your Enemies Closer!
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £5.99 (Paperback) / £2.99 (Kindle)
For more information, visit www.toms-tales.com. Available to buy from Amazon here.
