October 2011

Pinpoint by Sheila Mary Taylor

‘Pinpoint’ is published by Night Publishing and was released in April 2011. 

‘A lawyer, a murderer and a policeman – caught in a tangled web of love, loss, terror and intrigue.
When criminal lawyer Julia Grant interviews Sam Smith who has been charged with a vicious murder, she feels a strange connection to him.
Has she met him before? Does he hold a key to her lost childhood memories?
He feels a connection too. “Julia, you are the only one who can help me,” he pleads.
Is it the same connection? Does he know something she cannot recall? When he is duly convicted despite her best efforts, he suddenly turns on her in the courtroom and threatens that one day he will make sure to wreak his revenge on her. But why? What has she ever done to him?’ (description taken from Amazon).

E-bookmuncher rates this book ****

E-bookmuncher’s views on ‘Pinpoint’

Sheila Mary Taylor’s ‘Pinpoint’ is a well-crafted crime thriller set in and around Manchester, North West England. I like books that use real places as their backdrop – the descriptions somehow seem to work better, making the backdrop more credible. Knowing Manchester pretty well, it is clear to me that Sheila has researched the physical location very impressively – from the relative safety of the courtrooms to the palpable dangers lurking in some of the less salubrious parts of the city – all described with great authority.

The author’s writing is polished and professional and she has injected just the right amount of accelerant into her plot. I don’t know if I read faster as I progressed through the story but it certainly felt that way -  a mark of a gripping thriller.

The story has relatively few characters which allowed the author to really exercise her characterisation skills – all were developed intuitively, giving the reader an effortless insight into their psyche, particularly Julia Grant, the main protagonist and Sam Smith, her client.   

There is a love interest woven into the story, which for me just caused the odd hiccough in what was otherwise an outright and thoroughly enjoyable thriller. 

E-bookmuncher can heartily recommend Pinpoint. It could quite happily punch its weight at a much greater price than it is currently offered at – we think it’s a real bargain.