Review: The Promise (DS Imogen Grey #4) by Katerina Diamond

Synopsis from Good Reads:

‘All hail the new Queen of Crime!’ Heat

When troubled teen Connor moves to Exeter from the US to escape his past, he finds himself embroiled in a world of popular kids and easy girls. Everyone wants to be his friend, but they don’t know about what he did…and they don’t know about his father.

As Connor’s life in England begins to unravel, DS Adrian Miles and his partner Imogen Grey are working up against the clock to catch a serial killer who dates his victims before he kills them. Determined to uncover the truth, Imogen is forced to act as bait – but will she take it too far and risk her own life?

Katerina Diamond is back with a bang in this dark, twisted novel, perfect for fans of M.J. Arlidge and Karin Slaughter.

I received a copy of this title via NetGalley. It does not impact my review.

The Promise will be available September 20, 2018.

Last year I read and fell in love with the DS Imogen Grey series and The Promise was one of my most anticipated books of 2018. I’m so happy to report that it completely lived up to my expectations.

I just love Diamond’s writing style. The mysteries are always so well done and also really character driven. Even though the book was kind of long, I just flew right through it. I never wanted to put it down. I will say that this is the first of her books that I figured things out well before they were revealed, but I was so invested in all the characters that I didn’t mind not being surprised like I have been before.

While the story is told through several different viewpoints, we get quite a lot of Connor’s POV. I think we actually hear more from him than from Imogen or Adrian and while I expected that to upset me, it didn’t. As I mentioned earlier, I was heavily invested in the characters and that included Connor. I felt so bad for all that he went through and just wanted to see him catch a break. Though he plays an integral role in the mystery and the lead up to the resolution, I thought his own ending was left a little more open than I like. Though I don’t anticipate it happening, I really wouldn’t mind seeing more of him in future books.

There were a few developments in Imogen and Adrian’s personal relationships and their partnership, as well. Adrian is still grieving from the events of the previous book. Imogen struggles with making the decision  between keeping her relationship with Dean or moving along in her career. In addition, their own relationship begins to change and neither of them are sure about what’s happening. I don’t want to get too spoilery, but I am very, very anxious to see how things develop in the next book.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Promise. I’m afraid this little review doesn’t come close to expressing how much. I loved the writing, the mystery, and the characters. While this book still had plenty of dark content, it wasn’t as dark as some of the other books in this series and I liked that. Katerina Diamond has really become one of my favorite authors and I definitely recommend her to mystery and crime fans. I am really looking forward to the next book in the series.

Overall Rating (out of 5): 4 Stars