Blood Symmetry by Kate Rhodes GIVEAWAY

Enter the GIVEAWAY at the end of this post

This is the second novel in the Alice Quentin series that I've read. I liked the first one I read and this one is even better.



Alice is a forensic psychologist. She is brought in to work with a young traumatized boy. He and his mother had been abducted but he managed to escape. The police know the boy has information but he is mute. Alice is to help him remember and verbalize his experience.

His mother is a blood specialist. A pint of her blood is found deposited at a blood research location in London. Someone is systematically withdrawing her blood and leaving it at locations important in the history of blood treatment. Alice figures out there had been other blood specialists who had recently been murdered or died mysteriously. She must first understand the connection between the victims and then find the culprits before more lives are lost.

I love it when I learn something in reading a novel. In this case it was about the tainted blood scandal in the UK in the late 1970s. In a note at the end of the novel, the author gives us the facts of the event. The government had bought tainted blood from abroad and many hemophiliacs got sick with hepatitis and AIDS. I was surprised to find that Rhodes has a personal interest in writing this novel in that her husband was given hepatitis C in the early 1980s. While she acknowledges that she took a few small liberties with the historical facts to fit her story, the novel clearly portrays that troubled time in Britain's medical history.

In with this historical element is much information about blood and its use. I learned about the first blood transfer between greyhounds in 1665 and the first human blood transfer in the nineteenth century. I also learned a bit about how a child might become mute from a traumatic experience and how a psychologist associated with the police might work with that child.

This novel has all of those aspects I like in fiction. The characters are well developed, the mystery is intense, the plot is based in historical fact, and I learned quite a bit on a new subject.

I recommend this novel to readers who appreciate a well crafted suspense novel, don't mind some gruesome scenes, and enjoy learning. You won't be disappointed.

I am taking part in a blog tour of this novel. Click here to view the 'Blood Symmetry by Kate Rhodes' Tour Participants.

A note to my regular blog readers: this book contains casual sex and mild swearing.

My rating: 5/5 stars.

Kate Rhodes is the author of the Alice Quentin novels and two collections of poetry. She writes full time and lives in Cambridge with her husband. Find out more at her website, follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

Book Details: Genre: Thrillers, Crime Published by: Witness Impulse Publication Date: July 12, 2016 Number of Pages: 368 ISBN: 1444785605 (ISBN13: 9781444785609) Series: Alice Quentin #5 Purchase Links: Amazon  Barnes & Noble  Goodreads 



GIVEAWAY:

This is a rafflecopter giveaway hosted by Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tours for Kate Rhodes and Witness Impulse. There will be 5 winners. Each winner will receive one ebook copy of Blood Symmetry by Kate Rhodes. The giveaway begins on July 11th and runs through August 20th, 2016.

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I received a complimentary egalley of this book through Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours for the purpose of an independent and honest review.