Review: Locked In by Kerry Wilkinson

Title: Locked In
Author: Kerry Wilkinson
Publisher: Pan
Publication Date: 14th February 2003
Pages: 400
ISBN: 9781447225645
Source: Purchased
Rating: 3.5/5
Purchase: Amazon

The first in the Jessica Daniel series, Locked In is the number one bestselling crime thriller from Kerry Wilkinson.

When a body is found in a locked house, Detective Sergeant Jessica Daniel is left to not only find the killer but discover how they got in and out.

With little in the way of leads and a journalist that seems to know more about the case than she does, Jessica is already feeling the pressure - and that's before a second body shows up in identical circumstances to the first.

How can a murderer get to victims in seemingly impossible situations and what, if anything, links the bodies?

Locked In has been on my TBR forever and a blogging friend of mine (Vicki) is a huge fan of the series so I finally took the plunge and picked it up. I must mention how much I love the cover for Locked In (and indeed the whole Jessica Daniel series). A big difference from the original self-published version.

I've said it before but I do have a bit of a soft spot for female detectives, and it was very early on in the novel that I knew Jessica Daniel was going to be a character that I would really like, and be able to get on board with. Which is great, because I want to read and enjoy the rest of the books in this series! She's such a 'real' character if that's the right word. Really easy to imagine as a real person and I think it will be hard for people to dislike her (people being readers and not those she arrests or upsets!) She's also quite a funny character making some rather humorous observations on everyday life and people themselves. I think if I was a writer I would like to put some of the personality traits I wish I had into a character, and I think said character would turn out not all that dissimilar to Jessica.

What can I say about the story that hasn't been said before? Not too much except that I did read a story a couple of years ago, a short crime story where somebody had been murdered in a locked room and there was - seemingly - no way that anybody could have left that room. We have a similar setup in Locked In when people turn up across the city murdered inside locked homes. Jessica definitely has her work cut out investigating the crimes, as well as contending with unruly colleagues and a journalist who needs that break to save his career. I do enjoy reading the journalist vs. police officer reads as opposed to the political side of things. Jessica follows various leads, some which feel glaringly obviously not the right path to go down but others which certainly kept me guessing for much of the book.

Essentially Locked In is a good start to what I imagine is a great series given how many books there are in the series and how much my blogging friends enjoy the books. Jessica Daniel is a character I can't wait to read about again, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing how the series progresses from here. Also a mention to the Manchester setting, despite being from Liverpool, Manchester is a city that I love and so I enjoyed reading a book set there. For those looking to start a new series who haven't yet discovered this one, I recommend you pick up Locked In.

3.5/5