This Side of Death by Andrew Barrett #BlogTour (review + giveaway)

"Alex was so far out of control that she was likely to do anything to anybody she came across. She was wild, feral, and the only way to stop was when she reached her

target.

And Eddie was that target."

This Side of Death by Andrew Barrett is the 6th book in the CSI Eddie Collins thriller series (date published - 14 August 2020).
The book reads as a standalone (I haven't read any of the previous books in the series).

Potential triggers: murder, sadistic torture, extreme mental health issues.

Synopsis:

This Side of Death. When the past comes back to hunt you. 

Alex Sheridan believes the only way she can be free of her demons is to kill the men in her life. She has a list, and Crime Scene Investigator Eddie Collins is on it.
Death misses Eddie by inches, and Alex is locked away in Juniper Hill high-security hospital.

Everything is fine for Eddie until one day four years later, when Alex escapes. This time she’s better prepared.

The week that follows ruptures Eddie’s life and shatters the belief he had in his own past, leaving him wondering what really happened, and facing one stark choice: who to kill and who to save.

This Side of Death is the most revealing CSI Eddie Collins novel to date. Prepare to see inside his past and understand what makes him the angriest, most feared, and yet most respected CSI in England.

Review:

Eddie Collins is a CSI, who's supposed to be brilliant at what he's doing. Eddie is a controversial character. He has a talent for rubbing the others up the wrong way. He's constantly angry.
"To Eddie, life was straight-forward. Live it. Get angry. Die."
"Anger was therapeutic and pure; it was the medicine that kept him sane. He suspected it also gave him high blood pressure, but you couldn't have it all."

While his anger and acerbic wit could be explained by the tragedies in his life, it doesn't excuse his obnoxious manner. It's difficult to say, why his colleagues are so tolerant and forgiving.

He's very pessimistic and sarcastic, but sarcastic in a juvenile way. For example, Eddie and his colleague Benson are invited to the superior's office and offered hot drinks. "Coffee, please," Eddie said. "My colleague will have strychnine. Two sugars."
Or he puts a cactus under the buttocks of his colleague who's exercising (doing stretches) in the office. And that's supposed to be funny.

Swearing could be a powerful, emotional tool, but if one is swearing a lot, it becomes tedious. And I'm afraid I found Eddie's style of communication with his colleagues and family tedious.

Alex Sheridan, the manipulative psychopath and sadistic serial killer, is cunning and devious.
"It was hard for her, but she'd done nothing to escape the spiral of decay and self-hatred she found herself in. If anything, she'd propagated it, almost relished being inside this maelstrom..."
She is plagued by the voices in her head, but "she had learnt to accept the voices, to live with them, even to ignore them for the most part..."
"Alex is a very complicated individual. She suffers from psychotic episodes, has violent tendencies brought about by borderline personality disorder".
Her past is tragic, and we get some insights into what has triggered her into becoming a violent sadist, who derives tremendous pleasure in inflicting pain. She is happy to kill anyone on her path to freedom.

Alex is determined to punish Eddie for the past mistakes. And the clock is ticking...


This Side of Death is dark, disturbing, full of menacing moments and gore. The story moves at a cracking pace, and there's a shocker of a twist at the end.

Seeing numerous accolades from book bloggers, I realise that this book and I were not meant for each other. I'm not usually squeamish, when it comes to thrillers, but some of the scenes in this book will make you flinch, and I don't just refer to the savage murders. I also didn't warm up to the main protagonist, whom I found immature and crude.

This Side of Death will appeal to the fans of fast-paced crime thrillers, with a strong forensic element.

Thank you to Andrew Barrett and Rachel's Random Resources for my e-copy of the book!
This post is part of the blog tour.

Purchase Links

UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/This-Side-Death-comes-Collins-ebook/dp/B08C4MC5J7

US - https://www.amazon.com/This-Side-Death-comes-Collins-ebook/dp/B08C4MC5J7

Author Bio

Andrew Barrett became a CSI in 1996, and finished his first crime thriller, A Long Time Dead in 1997. Two more books completed the SOCO Roger Conniston trilogy.

Andrew still produces authentic crime thrillers with a forensic flavour. He’s known for his lead character, CSI Eddie Collins, and the acerbic way in which he roots out criminals. Eddie’s series is five books and three novellas in length.

Andrew is a proud Yorkshireman and sets all of his novels in Leeds.

You can find out more about him and his writing at www.andrewbarrett.co.uk

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/AndrewBarrettUK

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AndrewBarrett.author

Exclusive Readers Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BarrettERG/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrewbarrettauthor

Amazon.co.uk: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Andrew-Barrett/e/B0055888Q0/

Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Andrew-Barrett/e/B0055888Q0/

YouTube: AndrewBarrett on YouTube

Giveaway to Win one of 5 paperback copies of This Side of Death (UK only).
T&Cs:
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