The Body in the Stairwell by Nick Louth is one of a series of books featuring DI Craig Gillard. I haven’t read any of the previous books in the series but that didn’t cause me any problems in understanding this story.
The novel follows a number of different characters including Gillard although he doesn’t really feature in the story until near the end. The main character is a lawyer who has been drawn into money laundering in the USA, given evidence and who is now being targeted by one of the criminals who has escaped from maximum security prison and is now in London. Eventually, the police become involved when three teenagers are kidnapped and threatened.
You need to put aside a certain amount of disbelief about how the criminal escaped captivity and was able to travel to Britain and also why he is determined on revenge rather than on disappearing permanently. After you’ve done that then the book is fast paced, full of action and has a climax involving physical peril for all the main characters. I was, however, a bit perplexed by the title as there is no body in a stairwell – a quick glance at other reviews show that I am not the only one who thought this a poor and misleading title for the novel.
This is not a great crime novel but it’s not a dreadful one either. It didn’t stand out in any way to me. It’s entertaining enough but I am not going to search out others in the series as it didn’t engage me that much.
Anne Is Reading 