They have taken DS Aector McAvoy’s family, and DCI Colin Ray’s foundation. They have taken DS Trish Pharaoh’s fight. Now the criminal network with Hull in its clutches, and not known for it ‘gently gently’ approach, intends to take everything that remains from those who dare to stand in its way.

Taking Pity is a police procedural thriller that is as merciless as its criminals. It whacks along on the backs of three officers who have reached the end of their tethers, and who chase the villains, knowing that by doing so, they are risking everything.

David Mark has been a journalist for fifteen years, including seven as a crime reporter with the Yorkshire Post in their Hull Office and has created a complex and at times devastating world.

Taking Pity is extraordinarily compulsive, though dark, reminding me of Rankin and the author, David Mark has created protagonists with a core of humanity. This humanity is severely tested as they forge a way through the twists and turns which must be the lot of all detectives.

How can they do this in such a merciless and base world, and still retain any integrity or compassion? I ask this question seriously, and admire those who work within the law-keeping forces.

Taking Pity is that sort of novel, it makes you think, and question. It’s gritty and realistic and I’m glad it’s not me out there, trying to make sense out of grim acts and their perpetrators.

If you like Rankin, you’ll like this.

Taking Pity by David Mark. Paperback. £7.99 Quercus. Also available as an ebook.