I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Deadly Caller by OMJ Ryan
Published by Inkubator Books on September 5 2021
Genres: Crime, Women Sleuths
Pages: 282
Format: eBook
Source: NetGalley, Publisher
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Two people, an online business meeting. Before it’s over, one of them will be dead.

On a weekly Zoom call with her most valuable client, Antonia Berry is beyond horrified when she witnesses his murder – four hundred miles away – live on her laptop screen.

DCI Jane Phillips and the Major Crimes Unit begin to investigate and at first it seems the victim is just a regular guy with no obvious enemies or connections to crime. But then, when a woman is killed in a seemingly random hit-and-run, they discover the two victims are closely connected. A coincidence? Or a double murder?

As the team dig deeper into the two attacks, they hardly have time to draw breath before a third victim turns up dead – once more with clear connections to the previous murders.

With the clock ticking, Phillips and her team pull out all the stops, desperate to solve the case before the killer strikes again. The only problem – the person most likely to be the next victim is also the number one suspect.

Can Phillips find the killer before another person dies? Or will her determination to serve and protect at all costs see her become the final victim of the Deadly Caller?

Deadly Caller is yet another novel by OMJ Ryan that never fails to get the gears moving. There’s only one thing you should do when seeing this in bookstores – THAT IS INSTANT BUY. It won’t be a shock to find out that Ryan’s skill impressed me from Jane Phillip’s first outing. He instigated my love of police procedurals and has only made that love grow stronger. The author has used the technology of a pandemic world and made it deadlier! A murder was witnessed over a zoom meeting. I’ve come to expect the unexpected from Ryan, but this is another stellar outing for Phillips and her team!

“There is no such thing as coincidences in major crimes!”

Deadly Caller can make us take a long hard look at society. Matthew Rice is dead witnessed over zoom by the supplier, Antonia Berry in Edinburgh. It’s traumatic and vivid and she has a hard time explaining what she saw. Soon thereafter, Rice’s colleague is knocked down in a suspected hit and run. Soon another colleague is killed in a sniper attack. The hunter became the hunted. The team is against the clock to catch the perpetrator.

The CEO is set to become a very rich woman with the company entering the stock market. She is the only survivor is it possible she arranged to have the other directors killed to win big…nearly a billion pounds big. The exploration of how money is a massive motivator hit me in the face. It makes you think about those difficult truths and how society views the significance of money. Ryan manages to put us into the centre of the crime – potential suspects are interviewed and as more information is leaked the more you feel the injustice, the hatred, and the anger.

As always Deadly Caller has the perfect pace. The action is like a bullet ricocheting around a windowless room. The reader is always rooting for the team which just works well together. Phillips, Jones, Entwhistle, and Bov. There’s enough comedy between them to have light relief from the seriousness of the crime and some romantic action for Phillips. It was a refreshing change when the killer is revealed early on which leads to a hugely exciting high-octane chase.

Ryan knows what makes a crime fiction novel tick. His readers get something new each time. Foreboding and tension. Brutal and compelling. I’m hooked and OMJ Ryan is now an automatic buy.

Deadly Caller is a sharp, super readable instalment in the Jane Phillips detective series. It stands out from the crowd for the characterisation and plot that you end up caring about. Crime Fiction of the highest order.

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ABOUT OMJ RYAN

I spent the first twenty years of my career working in the radio and entertainment industry across the UK and Australia, collaborating with household names, celebrities and music icons and accumulating a host of international writing and radio awards, before taking the leap into full time writing in 2018.

Since then, I’ve not looked back, writing stories for people who devour exciting, fast-paced crime thrillers by the pool, on their commute – or those rare moments of downtime before bed.

My mission is to entertain you from the first page to the last.

Born and bred in Yorkshire, I’ve lived and worked in a variety of cities across the UK including Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield and Glasgow, as well as Sydney and Melbourne in Australia, before settling in the north east of England with my wife Kim and young son Vaughan.

Thank you for checking out my website and I hope you enjoy catching up with Detective Jane Phillips and the rest of the Major Crimes Team.

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