Doppelganger - (A Jack Lockwood Mystery) by Geoffrey David West

This book is all you could want from a crime thriller and I have spent the best part of a day happily glued to its pages.

Jack Lockwood is a fabulous character. A criminal profiler and true crime writer, he acts on hunches and instincts but like every fallible human, he doesn't always get it bang on first time. A good investigator of the facts, he chases down information and makes a nuisance of himself with the police, who aren't his greatest allies. Nothing seems to really faze him, whether he is being hunted down by gangland criminals who want him dead or finding out the woman he loves may not be what she seems. He always keeps going no matter what the personal cost. I think this character is very unsure of what love should be about as he seems a little confused when it comes to matters of the heart but, in a way, it makes his personality very real and engaging.

I love the fast paced flow of this novel, although there is a lot going on the author has a knack of keeping you fully informed. The writing is clear, descriptive and crisp with a satisfying ending and enough twists and turns to keep you guessing and also to lead you down the wrong path until you reach that 'A-ha!' moment and realise you have been had. At least I was at one point and not in the most obvious way! I also liked the references to real life events, such as speculating the circumstances surrounding the death of Princess Diana. Naughty but plausible...

This is the second in the series of Jack Lockwood mysteries but it can be read very well as a stand alone book. Geoffrey David West gives enough background information to establish Lockwood's personality, and the things he has gone through before, to make it easy to join in the journey.

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