The Long Call: Now a major ITV series starring Ben Aldridge as Detective Matthew Venn
As seen:
By Ann Cleeves
avg rating
1 review
Meet Detective Matthew Venn. From Ann Cleeves, the Sunday Times bestselling creator of Vera and Shetland, The Long Call is the No.1 bestselling first novel in the Two Rivers series.
Now a major ITV series, The Long Call, starring Ben Aldridge.
In North Devon, where the rivers Taw and Torridge converge and run into the sea, Detective Matthew Venn stands outside the church as his father’s funeral takes place. The day Matthew turned his back on the strict evangelical community in which he grew up, he lost his family too.
Now he’s back, not just to mourn his father at a distance, but to take charge of his first major case in the Two Rivers region; a complex place not quite as idyllic as tourists suppose.
A body has been found on the beach near to Matthew’s new home: a man with the tattoo of an albatross on his neck, stabbed to death.
Finding the killer is Venn’s only focus, and his team’s investigation will take him straight back into the community he left behind, and the deadly secrets that lurk there.
‘A stunning debut for Cleeves’ latest crimefighter’ – David Baldacci, author of The 6:20 Man
The Long Call is the first entry in the Two Rivers series. Continue the mysteries with The Heron’s Cry.
TweetReviews
This book from the pen of Ann Cleeves, the creator of the hugely popular Vera and Shetland series of crime novels, introduces a new detective, Matthew Venn, and his colleagues, in a new setting, North Devon,
Hunstanworth Village Hall Book Group review: Ten members read this book. They gave it an overall score of 3.5 / 5.
The members of our book group all live in an area of the North-East of England that is the setting for the Vera novels, and has often been used as the location for the filming of the TV series. Despite this most members of the group had not read an Ann Cleeves novel before, and opinions on the book were divided. Originally some members felt the novel was too formulaic, almost too ordinary, offering little that was new from the previous books, or other novels on that genre. For some members the North Devon location didn’t have the immediate appeal of Shetland. However most members upped their scores after our discussion.
As the first book in a new series inevitably there were a lot of new characters to keep track of, which can make for a challenging read at times. However members felt there was an Interesting mix of people, especially in the trio of main police officers - a gay married man, a divorced single parent and an enthusiastic happily married young officer – and many possibilities for developing them all in future books in the series . Gaby the artist was also thought to be an interesting character. We agreed that it usually takes a few books to get to know the main characters in any series, and get under their skin, and that therefore we might find the later novels in the series more satisfying
Although this book is quite slow paced for a crime novel, and with much back ground detail, especially in the first half, many members appreciated the book as character-driven, interested in contemporary social issues such as domestic violence, elderly carers, and mental health problems, and with a sympathy for those who have difficult lives In particular the writing of Rosa, Christine and Lucy (the Down’s Syndrome girls) was very good in giving them each quite separate and distinctive personalities
After a slow start the book then rushed end to tie all the ends together, and some members felt this was too complicated, offering too many red herrings.
Overall despite the inevitable challenges of a first book, members found this a good read, and a promising start to a new series.
We received advance copies of the book via Pan Macmillan , and The Reading Agency (with thanks). #TheLongCall @ReadingAgency and @PanMacmillan and author @AnnCleeves
