Hard Wired By Kathleen Mckay - book review

Hard Wired  by Kathleen Mckay - 

(my goodreads book review)

The title phrase 'Hard Wired' implies that certain people are inherently
inclined to commit certain offences. The lead character, Charlie, who works in a Newcastle bail hostel, believes this and when Darren, her friend Di's teenage son, is murdered Charlie can't decide who to suspect the most out of all the men in the hostel. To help her friend, she takes on the mantle of private detective and soon finds it just isn't that simple.

A very character driven story, we believe in Charlie, she's convincingly well intentioned and flawed. She's often distracted or exhausted and gets understandably sidetracked by important life events. She is also strong, she has to be. She helps Di who goes to pieces, while herself mourning 15 year old Darren who she's known from infancy. At the same time she holds down a difficult job, often on night shifts, alongside coping alone with her own teenage daughter, following the death of her partner. In other words, Charlie has her hand full before she even takes on the tricky task of investigating Darren's murder when the police appear to lose interest.

Overall, Hard Wired is a good read. It's not the archetypal whodunnit with lots of clues dropped in for readers to try to follow and it's definitely not just engrossed with police procedures, but rather more a study of how grief and loss can affect individuals. And there are a lot if individuals, all drawn with some conviction. The number of realistically drawn people makes the plot line confusing a times, but then murder stories are meant to mislead. I will probably read this one again.