Nowhere to Hide

Inspector Drake, Book 7

By: Stephen Puleston

Narrated by: Richard Elfyn

A murdered mother. Drug dealing unchecked. Can Detective Drake achieve justice when so many have failed?

When drug addict Dawn Piper is found dead in her own home, her neighbors are far from surprised. Dawn’s habit led her to mix with some dangerous people. But this quiet mother of one was small fry. Would anyone want Dawn dead?

Inspector Drake knows there is more to Dawn’s murder than a simple drug deal gone wrong. As he digs deeper, he discovers that Dawn hoped to clean up the streets of her community that are being overrun by drugs and the dangerous County Lines gangs that sell them. And it cost her her life. Have the police force failed the community they serve?

Drake is used to the murky world of organized crime groups. He knows the dirty games they play to evade arrest. But in his toughest case to date, Drake is determined to make the guilty pay.

This time, they will have nowhere to hide.

Nowhere to Hide is the seventh book in the dynamic Inspector Drake crime series. If you like clever mysteries and engrossing listens, then you’ll love Stephen Puleston’s Ian Drake novels.

©2019 Stephen Puleston (P)2020 Stephen Puleston

Not quite the same...

After having listened to all 7 titles, this one feels a little like a let down; part of what makes Drake so interesting is all his idiosyncrasies - the rituals, the scrupulous tidiness, the anti-social behaviour. There were hints in the early books that this was caused by something - apparently his grandfather's behaviour towards him, the funeral - his compulsions all started with something in his past that escalates when he's under stress. In this latest book, he's like any other guy trying to figure out how to keep his girlfriend happy. His behaviour -borderline disorder- is suddenly just a bunch of funny little quirks. The anger with his old adversary goes exactly nowhere, his daughters are perfect dears (really? for kids raised by a compulsive father and demanding mother, who have to endure a divorce and threats from Drake's enemies, it's a little surreal); his detectives learn to get along just fine, the press are understanding, his ex leaves him alone, and the mean politico goes away. Nope - not enough conflict, not enough personal angst, no darkness - just another police procedural with a flat, go-nowhere ending. Richard Elfyn's magnificent performance is wasted on this one.

Another great story

Me Puleston weaves another great Inspector Drake tale in Nowhere to Hide. The story moves at good pace throughout

One action changes everything

Inspector Drake gets pulled back into the world of drugs and organized crime. He’s fought this fight before and it was a draw. Now is his chance to finish addressing this issue from his past and make the streets a little safer. However, this time he has an angry, uncooperative community to deal with. They feel the police force has ignored their needs for far too long and many blame the government and police for not eliminating drugs from their neighborhoods. I really liked this aspect of the story because not every community is happy to work with the law because they feel let down by it.

Drake is a fastidious man, very neat, very tidy. And for several books now I have wondered how he manages to have intimate relations. There’s proof he has done so (2 daughters) but I always pictured him fully dressed with a stack of clean wipes to the side to make sure everything stays neat and tidy. Well, in this book we get a very brief love scene that does a little to answer these questions. Still, I bet he showers directly after.

The mystery itself is a great rollercoaster of suspects, victims, bodies, drugs, and grumpy people. Just as they start to get their hands around one body, another drops. The community feels the local police aren’t interested in doing anything until there’s a body. Hence, much of the community isn’t jumping up to help Drake and his team with their investigation. As they dig into the first murder, it looks like the victim was trying to do something to get drugs out of the community. With this realization, the possible culprits narrow to those supplying the drugs. While this victim wasn’t perfect, she was trying to make a positive difference.

I loved the zombie bit. Our first victim is a zombie fan and really liked her zombie computer games, movies, and this newly opened zombie boat. Yep, a ship that has been set up as a zombie experience. Drake doesn’t get it but he and his team diligently look into it, as with all aspects of the victim.

In this book, we see that Drake has continued to grow as a person. His ex-wife and daughters are threatened by whoever is behind the murder. And later, with the daugthers staying with Drake and his girlfriend (Anne), their house is vandalized. Drake does a good job of reassuring his ex and his daughters, but he forgets to consider how this might be affecting Anne. Yet when it comes up, he immediately sees his mistake and how to fix it. In the past, he would have had trouble processing this and would have bungled about trying to make it better. Yay Drake!

The last bit of the story ramps up the pace and the tension. An old enemy has raised their ugly mug and Drake can taste sweet victory! But then one action changes everything and Drake can see how he missed this big piece and now he has limited time to catch this hidden culprit. Very satisfying end. 5/5 stars.

Narration: Richard Elfyn continues to give us a gripping and talented performance. I love his voice for Drake and Elfyn captures Drake’s ability to switch between Welsh and English with ease. Elfyn is very talented with all the regional accents described in the book and I feel educated after listening to this series. His female character voices are feminine and his little kid voices are good too. The pacing is perfect and there are no tech issues with the recording. 5/5 stars.

I received a free copy of this book. My opinions are 100% my own.

Awesome Addition to the Series!

Nowhere to Hide by Stephen Puleston is both a great continuation of the series and a standalone listen. The author is fantastic with his imagery of Wales and police procedures. I loved the added background into Inspector Drake's life. He's not a perfect guy, but isn't loaded down with excess baggage either. The story is fast moving and has some unexpected twists. Richard Elfyn was wonderful bringing the characters to life. He is the voice of Inspector Drake to me, and gives the characters distinguishable voices and inflects the right emotions. I really enjoyed this listen!