The Helper By David Jackson

The Helper by David Jackson is a crime thriller featuring a sort of Good Samaritan turned serial killer.

Tainted by his association with a case in which a few fellow officers died, Doyle is trying to stay below the radar but when a part-time student is brutally murdered while working in a shabby New York bookshop, he can’t help but get involved.

The dead woman has a seemingly meaningless number written on her arm, probably by the killer. But the number is the country code for Ireland alongside Doyle’s home phone number. Doyle has Irish roots .

That same night, Boyle receives an anonymous call from the killer who puts forward an offer to Boyle. The killer is willing to give New York detective Callum Doyle clues that will help him solve a series of murders. But there’s a catch: Boyle can’t reveal to anyone about the help he is getting. If Boyle turns the offer down, more people will die. But if he accepts it and   can interpret the clues correctly, he can stop the murders before they happen. Butif he fails to interpret the clues correctly, the victims will die, and he will be guilty of  concealing information that could have stopped a killer.

A  cat and mouse game begins where the killer has the upper hand while Boyle is the mouse who just seems to be running around in circles with no idea of what is going on but knowing he has to put a stop to it.

As more deaths follow, the pressure on Doyle to find a link becomes unbearable. He is caught in a dilemna of whether to  continue to gamble with people’s lives or to sacrifice everything to catch the killer.

It is a very fast paced read and very much a race against time to try and stop even more innocent people being killed. With shocks and twists a plenty it left me feeling breathless by the end.