This debut novel from Patrick Hardy is a wonderful slice of British Noir that makes for engaging reading.
We first meet Josh Stern in his role as physical trainer at a gym, which is closed suddenly – later to be revealed that the closure is due to a body being found in the mens changing rooms. From there we follow him as he spends the time in his second role – private investigator. Stern is quite a stoic, quiet character, and we see him reflecting on one of his oldest cases, the disappearance of Kat O’Keefe, over 20 years earlier. It’s a case never solved, but he continues to pick away at it, stubbornly looking for the loose end that will unravel the longstanding mystery. The story jumps around different time frames, and different perspectives, but it’s easy to follow through threads.
The titular death in the gym is more of a background noise for the first half of the novel until the identity of the body is revealed – and links back into Stern’s missing person case.
I liked that Stern feels like a different type of detective – we don’t see him in conflict with the authorities, he takes his own path through the investigation, with his own methods, and it feels like he’s a very closed book – to this around him and to the reader themselves. I found this makes him very intriguing to read about, and I hope there are further cases to follow.
Many thanks to the author, the publisher and Random Things Tours for the opportunity to read and review this assured and well written debut novel.
About the Author
Patrick Hardy was born in Bournemouth, Dorset and studied law at UCL. He qualified as a solicitor in England and in Hong Kong and as an advocate in Guernsey. He is also a certified personal trainer. Although he has written several short stories and articles, A Death In The Gym is his first novel which draws upon his experience of the world of law and fitness.
Blurb
Josh Stern has two jobs and he likes to keep them separate. A personal trainer during the day and a part-time investigator by night.
When a dead body is found in Josh’s gym, it sets off a series of seemingly unconnected events, reigniting an old case he thought he’d solved – the disappearance of a twenty-year old student more than two decades ago.
As Josh is pulled into a web of deception, decades of lies surrounding a young woman’s disappearance need to be untangled, where every truth uncovered reveals a darker secret.
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