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A.D. Davies
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His First His Second (Alicia Friend Book 1) Kindle Edition

by A. D. Davies (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 5,374 ratings
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A unique female detective. A serial killer stalking the bleak British winter. And a ruthless father who will stop at nothing to save his daughter.

Detective Sergeant Alicia Friend is not your average copper. She’s nice. Too nice, sometimes. And maybe, if pushed, she might admit she keeps her unorthodox, too-happy personality front and centre to fend off the darkness of her caseload.

Parachuted in to end a chilling kidnap-murder spree, Alicia has less than a week to win over her new colleagues, get her inspector to trust her, and chip away the secrets of a high-society family.

But Richard, the father of the latest victim, believes the police are not moving quickly enough. Utilising skills honed in a dark past, he launches a brutal parallel investigation… a past that is about to catch up with him.

As Richard's secret actions hinder the police at every turn, the clock is ticking until another innocent person dies, and Alicia will be forced into choices that will impact the rest of her life.

Grab His First His Second today and get addicted to the compelling Alicia Friend series.

˃˃˃ Reviews

CrimeFictionLover.com: “An intriguing mix of police procedural and serial killer thriller, that will tease, involve and unnerve you. An entertaining and intriguing debut.”

Undercover Book Reviews: “Want a book with twists and turns? This is the one. It will not disappoint.”

Alicia Friend Books in Order:

His First His Second

In Black In White

With Courage With Fear

A Friend in Spirit

To Hide To Seek

A Flood of Bones

To Begin the End
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  1. Book 1 of 8
    Alicia Friend
  2. Print length
    574 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publication date
    November 20, 2014
  6. File size
    2765 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Set in and around the Yorkshire city of Leeds, the book is an intriguing mix of police procedural and serial killer thriller, that will tease, involve and unnerve you.

The plot is dense and attention must be paid to these almost conflicting storylines as the book progresses, but it enriches the reading experience as your attention is pulled hither and thither. At certain points early on a small leap of faith is required for the more outlandish plot turns to work, but it all adds to the fun. With a host of interweaving and engaging plot strands there is a playful feel at times as Davies attempts to wrong foot and challenge us, which works very well indeed.


An entertaining and intriguing debut" - Crime Fiction Lover

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00O6FFWMQ
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Crater of the North Publishing (November 20, 2014)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 20, 2014
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2765 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 574 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 5,374 ratings

About the author

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A.D. Davies

A.D. Davies

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A. D. Davies grew up in Leeds, West Yorkshire. In high school his ambition was to be a writer of horror novels, although in adult life he became an avid fan of crime fiction. After a long stint in an unsatisfying job, he attended the University of Leeds where he attained a degree in creative writing. Shortly after graduation, he moved to the Midlands to marry the love of his life.

He is well-travelled, his favourite destinations being New Zealand and Vietnam, which has influenced his writing immensely (as seen in his novel The Dead and the Missing). For now, however, globe-trotting is taking a back-seat to raising his two children and writing, although he hopes to one day combine all three.

He now resides in Staffordshire, UK, with his wife and two children.

Connect in the following ways:

Twitter: @authoraddavies

Facebook: www.facebook.com/authoraddavies

Website: www.addavies.com (including email list sign-up)

A.D. Davies is also on Goodreads. Do say hi.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
5,374 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Spadger
5.0 out of 5 stars Great first novel - definitely worth your time and money
Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2014
Verified Purchase
Congratulations A.D.Davies on your first mystery novel. Great plot, continuity, interesting characters and pretty good grammar and punctuation. Your editor made a few tiny mistakes or it may have been when the book was translated to the e format but this certainly did not detract from the story. Overall this story was really enjoyable and the pace was terrific. I couldn't put it down, polished it off in two days. I'd like to see DS Friend take it down just a tad and also like to know a little more of her background explaining more fully her verve and jingoism for the work. At the same time it would be nice to see DI Murphy ramp it up a tad and also see more info on his character and past. I'd also like to know more about Ball and Cleaver to really get to know who they are as I'm sure they'll be in your next novel. For a first time writer I commend you - this is a really good mystery and I'd definitely read your next. Being British I'm partial to crime noir stories set in the U.K. because for some reason they always seem grittier than U.S. based mysteries, and I do get the feeling A.D.Davies is leaning to the crime noir genre in his first book. This is also partly due to me being a fan of the true "crime noir" writers who all seem to be British or Irish like Derek Raymond and Ken Bruen. Please don't take offence reader, I love American crime noir writers however in my opinion, and mine only, the U.S. set crime noir is not as off the wall and as mind blowing as the British and Irish fare. I recommend to readers and A.D.Davies a book published last september "The Takeover" by Jonathan Dunne another new and exciting crime noir writer. So readers give this book a try - you will not be disappointed. Here's hoipng we see another book from A.D.Davies in the not too distant future.... Good reading to you all.
8 people found this helpful
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Adam Childs
4.0 out of 5 stars Too complex but a damn good read
Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2017
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I really liked this. I loved the characters, somehow Davies made quirky, spunky Alicia believable.
Good atmosphere and a good plot... up to a point. I felt Davies tried too hard to create suspense. It's a good plot, no silly mistakes, no illogicalities, but multiple psychopaths? Davies makes it work, and even had me believing that the country was full of serial killers but after a while I was getting lost in the intricacies. X killed Y after Y called Z but Z had threatened X because Z had killed A to get back at X killing Y, or something like that...

Advice (unsolicited!) to the author: Slow it down, unravel the multiple plots and write two books instead of one and you've got 5 stars!
One person found this helpful
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Cid Herman
5.0 out of 5 stars This one will keep you up late at night.
Reviewed in the United States on June 1, 2018
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His first his second
I enjoyed every page of this book. It is exciting, intelligently written and has great character development. The characters, especially the perky, tiny detective, Alicia, inspire you to care about them and to really understand them. The very best thing about this book though, is the OUTSTANDING PLOT; it's a winner in every way. This book is the definition of a nail biting, page turning THRILLER from page one until the very end. It really is a good one.

The author manages a fresh. unique and original spin on the traditional Serial Killer genre, something not easily done. I really can't figure out why some people didn't think it was interesting. It's got great pacing and moves quickly, entertaining you the entire way. I also thought the author did an excellent job switching points of view between Alicia, the Killer, and a few others. It was always clear who was speaking and each character was interesting. There were a couple of minor characters introduced towards the end that could have been more fully developed, because their motives were not well explained and didn't make rational sense. That's a minor point, The main character, and everything else more than make up for it.
One person found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars Fun, interesting for most of the story
Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2022
Verified Purchase
The playful Alicia is over the top for the usual stodgy police, as some have mentioned, but I found that interesting and not out of the realm of possible. The various story lines were nicely intertwined up to about the 80% point of the book. Then the story hinged on stupid things happening, Alicia forgetting most of her intelligence and training, turning into a silly kid - maybe the dumb evil twin? OK, that was bad, but the total reverse of her personality was pretty bad just so there could be some crescendo ending. And an extremely murderous psychopath suddenly being a goody two shoes nice guy? Uh, nope. Tiger stripes don't change that much. Some other things were too much, but if you are happy with what I've said, I won't spoil those bits for you.
I would have like more time spent on a better developed last 20%.
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mitty
4.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended.
Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2015
Verified Purchase
His First, His Second by A.D. Davis

Edgy and twisty, this is a police procedural that is far from typical. I have to say the characters surprised me several times with their non-typical courses of action they chose to pursue. This is definitely not a boilerplate detective story.

Interestingly the main protagonist does not appear right off the bat, and appears for the first time on page 15 (loc 206). The story is told by an omniscient narrator from at least 6 or 7 points of view. Granted some of the POV are brief, but there are 4 main points of view to follow. It is not confusing in the least, and makes the story even more interesting.

I don't think I'm giving anything away in mentioning that there are two serial killers on the loose, and their intersection is something I haven't seen before.

Something else that recommends this story is the location of Leeds, England and the manner in which the author writes about it. I see by the bio here on Amazon, that he is from Leeds. Now, some authors that write about the places they live are *too* local and mention places and things that are obscure to the reader not from that area, o
r use local expressions that an American would not understand. This is definitely NOT the case here. Davis writes intimately, but not obscurely of the area.....IOW, I could follow it well. That was appreciated.

The pace is fast, the story twisty. Highly recommended.
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Donna
5.0 out of 5 stars Captivating
Reviewed in Canada on September 3, 2023
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This book is fantastic, you can't put it down. Full of twists and turns the main character is amazing. The ending is unexpected and can't wait to read the second book of this series.
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Clowe
5.0 out of 5 stars Great page turner
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 5, 2023
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Lots of plot twists. Kept me engaged until the end.
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sanjay kumar singh
4.0 out of 5 stars Good
Reviewed in India on October 30, 2019
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Like the
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flyingdutchman
4.0 out of 5 stars Un bel thriller, ma troppo violento
Reviewed in Italy on August 22, 2019
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é la solita storia del maniaco, che ammazza le ragazze innocenti in modo crudele. La poliziotta ha pure i suoi problemi, e poi c'è la complicazione di un ex FBI americano. Insomma gli ingredienti ci sono e se piace il genere è un libro scritto abbastanza bene. La finale è un po troppo violenta per i miei gusti...
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JE Caradec
3.0 out of 5 stars Histoire compliquée. Anglais idiomatique.
Reviewed in France on March 16, 2019
Verified Purchase
Idées intéressantes mais mal exploitées. Les personnages sont nombreux et mal identifiés. Des longueurs dans la première partie. Anglais britannique plus difficile à comprendre. Mais je suis allé jusqu'au bout et je repense à certaines situations du livre.
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