It has been a long time since I read a Kim Stone Book. This one shows us a great deal more of Kim's life before she became a detective and also her early days on the force. Kim is a no-nonsense character and that alone often makes her unpopular with her teammates. Unpopular has never bothered or stopped her from doing brilliant police work solving difficult cases. This case they are handed is a brutal one and the motive for murder is not immediately apparent. Just how sympathetic we should be towards the victim is not immediately known either, but it is still an "edge of your seat" story...especially the opening chapter, which sets the scene right away, putting the reader at the scene of the soon to be brutal murder. We are allowed to see the aftermath, and that is quite enough believe me. This is the first case that Kim has worked with this particular team, and it is also Keats first time as the pathologist working alongside Kim. The case turns out to be complex and the author packs a lot into these first few pages to give us a clear picture of how all forces at play do or don't fit together. Kim calls the case "kinky" and she's far from wrong and she believes it is linked to other cases. The motive soon becomes clearer. There is a large suspect pool that keeps us constantly changing our mind. While this is a dark and deadly case...it's high on thrills, intrigue, mystery and tension. ( )

Bello, mi è piaciuto molto, un buon inizio di serie soprattutto per la particolarità dei personaggi che costituiranno la parte sostanziale delle future vicende, a cominciare proprio dalla detective Kim Stone, una donna forte e tenace con un passato terribile che ne condiziona il carattere e i rapporti umani. ( )

Il classico thrillerone con l'assassino da individuare, il primo di una lunghissima serie da ciò che vedo qui su Goodreads. Fa il suo intrattenendo, ma domani ne avrò già dimenticato la trama. Voto 6.5, senza infamia ne lode. ( )

Detective Inspector Kim Stone arrives at her new placement about to meet her new team. Her boss, DCI Woodward is not what Kim expects, but she knows that with her track record, it won't matter. She probably won't last any longer with this team than she has with her others. Woodward wants her to take time to get to know her team, but much to her relief, they are presented with a case almost immediately. The corpse of a man has been found with his head and genitals separated from his body. Kim isn't sure if she can trust her team to help her solve this case. DS Bryant is steady and pleasant, but not very dynamic. DC Stacey Wood is young, newly promoted, but inexperienced, and too much of a people pleaser. DS Kevin Dawson is lazy, arrogant, slovenly, and essentially homeless. Kim knows she has her job cut out for her if she is to make them into a team, and this case is going to be trial by fire for them.
First Blood is the prologue to the D.I. Kim Stone series. It works well as an introduction to the characters, whose backgrounds we get through their memories of and interactions with family members and previous colleagues. In this book, the killer's voice is in italics throughout the story, giving hints as to his or her identity. The clues all point to one place, but the killer's identity remains a mystery right up to the end of the book. Overall, this is a very good beginning to this series whose main character reminds me of J.D. Robb's Eve Dallas and Marie Force's Sam Holland. ( )

First Blood takes us back to the first day that Stone and her team come together. This is an unusual group that respect Kim's skills and unconventional investigative techniques. I enjoyed finding out how the team came together, and a lot of the history behind each character. A must read is you love this series like I do. ( )