The second story of the Kate Brannigen series was exciting as well. A conservatory builder must be sure that his newly built conservatories disappear overnight. In addition, he notices that the so-called owners of these conservatories are no longer findable and do not settle the bill. At the same time, a friend of Kate realizes that a down payment on a property dissolves in the air, as this property is already installed by a construction company. Kate over time determines that these cases are related. But to convict the bad guys is not that easy. ( )

Kick Back sees Brannigan investigating a commercial case, a complex and initially very opaque fraud involving conservatories and remortgaging, which soon starts to get mixed up with another real-estate fraud she's investigating on behalf of her friend, Alexis. Needless to say, a body turns up in the course of the story, but it's rather incidental this time, and the real plot is about the two frauds. You may well get rather left behind by the technical details about conveyancing here, but it all seems to make sense. And it's amusing to see Brannigan getting her first mobile phone, much against her better judgment, since she's convinced that the only people in Manchester who carry mobile phones are drug dealers... ( )

Now best known for her often gruesome novels featuring Detective Inspector Carol Jordan and Dr Tony Hill, Val McDermid also wrote a very entertaining series of novels following Kate Brannigan, a feisty private investigator based in Manchester.

'Kick Back' is the second in the series and starts on a rather low key note when Kate is commissioned to look into the problems faced by a local building firm that specialises in constructing conservatories. The director has been advised by his bank that the business's credit lines had been suspended pending investigation of problems with a series of mortgage defalcations by his clients. Further confusion arises when Kate discovers that several of the conservatories had subsequently been dismantled and removed without the owners' knowledge.

On the face of it, an investigation into some dodgy re-mortgaging transactions and the theft of a few conservatories does not sound very exciting. McDermid is, however, accomplished at constructing compelling yet believable plot, and this is a gripping story. Kate is an appealing character, capable but never smug. Even though this was only the second volume in the sequence, we are already acquainted with a strong network of Kate's associates and colleagues upon whom she can call for help and guidance. This is refreshingly different from the normal run of private eye novels where the protagonists seem capable of anything, Like the old AA adverts, Kate may not know how to do certain things, but she knows a man or woman who does. ( )

This is the second book in the Kate Brannigan series and Kate has to deal with two cases of fraud and along the way find out who is trying to killer her. It's an entertaining read, though it does get bogged down a bit, unlike the previous book in the series.

This book is nearly 20 years old and shows how times have changed with debate about getting a mobile phone and there is mention of the M63, but this road no longer exists. Where would a private investigator be without a mobile phone in this day and age. ( )

Hur jag än anstränger mig kan jag inte komma överens med privatdetektiven Kate Brannigan. Det kan bero på att hon berättar i jag-form men det är det fler som gör och då stör det mig inte alls. Det kan också bero på att jag upplever hennes som en tämligen platt karaktär som jag inte alls känner något behov av att lära känna närmare. Eller så står svaret att finna i det faktum att jag har lärt mig älska Val McDermids böcker om Tony Hill och Carol Jordan så mycket att jag har svårt att ta till mig andra karaktärer i hennes arsenal.

Vad det nu än beror på så var Glashus en tämligen intetsägande historia om glasverandor som säljs och monteras för att sedan spårlöst försvinna. Affärsmannen Ted Barlow anlitar Kate Brannigan för att dels ta reda på vart dessa har tagit vägen samt för att undersöka varför banken har sagt upp hans lån och checkkrediter. Kate kastar sig genast huvudstupa in i fallet och inser snart att hon har hamnat mitt i en stormvind av korruption, tvättade pengar, mystiska försvinnanden och ond bråd död.

Riktigt spännande blir det dock aldrig ty tempot är extremt segt, Kate tillsammans med övriga karaktärer utgör en sorglig skara av ointressanta personer och allt det som kännetecknar Val McDermids magiska skrivande saknas helt.

Trist. ( )