Blog Tour | Review: Dangerous to Know by Anne Buist

Welcome to my stop on the Dangerous to Know blog tour! Natalie King, my favourite Forensic Psychiatrist, is back, and I couldn’t be happier to share my review as part of the blog tour.

Book Description:

Natalie King is back: back from a stay on the psych ward. Her reluctance to live a quiet life has contributed to a severe depressive episode, and now it’s time for a retreat to the country, and a low-key research job at a provincial university nearby.

But Natalie and trouble have a strange mutual fascination. Her charismatic new boss Frank is friendly, even attractive. But it turns out his pregnant wife is an old enemy of Natalie’s. And when Frank’s tragic personal history is revealed – then reprised in the most shocking way – Natalie finds herself drawn deep into a mystery. And even deeper into danger.

My Thoughts:

Dangerous to Know is book two in the Natalie King, Forensic Psychiatrist series, following book one: Medea’s Curse. Like many series, a story begins and ends in this book so it can be enjoyed as a standalone but for maximum enjoyment, I’d highly recommend starting with book one.

As stated in the blurb, Natalie moves to the quiet countryside to take up a position in research after her stay in the psych ward. Her new boss, Professor Frank Moreton, needs someone to confide in; his first wife died unexpectedly when she was due to give birth and now his second wife is fast approaching her due date – Natalie ends up becoming Franks unofficial counsellor, as his fears of history repeating itself, understandably, begin to surface. The more Natalie learns, the more she realises, some people are just too dangerous to know! This becomes ever more evident as Frank’s point of view is interspersed throughout the book, we come to understand his past and just how much of an effect it has on the future.

The plot secondary to the above one is the case of Georgia, about to stand trial for the murder of her three children, has been having sessions with Natalie in the lead up to the trial. This storyline began in book one and was concluded in this book. You can pick up on this storyline where it starts in this book, the trial, but reading book one will give you the full insight of how the story reached this point and you’ll instantly be familiar with some of the characters – and it’s a damn interesting story!

As Natalie is not working as many cases, compared to book one, the plot flows much smoother and the content is much easier to read and follow as the theme of infanticide isn’t as strong. I believe that will make this book more accessible as it more follows crime thriller conventions – exciting build up to a plot reveal, with some exciting twists along the way.

What really shines in this story is Natalie’s individuality, Buist has created a character who doesn’t conform, she’s still a bike-rider, lead singer in a band, perhaps sleeps with men she shouldn’t, yet her caring nature toward her patients in undeniable.

I read this book in one-sitting, that’s how interesting I found it. Forensic psychiatry and mental health are areas of great interest to me, so to read a book written by someone with 25 years’ experience in the field, you just know the content is going to be accurate, detailed and interesting! I actually missed the complex cases Natalie was working on in book one, and I was especially grateful for the continuing narrative of Georgia. I’m hoping for a book three in this series so we can see more of Natalie’s casework.

I highly recommend this book/series to anyone with an interest in forensic psychiatry as well as fans of mystery/thrillers.

This book is available to buy now from: Amazon UK / Book Depository

*My thanks to Lucy at Legend Press for providing me with a digital copy of this book*

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