Title:	Knock Knock: An absolutely pulse-racing, heart-stopping crime thriller
	Author:	Chris Merritt
	Published:	March 13, 2020, Bookouture
	No. of Pages:	390
	Cover Price:	$10.99 Paperback, $2.99 Kindle

---

Knock Knock is the first in the new Lockhart and Green series by Chris Merritt, and author who lives in London and sets this series in that city. Lockhart is a police detective whose wife has been missing for years, and finding her is first on his agenda unless he is working on a case. Lockhart has been seeing Green, who is a psychologist and is treating him for PTSD. He invites her to help with the case as soon as the first murder, that of Natasha Mayston, is discovered. She has been killed by having someone shove a ball down her throat until she chokes to death, and Lockhart is familiar with another similar murder where the police think they have the suspect in custody. Lockhart, it seems, is an alcoholic, albeit a good detective, and will stop at nothing to find the perpetrator. Several murders are committed after Mayston, and all are women who fight for women. It takes a while for clues, since the murderer is good at leaving no evidence at the murder scenes.

Merritt does a good job of developing his characters, and they seem viable, even the murder victims. He introduces readers to them, then someone kills them off. The murderer is also quite well-developed, although readers won’t have any idea who he is until the very end; several other suspects are out there, and Lockhart and his team have reasons for suspecting all of them.

One thing Merritt is especially good at is building suspense. It starts at the beginning of the novel, and builds throughout. There are parts that are unputdownable, and as the dénouement nears, the suspense is palatable. It seems that this is a good series to follow for those who like good writing, interesting characters, and plenty of suspense. Hopefully the second installment will be out soon.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.