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Title:  The Hillingdon Files:  a thrilling crime novel: Featuring kidnap, money laundering and fraud

Author:  Paul A Cooper Publisher: AuthorHouseUK ISBN:   978-1665590822

Pages: 282

Genre: Fiction / Crime / Thriller

Reviewed by:  Jake Bishop

In this, his debut novel, author Paul A Cooper has constructed both an entertaining and informative look into the workings of law enforcement practices not only in Britian, where the story begins, but also in Eastern Europe as the plot escalates. More than simply a police procedural however, Cooper’s tale is packed with characters’ emotional connections, intellectual maneuvers, mounting suspense, and physical action as well.

It all begins when Greg, a police detective, gets an urgent call from his partner, Aleysha. She needs him immediately. But he can’t find her anywhere. In his attempt to locate her, he becomes the injured, but surviving victim of an unexplained explosion at a country cottage she’s connected to. Tensions rise as it becomes apparent that not only Aleysha, but also her sister have been forcibly taken and spirited away.

Cooper has chosen to have Greg tell his story in first-person voice. Simultaneously, the author details a potentially related case in third-person. He’s also elected to move back and forth in time as each of these plot lines play out. This technique of melding the two cases, increases the reader’s curiosity quotient as both narratives are developed.

The second plot, which is eventually tied to the first, involves financial skullduggery going on within a huge international corporation. Computer files detailing money laundering schemes are seen by people who shouldn’t see them, and those involved will do whatever is necessary—murder included—to silence suspected witnesses. Hillingdon, of the title, is one who becomes the victim of a hit-and-run assassination attempt made to appear accidental.

As both stories progress, they begin to interlock. Soon the main protagonist, Greg, is racing across the continent to rescue Aleysha and her sister. He’s joined and more than ably assisted by their cousin, Kevin, whose financial capabilities make it possible to give chase from one end of Europe to the other.

Cooper does a particularly good job of detailing the various procedural elements involved. Local police are eventually joined by Britain’s MI5 and MI6, plus international forces as far away as Lativia. Both detail and tension mount as Greg and Kevin eventually go rogue and discard formal methods when they see an opportunity to rescue the women before villains dispose of them.

Before novel’s end, the author has introduced and made credible multiple characters. Some on the right side of the law, some on the wrong. But all come across as flesh and blood people, not merely prototypical types from central casting. That includes Greg’s dog, Jet, who may be the strongest of the lot.

All things considerd, this is a stand-out effort from author Cooper who even leaves a door open at the end of the story for perhaps more to come. Let’s hope so.