Cleaver Square


Fiction - Mystery - General
284 Pages
Reviewed on 01/04/2014
Buy on Amazon

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    Book Review

Reviewed by Jane Allen Petrick for Readers' Favorite

If you're going to take on the topics of identity theft, child trafficking, marital tempests and temptations all in one book, you better know how to write, and you better know how to write very, very well. Wonderfully for us readers, the brother writing duo Daniel and Sean Campbell know how to do just that. In their latest book, Cleaver Square, they pick us up and take us barreling through a maze of court rooms and crime labs, bedrooms and barrooms that in the hands of any less skilled would leave the reader confused and at a loss. Instead, I found myself racing down each plot line with the book's characters, as anxious as they were to get around the next corner to see what was there.

Cleaver Square begins straight-forwardly enough. Detective Chief Inspector David Morton is assigned to head up the investigation into the murder of an unidentified child whose decomposed corpse is found in London's Hackney Marshes. Almost simultaneously, a bizarre event sets in motion the decomposition of Morton's marriage as well. Then his young, attractive female assistant starts making moves on him during stake outs. The brothers Campbell's writing is simple, clear, and strong. The reader is in the room (and can image or remember being in other rooms just like it) when their well-honed dialogue erupts. Cleaver Square by Daniel and Sean Campbell is a heck of a read. I was sorry when it was over. I can't wait for their next one.

Katelyn Hensel

A body has been discovered in Central London. With little knowledge of the identity of this "Joe Bloggs," other than that it was a pre-pubescent male, Detective Morton and his team have to figure out where and when this boy was murdered. At the same time, we witness the journey of Charlie at his new foster home, and experience his emotional transition from hope, to despair, and worse. Sean Campbell and Daniel Campbell write a captivating mystery and crime novel that captivating, fascinating, and sad.

One of the best features of Cleaver Square was how detailed and well explained the crime scenes and criminal procedures were. I have read a lot of mysteries, thrillers, and crime dramas that all have police protagonists, and most of the time there isn't enough information about procedure, which is often necessary to get the whole picture. With Cleaver Square, you see exactly what happens from the call for the initial crime scene to the massive search for evidence that happens once a body has been discovered. The writing is never too technical, and is easily understood by the layperson. I also enjoyed glimpses from the characters, centering around Morton's point of view. A very unique, but well held together way of altering the POV for maximum effect. The Campbells certainly knew what they were doing with Cleaver Square!

Jack Magnus

Cleaver Square is a police procedural mystery written by Sean Campbell and Daniel Campbell. David Morton is a Detective Chief Inspector whose life is turned upside down when a young boy's corpse is found buried in a marshy field. While he's setting up the investigation and coordinating a search of the surrounding areas, his wife discovers that their joint accounts have been decimated with lavish expenditures, such as an expensive jewelry purchase. She's furious and, still smarting over her husband's infidelity from years ago, assumes that Morton has been giving gifts to a mistress. Meanwhile, Morton's crew uncovers a larger mystery while working on the identity of that child. The heirloom watch that was found alongside him belongs to a young foster-child in the area.

Sean Campbell and Daniel Campbell's mystery, Cleaver Square, is a first-rate police procedural. The characters of Morton and his team, Ayala and Vaughn, are finely drawn, and I found myself eagerly reading on to follow their investigations. From the painstakingly thorough area search of the marshes and the subsequent house-to-house canvassing to the procurement of search warrants from magistrates, each step in the investigative process is brought to life in this fast-paced and utterly enjoyable novel. The underlying story in Cleaver Square is credible, well-developed, and not at all predictable. The characters are people you feel you know personally by the end of the book, and I do hope there will be further mysteries in store for DCI Morton and his crew. Cleaver Square is good, solid, and entertaining reading and is very highly recommended.

Trudi LoPreto

Calling all amateur detectives……Cleaver Square by Sean and Daniel Campbell will keep you clued to your book. DCI David Morton has to solve the mystery of finding out the identity of a young boy who has been found dead. The boy has no identification and they have little in the way of clues to find out who he is and why he has been killed. David is also dealing with his identity being stolen and having all of his life savings gone. To make matters even worse, his wife believes he is being unfaithful and asks him to leave their home. His partner Tina does what she can to help, putting herself in danger. David and his team are faced with many challenges before they finally solve the case.

Cleaver Square is a step by step walk through a crime so well written that you believe you are part of the team. Cleaver Square had a little of everything to make a great book. The Campbells have created a day by day walk with a group of your friends and a group of very bad people. It was impossible to put this book down and I neglected my chores until I read the final page. I look forward to following the future cases of David Morton. Sean and Daniel Campbell have certainly earned a spot on my favorite authors list. I highly recommend this book, it is a winner.

Bil Howard

When an investigation is going nowhere and a mystery is nearly impossible to solve, DCI David Morton has a choice to make between what’s legal and what’s right. As the frozen Hackney Marshes reveal the body of a child near the Old River Lea, there doesn’t seem to be any evidence or any clues to identify him and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better. However, when there is finally a break in the mystery of the boy’s identity, there’s a new problem that comes up at home. His wife, Sarah, tired of putting off things that the two of them have agreed to do together and tired of the fact that he is rarely at home, begins to put together the pieces of a puzzle that seem to point to only one conclusion. With all of those factors mixed together and his ethics being severely tested, the chance of David unraveling the entire mess without a hitch borders on impossible.

The deep mystery that is woven together in the mystery thriller Cleaver Square, by Daniel and Sean Campbell, is one that will keep the reader turning pages in order to discover what layer of the tightly woven plot will be unraveled next. The depth of detail and the intrigue that is built into this novel makes it one of the top notch recent mystery novels. With the use of the authors’ knowledge of forensics and the deeper investigation into the psychological aspects of the killer and victim, an impossible mystery is slowly uncovered. Intriguing, suspenseful and a little bit too realistic at times, Cleaver Square is a must-read for the mystery/thriller enthusiast.