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{{infoboxinfobox1
|title=Spilled Blood
|author=Brian Freeman
|borrow=Yes
|isbn=9780857383037
|pages=416
|publisher=Quercus
|date=March 2012
|website=http://www.bfreemanbooks.com/
|summary=City lawyer Chris Hawks finds himself in rural Minnesota trying to prove his teenage daughter innocent of murder. Good solid crime writing at its best - nothing fancy, but totally gripping.
|cover=0857383035
|aznuk=0857383035
|aznus=B0074VPFJE
}}
My advance reading copy of the book heads up the blurb with ''Why haven't you read Brian Freeman yet?'' That is a very good question. The Daily Mail is quoted as saying he is ''as brilliant as Harlan Coben''. I've read that of other authors and discovered they came nowhere near. With Freeman though, it's not short of the mark.
''Spilled Blood'' is in Coben vein: the crime thriller set in remote places where everyone should know everyone else, but secrets are still artfully shrouded. The emptiness of rural Minnesota is a perfect backdrop. The towns are fictional, but a short author's note addresses those of his readers who like to try to place locales on a real map and outlines the places of inspiration for his creations. It's not necessary – I'm sure anyone who knows the area could conjure it up and those of us who've never been anywhere near Minnesota can be equally sure of exactly ""''where"" '' he's talking about, despite the fact that scarcely a sentence is wasted in telling us.
The over-used epithet that ''no-one is quite what they seem'' does not apply. Some of Freeman's characters are exactly what they appear to be. Others are something entirely different. The trick is in working out which are which. Even when you think you've got it, you might be wrong. Figuring out ''that'' some-one may be lying, won't necessarily tell you ''why'' or ''what about''. That's the craftsman at work.
If YOU haven't read Brian Freeman yet, I recommend you start.
Obviously, if you're not familiar with Coben, then that's the place to start: try [[Tell No One by Harlan Coben]] - but for more strange story-telling in out-of-the-way America, try the so nearly perfect [[Castle by J Robert Lennon]]. We also have a review of Freeman's [[The Bone House by Brian Freeman|The Bone House]].
{{amazontext|amazon=0857383035}} {{waterstonestextamazonUStext|waterstonesamazon=8563121B0074VPFJE}}
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[[Category:Thrillers]]
