Tag: Washington Poe Series

The Final Vow by M. W. Craven

On By The Unseen LibraryIn ThrillerLeave a comment

Publisher: Constable (Trade Paperback – 12 August 2025)

Series: Washington Poe – Book Seven

Length: 390 pages

My Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

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One of world’s most outrageous and entertaining thriller writers, M. W. Craven, continues one of his best series in impressive fashion with The Final Vow, a captivating and highly addictive novel that I couldn’t get enough of.

M. W. Craven is an outstanding author who has written a truly interesting array of thrillers throughout his career. This includes his original Avison Fluke series, as well as the great action-focused Ben Koenig series, the latter of which I have deeply enjoyed in recent years thanks to amazing books like Fearless and Nobody’s Hero. However, his main body of work is his excellent Washington Poe series that started back in 2018 with The Puppet Show.  Following a grumpy but skilled detective who gets partnered with a brilliant prodigy to solve the country’s most complex crimes, the Washington Poe novels are quite exceptional.  I personally fell in love with the series when I read the dark and intense novel, The Mercy Chair.  A particularly clever read loaded with an overabundance of well-thought-out twists, The Mercy Chair was an exceptional read, and it ended up being one of my favourite books of 2024.  As such, I have been quite eager to continue the Washington Poe books, and the seventh entry in the series, The Final Vow, was one of my most anticipated books of 2025.

The people of England are living in a constant state of terror.  A murderous sniper is stalking the nation, shooting people at random and leaving no evidence behind.  This brutal shooter has so far killed over a dozen people throughout various parts of the country, never missing and always killing those who least expect it.  With the entire population locked down and hiding in their homes, the police and government are  so desperate for results that they turn to the unconventional team of Detective Sergeant Washington Poe and his genius partner Tilly Bradshaw.

After their last major case saw Poe reassigned to the worst position in UK law enforcement, and Bradshaw snapped up by the country’s intelligence services, the two seem like an unlikely choice to save the day.  But with the help of their squad leader, Detective Chief Inspector Stephanie Flynn, there is no duo who stands a better chance of finding a killer who seems to strike completely at random.

However, as Poe and Bradshaw begin their investigation, they find themselves tracking a particularly skilled and deadly killer seemingly capable of countering all their moves.  Forced to rely on unconventional methods and Bradshaw’s out-of-the-box conclusions, the duo soon finds themselves narrowing in on the shooter and identifying his sinister motives.  But identifying the killer and capturing him are two very different things, and if they want to take him down, Poe knows he’ll have to make things personal, no matter what it costs him.

Craven continues to showcase why he is one of the world’s best rising thriller authors, as The Final Vow was a particularly powerful and impressive read that I had such a brilliant time with.  Featuring a deeply compelling story, loaded with unique characters, complex motivations, and fitted with the author’s slick humour, The Final Vow was an incredible read from start to finish.  I flew through this book in less than a day, it was that damn good, and I’m still thinking about its cool twists and reveals.

The Final Vow proved to be an extremely entertaining read, and it had one of the more unique and memorable thriller narratives of 2025.  Starting off with a dark hint of events to come, Craven soon perfectly sets the terrifying scene for the novel, with the country shuttered by fear thanks to a deadly sniper.  With the government desperate to stop the killing, they reluctantly bring back Detective Sergeant Washington Poe, whose reintroduction here was particularly entertaining and does a good job highlighting his unorthodox style.  Once again teaming up with anti-social genius Tilly Bradshaw, Poe and his other police colleagues begin their unique investigation into the crime.  Using some very interesting tactics while the body count from the sniper continues to rise, Poe and Bradshaw are soon able to determine the killer’s focus, which allows them to identify who the shooter is.  However, uncovering their target’s skills, background and outrageously over-the-top motive completely changes the entire story, and forces the protagonists into a particularly deadly hunt.

Craven keeps up the intensity and complexity of the plot into the second half of The Final Vow, as Poe uses his new information to try and find the killer.  However, after some very tense scenes and some surprising tragedy, Poe decides on a risky gambit, and makes the killer very angry by publicly humiliating him in a glorious scene.  This results in an interesting final third of The Final Vow, which goes in some dark directions, while also setting up for a big final confrontation.  I must admit that while I did enjoy how this final third of the book came about, I saw the author’s big twist coming from a mile away, which removed a lot of the emotional impact Craven was hoping for.  Still, it was very entertaining and compelling to see this twist play out the way it did, especially as Craven also utilised an extended sequence showcasing the background behind the twist.  While this behind-the-scenes section of The Final Vow is a little self-indulgent, it does provide some interesting context and entertaining character interactions, while also showcasing how easy it is to control public perception.  This leads up to a heartfelt final sequence of the book, which is a nice reward after the very dark narrative that makes up most of The Final Vow, and readers will come away from this book very entertained and extremely satisfied.

The Final Vow proved to be another awesome read from Craven, who manages to ensure that this book is somehow simultaneously dark and thrilling while also being highly entertaining and a little light-hearted.  The entire set-up for The Final Vow is extremely shocking, with a calculating sniper killing seemingly at random, and creating a palpable atmosphere of fear across the entire country.  The tension and terror that inhabit the scenes where the killer strikes are quite exceptional, as is the impact his shots have on the witnesses and the public.  However, Craven matches this excellent tension with the outrageous and over-the-top, both in the actions of the protagonists and in the crazy motivation of the antagonist, which alters much of The Final Vow’s underlying feel, turning it into quite a zany book at times.  This underlying lightness does disappear at key moments, especially when the antagonist strikes at the main character’s heart, and there are some dark sequences throughout that will keep the readers on the edge of their seats.  Combine that with Craven’s constant fast-paced revelations, clever investigation elements and great character work, and The Final Vow turns into quite an addictive read where you never know what is going to happen next.

Despite being the seventh book in the Washington Poe series, The Final Vow works well as a standalone novel, which is how Craven generally intends his novels to be enjoyed.  New readers can easily jump into The Final Vow with no prior knowledge of Craven’s previous works and still get swept up in his entertaining storytelling, and this is a very fun author to read for the first time.  While a great standalone novel, established fans of Craven and this series will probably get a little more out of The Final Vow, mainly because those readers will have a little more knowledge of the damaged protagonists, and the established relationships that they have.  Watching these character elements, especially between Poe and Tilly, continue in this new novel hit a little harder if you’re already familiar with it, especially during some of the darker moments of the plot.  Craven also makes some compelling references to the previous novel in the series, The Mercy Chair, throughout The Final Vow, including the utilisation of a very distinctive character from this earlier book, who has a great Hannibal Lecter inspired role in the plot.  I felt this character’s inclusion was very fun, and readers familiar with their interactions with Poe in The Mercy Chair will appreciate how they continue to be used here.  Throw in the utilisation of a character from another one of the author’s series, and The Final Vow is a book that Craven fans are going to have a lot of fun with, while still appealing to a wider audience.

The characters of The Final Vow were also a great highlight of this novel, and I loved how entertaining and outrageous they are at times.  The continued antics of maverick cop Washington Poe and his unlikely offsider and best friend Tilly Bradshaw result in most of the book’s fantastic humour, especially when the characters are forced to interact with police and characters unfamiliar with their style.  However, I really do have to highlight the antagonist of The Final Vow as my favourite character of the book.  The deadly sniper who has single-handedly terrorised England with their killings works well as a fantastic villain for Poe and Bradshaw, especially as you quickly become aware of how clever and deadly they are, and they prove to be a great equal to the protagonists.  However, it is their underlying motivations that really showcase just how despicable they are as a villain.  While I don’t want to give too much away here, as discovering their motivations is such a fantastic part of the experience of The Final Vow, the sheer pettiness behind their actions really goes to showcase just how twisted and dark they really are.  Combine that with their desire for revenge at any perceived sleight, and the lengths they will go to destroy their opponent, and this killer truly is an outstanding villain for the narrative, who you can’t help but be impressed with.  This great combination of wacky protagonists, an over-the-top antagonist, and an excellent collection of supporting characters, including some recurring figures from the previous books in the series, and The Final Vow’s cast added a lot to the overall impact of the book, and it is going to be interesting to see where some of these characters go next.

M. W. Craven continues to shine as one of the more inventive and entertaining thriller writers currently release awesome tales. His latest novel, The Final Vow, was a particularly fun and exciting read, that perfectly combines its tense and deadly narrative, with the fun antics of its outrageous cast. I powered through The Final Vow in no time at all, and this was such a great novel that will appeal to a wide range of readers.  I cannot wait to get my hands on the next Washington Poe novel later this year, and I’m sure it’s going to be another exceptional read.

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Waiting on Wednesday – The Final Vow by M. W. Craven

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Murder Mystery, Thriller, Waiting on Wednesday6 Comments

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy.  Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.  For this latest Waiting on Wednesday, I highlight an upcoming thriller that will no doubt be one of the darker and more captivating upcoming reads of 2025 with The Final Vow by M. W. Craven.

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M. W. Craven is an outstanding author who has been blowing people away with his twisty and captivating reads for the last 10 years. I personally only started reading his works in 2023 when I was lucky enough to get a copy of his first Ben Koenig book, Fearless. An exciting, fun and extremely over-the-top thriller, Fearless was an outstanding read that I really got into, especially as the author featured some awesome characters and very imaginative scenarios.  Craven upped the ante on the Ben Koenig series the following year with the outstanding 2024 sequel, Nobody’s Hero, that took the reader on another wild thrill-ride with even higher stakes, and which proved to be another amazing read.

Due to how much fun I was having with the Ben Koenig books, I decided to also check out Craven’s other 2024 release, The Mercy Chair, which served as the sixth book in the author’s Washington Poe series.  A UK based crime fiction series, the Washington Poe books follow the titular protagonist and his unusual but brilliant civilian partner, Tilly Bradshaw, as they investigate some of the country’s most disturbing crimes.  The Mercy Chair for example saw the protagonist investigate the stoning-death of a controversial religious leader, which revealed some dark secrets about the local inhabitants.  I ended up having an absolute blast with The Mercy Chair, especially as Craven loaded it with shocking twist after shocking twist, as well as a compelling narrative structure, and it ended up being one of my favourite books of 2024.

As you would expect after I had such a great time with Craven’s last several books, I am very eager to grab anything new coming our way from this author.  Luckily it looks like Craven fans are going to have a great 2025 as the author has a new entry in his Washington Poe series coming out in August 2025 with the incredible sounding novel, The Final Vow.

The Final Vow, which will be the seventh Washington Poe novel, will once again bring the protagonist back to investigate a sinister serious crime.  This time, the protagonists find themselves hunting a dangerous sniper causing terror throughout the entire country in what promises to be a particularly epic read.

Plot Synopsis:

The next unmissable novel* in the Sunday Times bestselling, multi-award-winning Washington Poe series. Poe and Tilly fans: be prepared for the most twisted thrill-ride so far . . .

An invisible killer with a 100% success rate. No one is safe. Not even those closest to Washington Poe . . .

A shooting at Gretna Green. A bride is murdered on her wedding day, seconds after she slips on her new ring. It’s brutal and bloody but she isn’t the first victim and she won’t be the last. With the body count now at 17, people are terrified, not knowing where the sniper will strike next.

With the nation in a state of panic, the police are at a loss and turn to Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw – the only team who just might be able to track down a serial killer following no discernible pattern and with the whole country as his personal hunting ground. Can Poe and Tilly stop an unstoppable assassin, who never misses his mark and never makes a mistake? Or will he find them before they find him…

I honestly love the sound of this cool upcoming thriller, and it looks like Craven has something very special in store for us in The Final Vow.  A dangerous sniper who never misses is a very interesting basis for a thriller narrative, and it is one that I know Craven will excel at utilising, especially with his very distinctive protagonists involved in the chase.  I am very excited to see what narrative devices Craven will utilise to tell this complex new story, and I have a feeling he will present this tale in a very compelling and chilling manner.  I am also expecting a ton of dark twists, especially once the antagonist starts hunting Poe and Tilly, and it wouldn’t surprise me if there is some major collateral damage.  I’m not entirely sure how the author is going to match the array of over-the-top twists that made The Mercy Chair such an epic read, but if anyone can pull it off its probably Craven.

Frankly, after how awesome I found The Mercy Chair to be last year, there is no way I will be missing this next Washington Poe book.  M. W. Craven has really impressed me with his last few books, and The Final Vow sounds incredibly intriguing with some great plot hooks around it.  I have a feeling that The Final Vow is going to be a very dark and powerful read, and I cannot wait to see the many twists, turns and shocking reveals will bedevil the protagonists.  This novel has so much potential, and I am fully expecting The Final Vow to be one of my favourite books of the year.

The Mercy Chair by M. W. Craven

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Five-Star Books, Thriller14 Comments

Publisher: Constable (ebook – 6 June 2024)

Series: Washington Poe – Book Six

Length: 420 pages

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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Acclaimed author M. W. Craven introduces one of the darkest novels of 2024 with the complex and highly addictive thriller, The Mercy Chair.

M. W. Craven is an interesting author who I am becoming a bigger and bigger fan of the more I read. I started getting into his work last year with the awesome Fearless, which saw a lawman turned drifter go up against a deadly drug cartel. I had an amazing time with Fearless, and I am looking forward to the sequel, Nobody’s Hero, in a few short months.  However, before we get to Nobody’s Hero, I need to rave about Craven’s other 2024 novel, The Mercy Chair.  The Mercy Chair was a captivating and unique novel from Craven that served as a part of his Washington Poe series.  The Mercy Chair is the sixth entry in this great English crime fiction series, and frankly I have still not recovered from how epic and shocking its narrative turned out to be.

Detective Sergeant Washington Poe of the National Crime Agency has seen many unsettling things during his career as a police officer, especially since he started teaming up with unusual civilian analysist Tilly Bradshaw to investigate the worst murders England has to offer.  However, his latest case has impacted him in ways few others have, and months after the events in question, Poe sits down with a psychologist to tell a tale of woe and despair unlike any other.

The case is an investigation into the brutal death of controversial religious figure Cornelius Green in Cumbria.  The victim, the leader of an extreme conservative church, has been found tied to a tree and stoned to death by someone who wanted him to suffer.  Brought in due to the brutality surrounding the killing and the religious significance of the victim, Poe and Tilly set about trying to discover which of Green’s many enemies or supporters might have wanted him dead.

Digging into their victim’s past, Poe and Tilly begin to believe that Green’s death might be connected to another infamous slaying of a religious family that occurred in the area many years ago.  Believing that the original killer, a troubled young member of Green’s church, has returned, the detectives attempt to uncover what caused her to snap and kill her parents and brother.  However, their investigation soon uncovers a series of terrible events from the past that still haunt many to this day.  What is the mercy chair, and how did a twisted religious figure bring so much despair to so many?

Gosh this was a damn impressive read!  The Mercy Chair was a particularly epic book that I have not been able to stop thinking about.  Exceedingly dark and hauntingly addictive, The Mercy Chair is guaranteed to steal your breath away with its many twists and turns.  An easy five-star read; The Mercy Chair ended up being one of my favourite books from the first half of 2024 for some very good reasons.

I cannot emphasise just how good the narrative of The Mercy Chair turned out to be, as Craven really dug deep to produce the most twisted and haunting narrative he could.  Starting off in an interesting way, with the traumatised protagonist, Washington Poe, recounting the events of his previous case to a psychologist, which instantly ensures that the reader knows something bad is about to happen.  The resulting set-up for the case proves to be very effective, and you are soon presented with an intriguing scenario of a religious leader stoned to death.  Craven also presents some compelling complications to the case in the form of an unwanted assistant for Poe and Tilly, the interest of the local bishop, and strange connections to a previous mass killing.  This first half of the book is very strong, and I honestly got hooked on the book very early due to Craven’s strong writing and ability to set up a good murder case.  The author does a great job of layering a lot of clues and hints about the events to come in this first half, not that it does you a lot of good, as there are so many sinister surprises to come.

While I really enjoyed the first half of The Mercy Chair, the second half is what really makes this book a first-rate thriller, as Craven brings all the darkness and thrusts the reader into a world of emotional pain.  I honestly cannot go into too much detail about what happens in the second half of the book, as too many hints could ruin The Mercy Chair for potential readers.  However, I will say that Craven is a dark genius, and I still cannot get over how crazy and harrowing things got.  The case goes in some very disturbing and inventive directions, and the author unleashes a multitude of twists, most of which are very well-set up in advance.  While I saw a few surprises coming or was able to guess the significance of certain subtle inclusions, I honestly could not predict everything that Craven’s diabolical mind came up with.  Trust me when I say that The Mercy Chair’s story gets darker and darker the more you progress through it, and no matter how many times you think it can’t get any worse, it does.  The author ends the narrative in a very interesting place right after a final massive twist comes out, and you really will not be prepared for every surprise that comes your way here.

I really appreciated the great way that Craven told his latest novel, especially when it comes to The Mercy Chair’s unique narrative set up where the protagonist discussed the case with a psychologist sometime after the actual case.  The transition between Poe’s perspective of the case as it unfolds and his discussions with the psychologist after the fact really enhances the impact of the story in so many interesting ways.  In particular, you get some fascinating discussions around the psychology and people involved in the events, and I loved the multiple dark hints that the protagonist gave the audience about how more bad things were still to come.  This, combined with the multitude of elaborate and clever clues and hints featured throughout the entire story, really heightened anticipation for the later parts of the book, although even with all these hints, I wasn’t prepared for just how dark things got.  I felt that Craven really hit the right balance of mystery, intriguing character development for the protagonists, and utter suspense at the events occurring, and frankly once you get stuck into the main murder, its near impossible to get away from this book.  While The Mercy Chair is the sixth book in the Washington Poe series, it can easily be read as a standalone novel, even by those readers unfamiliar with the series.  Craven does an excellent job setting up the story and reintroducing the protagonists, so new readers can easily drop in here without any issue at all.  While long-term fans of the author/series will probably get a little more out of The Mercy Chair in terms of character growth, anybody can have an epic time with this book, especially if they love gritty and shocking mysteries with some brilliant twists.

It’s hard to talk about The Mercy Chair without mentioning the outstanding characters featured within, although I honestly risk spoiling certain story elements if I discuss the new figures in the book.  However, I do need to highlight the great way that Craven continues the outstanding partnership between main character Detective Sergeant Washington Poe and civilian analysist Tilly Bradshaw, which has been such a fantastic part of the previous Washington Poe books.  Poe, a gruff and fractious veteran cop, plays off the brilliant and socially awkward Tilly perfectly, and they form a rather unusual pairing that works extremely well throughout the course of the mystery.  There is a certain level of humour to their interactions, especially as both can be outrageous in their own way, and I liked the sibling vibes that Craven set up between them throughout the book.  While the author does reiterate a lot of his protagonist’s character traits from the previous books, there is also some excellent emotional development amongst the two.  Poe, who has grown from an angry loner into somebody capable of holding down a romantic relationship, ends up going through some major emotional and psychological issues thanks to the grim impacts of this case.  Watching Poe lose his grip on his calm is very powerful, especially as his deteriorating mental state corresponds with growing intensity of the investigation and the terrible revelations he uncovers.  I honestly grew so attached to Poe because of his frank narration of events throughout the book, and his partnership with Tilly honestly made this book for me.  Craven leaves Poe and Tilly’s story in an interesting place at the end of The Mercy Chair, and I look forward to seeing how they overcome their latest obstacles in the next book.  Throw in a great cast of supporting characters, including some complex victims and perpetrators and a bunch of fun recurring figures, and The Mercy Chair’s characters really help to make this story something very special.

With The Mercy Chair, M. W. Craven has officially become one of my favourite thriller authors and I cannot emphasise just how incredible this novel is.  Craven produces an outstanding and powerful story that features a particularly clever and shocking mystery that I could not get enough of.  Loaded with elaborate twists, complex characters, and so many dark revelations, The Mercy Chair is guaranteed to make you an instant fan of Craven, no matter how hard you try to forget his narrative’s intense tragedy.  I loved this book so much, and I honestly wonder what would have happened if Craven had gotten his way and made it even darker.

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