She Treads Softly: The Lines

Thursday, October 2, 2025

The Lines

The Lines by Matt Brolly
10/15/25; 347 pages
Thomas & Mercer
DS Liam Kilshaw #1

The Lines by Matt Brolly is a highly recommended procedural and is the exciting start of a new series set in Cornwall featuring DS Liam Kilshaw, a former marine.

Detective Sargent Liam Kilshaw also volunteers with the local lifeboat crew on the Cornish coast to help combat the PTSD he suffers after nearly drowning on a mission. When the lifeboat crew is called out for a body in the water it quickly becomes clear that the young man was murdered when Kilshaw notices the zip-tie marks on his wrists and ankles. Kilshaw recalls a previous young woman with connections to local drugs gang who was found dead under the same conditions months earlier. It quickly becomes clear that local drug gangs are involved and the danger is spreading.

This is a well-written, engaging procedural where the clues uncovered during the investigation are logically followed up on and the tension increases along the way. Expect several twists along the way and some surprising directions taken. The police rush to try to find the drug gangs and stop the flow of drugs and subsequent violence. Additionally the story explores themes of trust, danger, and the impact of past traumas. The pace starts and ends fast but the middle slows down during discovery of information.

Liam Kilshaw is an interesting character and he is portrayed as a realistic, complicated individual with strengths and weaknesses. He has a good working relationship with his colleague, Maya. This is a great time to start the series and meet the characters right from the beginning. I'll be looking forward to the next case Kilshaw takes on.

The Lines is a wonderful choice for anyone who enjoys multilayered procedurals. Thanks to Thomas & Mercer for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.