David Hewson is renowned for his multi-volume Nic Costa series, set in Italy; Sleep Baby Sleep is the latest in his Pieter Vos series, set in Amsterdam, but with just as much sense and feeling of place as made the Costa books so popular.

Brigadier Pieter Vos is a Maverick police officer: he lives on a broken-down houseboat in Amsterdam and has seen more than his fair share of heartache, covered in the four previous books in his series

In this, the fourth in the series, the trouble stars when Pieter finds a note on his houseboat, and then, vising the pub, has his dog abducted.

His new black female boss is piling on the pressure in an attempt to make herself look good: apparently a case Vos wrapped up four years ago is still open - the convicted rapist/murderer currently dying of cancer had an accomplice, and promises to give Vos a name in return for visiting an experimental cancer unit.

Twists, turns, red herrings, refugees and youth culture – the Amsterdam vibe is as much part of the story as the characters – Hewson’s story is gripping. ( )

Sleep Baby Sleep – An Atmospheric Thriller

Pieter Vos, the Amsterdam police detective and his dog Sam, return along with his decaying house boat on the Amsterdam canals. Sleep Baby Sleep, is the fourth in the series of Vos detective thrillers from the fantastic author David Hewson.

Somebody kidnaps Sam from outside the bar, and Pieter Vos has his colleagues looking out for him, when he gets some strange texts from an unknown telephone number. What he does not know is he about to stumble in to a murder investigation that he had solved four years earlier. The person involved confessed and is locked up safely in prison.

While searching for Sam he finds a dead body and a long side that unidentified male is a woman, who he discovers is Annie Schrijver who is barely alive. So, begins the reinvestigation in the Sleep Baby Sleep murders, which is not helped due to the interfering nature of the new Commissaris Jillian Chandra, who is short on policing experience along in Police politics.

Chandra is insisting that Vos will have to clean his act up, Sam is not allowed in to the Police Station, and she really does not care how popular the pair are. Chandra is constantly wanting updates and wants to oversee what Vos is doing, but he is trying his upmost to avoid her, while trying to keep his job.

It is summer and the city is packed with tourists as he has a serial killer prowling the streets and quite happily leave his mark on them. Vos knows there is more to Schrijver’s story than the police are being told and he needs to know that but due to the Commissaris’ interference that is not going to be possible.

As Vos and the team start putting the pieces of the jigsaw, and the bigger picture can be seen, does Vos realise how close to home this investigation is going to come, but as always, he says nothing. Then he acts leading his team to solve the murders put together what they can and then somehow bail out their interfering boss.

David Hewson has once again written a thriller dripping with atmosphere and through his experiences as a screenwriter, has created characters that are always developing and given room to breathe. Sleep Baby Sleep shows why David Hewson is one of the most highly regarded thriller writers of the moment.

The Pieter Vos series continues to grow and get better with every book. ( )