The Fourth Friend (Jackman \u0026 Evans #3) by Joy Ellis

The Fourth Friend (Jackman \u0026 Evans #3) Reviews

• 
  Liz

  Hmm. This was a bit unexpected coming from Joy Ellis’s Jackman and Evans series. There’s a supernatural aspect to this. Carter McLean is part of Jackman and Evans’ team. He was on a bachelor party weekend when the plane crashed and everyone but him died. Now, they’re all visiting him from beyond the grave with requests.
  Meanwhile, the chief’s niece is being stalked. And the team is investigating an 18 month old cold case of the wife of one of the dead men from the plane.
  This is a character rich series and while I enjoy the characters, I wasn’t as crazy about this plot. It goes a bit slow and dry until the ending. But boy that ending! It is a real grabber and incredibly sad.
  Richard Armitage does a great job with the narration.
• 
  Louise Wilson

  Detective Carter McLean was the only survivor of a plane crash that killed his four best friends. He returns to work but he is full of guilt and has terrible flashbacks. He decides to complete a task that each of his four friends left unfinished. D.S. Marie Evans is the only person that Carter can confide in. Jackman and Evans are currently investigating the disappearance of Suzanne Holland, the wife of one of Carters best friends.
  
  This is a well written book with a great plot line. The characters are believable. It's tense and quick pace kept me turning the pages. There are a lot of red herrings thrown in to keep you guessing. The ending is quite sad.
  
  I would like to thank Joffe Books and the author Joy Ellis for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.
• 
  Anne Dragovcic

  OOOF this book was an emotional roller coaster for me. The beginning was a shock to my system and my heart. I was drawn in immediately yet it didn’t push me forward.
  
  My recommendation is to not make any assumptions about the book. What was happening to Carter sounded a little crazy, but keep your sound mind. Ellis delivers in the end.
  
  Procedurally it didn’t make sense at points. Whether it’s the difference in The Fens v The States or if it was used as a literary device I couldn’t say. But go with it.
  
  The narration was slow so I switched to reading the book instead. (This says quite a bit about me wanting to push through this store to find out what happened next because it’s narrated by my FAVE narrator and I ditched him lol)
  
  What I love about Ellis is you tend to root for all the characters. This is key because I got really mad towards the end … and then while sorting my thoughts on it I felt like I crashed head first into the ending.
  
  I’m wrecked emotionally. I didn’t like it. I am mad. I am sad. It wasn’t what I expected and THAT is why I loved it all.
  
  It may not be for everyone but if you do read the series let me know what you think.
• 
  Tiff

  best one so far! gave me all the feels with poor Carter and one of the worst tragedies you can imagine, as well as how he handled it psychologically afterwards.
  
  There were a couple other underlying stories as well and I was pleased how they all blended together though I must say, the end was gutting and very unexpected.
• 
  Linda Strong

  Detective Carter McLean suffers from survivor's guilt. While on a fun weekend with his four best friends, the plane crashes and kills everyone but himself. But that's not the last he sees of his friends.
  
  His friends visit him. Realistically, Carter does not believe in ghosts, but he sees them, always accompanied by the smell of smoke. These were all young men and they all left things undone. Carter decides to honor them by completing something each of them has left undone.
  
  His supervisors have him sitting a desk, not knowing how he will handle the stress of dealing with victims, suspects. Even some of his colleagues worry about him. He is still under the care of a psychiatrist.
  
  Meanwhile, the police department doesn't shut down. Multiple cases are being handled by the team of detectives under DI Jackman. There is a missing woman who has ties to Carter. Another young woman has a stalker .. she happens to be the niece of one their supervisors.
  
  I have read several books by this author ... and by far, this is the best ever. The premise is extraordinary .... and so well written. The characters are terrific, especially Carter. I felt such compassion for him and his circumstances. There is constant movement, as the cases are investigated and how all seem related in one way or another. The ending was so surprising. I had envisioned several scenarios ... but I never, ever saw this one coming.
  
  Many, many thanks to the author and Joffee Books for the advanced digital copy of THE FOURTH FRIEND. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
  
• 
  Purple Country Girl (Sandy)

  I received a copy of The Fourth Friend via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
  
  In the third book of Joy Ellis’ DI Rowan Jackman & DS Marie Evans series, Suzanne Holland has disappeared from her home leaving behind a bloody room but no other clues. Almost a year and half later, the case remains unsolved. During this time, her husband, along with his four best friends fly to Amsterdam for a bachelor party but their plane goes down. There is only one survivor, Carter McLean, a police detective. He is left with an enormous amount of survivor’s guilt and work is his coping mechanism. After six months on desk duty, he returns to full duties but some of his colleagues aren’t sure it’s a good idea.
  
  The Suzanne Holland case is still open but, due to her late husband being one of Carter’s best friends who died in the plane crash, Carter is not allowed to work that case. Instead, he is assigned to work on a stalking case. The victim is the niece of their boss (and apparently Carter’s arch-enemy) Superintendent Ruth Crooke. While he works that case, he is “visited” by the “ghosts” of his four friends who each have unfinished business. Carter goes on a mission to complete their last wishes. He eventually confides in Marie but she, understandably, worries about his mental state.
  
  As the disappearance and stalking cases are investigated, I found it more and more difficult to stay interested. At times, the book is slow, especially the investigation into Suzanne Holland’s disappearance. There is a lot of constant worry about Carter from Marie and from Carter’s psychiatrist, Laura Archer. After awhile, it gets repetitive and distracting. If they are that worried about him having a mental breakdown, he probably shouldn’t be on duty, should he?
  
  Unfortunately, this is one of those cases where a book just didn’t work for me. It’s my first book in the series but I don’t think reading the first two would have made me like The Fourth Friend any better. It doesn’t have the pacing I like and the characters are hardly described except for Carter. There is a character list at the end of the book with more details about the characters but I didn’t realize it was there until I finished the book so it doesn’t really help. I think it should be at the beginning of the book. I did not connect with any of the characters and I also constantly found my mind wandering while reading the book. I just couldn’t remain interested. The ending is not predictable but it is certainly awful. I don’t think I’ll be revisiting this series.
• 
  Alex ♈

  I almost didn't see it coming...
  
  I could understand everything and the ending was probably the only possible way out, bit I felt sorry for the dog 😢. On the other hand he stayed forever with his owner and friend.
  I even cried a bit...
  
  
• 
  Cheryl

  This is a 3.5 star read.
  
  Dare I say it? I found the beginning of this third offering in the Jackman and Evans series quite boring, which is almost sacrilegious because I genuinely love anything written by the author. I'm glad I persevered though as by the time I'd reached about a third of the way into the book the pace picked up dramatically and I was riveted by the varied investigations which ended up being connected, and were woven together superbly, culminating in a shocking, revelatory and heart breaking ending. This was very much a psychological crime mystery with heavy emphasis on the psychological, and was very current with the topic of abuse within relationships.
  An enjoyable, entertaining read that galloped home towards the end, nevertheless I felt this offering not quite up to par with the author's previous works.
• 
  Kerri

  Solid, with a cast of characters that continues to grown on me. I did like the unpredictability of this one, and that ending was affecting. Still a three star, but I have found that each successive book has been more enjoyable than the last, and the team is starting to feel real and interesting, so it's not only the cases that hold my attention but those investigating them.
• 
  Lyn❤Loves❤Listening #AUDIOBOOKADDICT

  Audio 5 Stars
  Story 4 Stars
• 
  Books 'n' All Promotions

  This is book 3 in the Jackman and Evans series. I have read the previous 2 books but I think they work very well as stand alone.
  
  The book is fast paced from the prologue to the epilogue I was turning page after page unable to put it down until I had read a little bit more…. It is very well written with developed characters and interesting, intriguing cases being investigated. I had several outcomes in my mind but none of them came close to what actually happened. WOW a fantastic book I can't wait for more from Joy Ellis. I especially like how characters from other books/series pop up from time to time.
  
  Tom's wife went missing leaving behind a lot of blood and very few clues as to what had happened to her. When a plane crashes with Tom on board the only survivor is Detective Carter McLean. He is badly injured and has been on desk duty since becoming fit for work. The story sees his return to active duty under the care of Jackman and Evans.
  
  We see the characters of Jackman and Evans develop further and I grow to love them even more over the course of this book and the other members of the team also grow more into robust characters each with their skills and strengths. Rowan is a compassionate and fair leader of a very productive team and has a very efficient back up with Marie Evans.
  
  Carter McLean is the main character in this story as he is haunted by his dead friends and suffering from post-traumatic stress everyone is keeping a very close eye on him. Everyone in the department, and the health professionals responsible for his care, are worried about his mental health and, to some degree, they are all expecting some kind of meltdown.
  
  A big thank you to Joffe Books for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this awesome book that I am sure is going to be a best seller.
  
  @Joffebooks @joyellis #psycholigicalthriller #5stars #jackmanandevans #thefourthfriend #newrelease #bookreview
  
• 
  Pat

  I think this is one of those cases where "its not you, its me" applies. This rather sad tale just didn't grab me. There was nothing wrong with it, Joy Ellis is a fine writer but I just didn't enjoy it as much as her other books that I've read so far.
  
  Five friends take a private charter flight to Amsterdam for a bucks party. They fly into a storm on the return leg and crash and there is only one survivor, Sergeant Carter McLean. 18 months later he is about to leave his desk duties and resume active police work but he is still being 'haunted' by the ghosts of his four dead friends. He sets about finalising some unfinished business for each of them and then that particular ghost leaves him in peace.
  
  Its the final favour, however, that causes all the trouble. His friend Tom wants him to resolve what happened to his wife who disappeared a few days before they all left for Amsterdam. Tom didn't know she was missing because he'd been staying with another of the friends after a huge fight with his wife. But deep down, Carter knows what happened and most of the ugly truth finally comes out. I think most people enjoyed this more that I did and that's good because I think Joy Ellis is a fantastic writer.
• 
  Jefi Sevilay

  Kitap mı daha kötüydü, çeviri mi diye düşünürken sonunu getirdim. Sonunda da çevirinin kötü olması için önce kitabın kötü olması gerektiğine karar vererek Dördüncü Arkadaş'ı bugüne kadar okuduğum en amatörce yazılmış dedektiflik hikayelerine ekledim. Joy Ellis'le de kısmetse bir daha görüşmemek üzere vedalaştım.
  
  Güle güle tontik Joy teyze.
  
  Herkese keyifli okumalar!
• 
  Nicki

  Blog Tour review
  
  
  Police Detective Carter Mclean has just returned to work after being on sick leave for eighteen months.He has been recovering from the injuries he sustained in a plane crash which resulted in the death of his four best friends.He is full of guilt because he was the sole survivor and has decided to complete a task that they left unfinished.
  
  Eighteen months before the crash Suzanne Holland,who was the wife of one of Carter`s four best friends disappeared leaving a room with traces of blood but no other traces.
  
  Adding to the team`s pressure,the Boss`s daughter has a stalker.Due to the sensitivity of the Holland case,Carter is put on the stalker investigation.
  
  DS Marie Evens is the only person Carter can confide in.But even she begins to doubt whether he can really cope and whether he is actually losing his mind.
  
  Jackman and Evens face a battle to untangle three mysteries,and can they really trust their friend and colleague Carter.
  
  I think I might have a bit of a crush on Rowan Jackman,he's not your typical Boss,he's friends with all of his team,joins in with their banter and respects their opinion when they are working on a investigation,he's just so NICE.I love Jackman`s team,they are a mixed bag of realistic,likeable individuals,I love the banter and camaraderie that the team share throughout the book.Marie is under a lot of pressure because of Carter and it was really refreshing that the doubts about Carter didn't affect Marie and Jackman`s friendship.
  
  Opening with a exhilarating,breath taking epilogue and having a sad,heart breaking ending this is a well written police procedural that has a hint of the supernatural to it.Although I enjoyed this book I didn't think it was as gripping as Their Lost Daughters.I thought it was too obvious who was Behind both the stalking of Superintendent Ruth Crooke`s niece and the disappearance of Suzanne Holland.Nothing unexpected happened,there where no jaw dropping twists or revelations.I think that the Cannon family angle could have been incorporated into the story more and used to add more intregue and threat to the story. I did however learn some interesting facts about blood splatter and brain injuries.
  
  Although I personally didn't enjoy this one as much as the previous title in this series,I did enjoy it enough to finish it and would gladly recommend this series to other readers.I am looking forward to reading more books from this series in the future.
• 
  Tûba

  Çeviri yüzünden okumak mümkün olmadı. Yıldızsız bırakıyorum. Orijinalinden okurum belki. Hevesim kaçtı :(
• 
  Annette

  I love this crime thriller by Joy Ellis which is set in the Lincolnshire Fens. There's lots of twists and turns, the characters are very believable and the writing flows well making for an easy read. I read this today in one sitting, thank you for the ARC. Highly recommended.
  
  Merged review:
  
  I love this crime thriller by Joy Ellis which is set in the Lincolnshire Fens. There's lots of twists and turns, the characters are very believable and the writing flows well making for an easy read. I read this today in one sitting, thank you for the ARC. Highly recommended.
• 
  Reen

  "When something terrible happened, there was always more than one victim. Disaster had a ripple effect., like a pebble thrown into a lake, drawing in many more people than those directly involved."
  Detective Carter McLean and his four friends head to Amsterdam for a bachelors weekend when their plane goes down and Carter is the lone survivor. But his friends visit him regularly, and their visits are accompanied by the smell of smoke. Carter has survivors guilt and feels that he must complete a last task for each of his friends and as he does, they leave him one by one. The fourth friend is Tom, whose wife Suzanne has been missing and presumed dead for eighteen months. When Carter returns to work, he becomes involved in her case and works to solve the mystery of her disappearance despite the reservations of his boss and his psychiatrist. The ending was sad and certainly a surprise. The cast of characters was well developed, especially Carter's partner Marie and his shrink Laura. I liked the way the different teams worked together instead of against each other while working on an unrelated stalker case. I have not read other books in the series, but will be adding them to the to be read mountain. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
• 
  Donna Maguire

  
  https://donnasbookblog.wordpress.com/...
  
  This is another fantastic crime fiction story from Joy Ellis – as soon as I saw that this book was being released I knew it was one that I needed to read and I certainly wasn’t disappointed – full of twists and turns I was hooked from the first few pages and knew it was going to be an excellent choice!  I haven’t as yet read the previous books in this series and I didn’t feel at any detriment so I would say that this is fine to be read as a stand alone piece.  The characters as with all of Joy’s books are believable and the writing style and flow is spot on as always – another 5 star read for me and highly recommended, I read it in just a few hours as I did not want to put it down!
• 
  Ieva

  Nezinu, vai lasot/klausoties no vietas vairākus detektīvromānus ar vieniem un tiem pašiem detektīviem visa centrā esmu pieradināta, bet 3.grāmta sērijā man patiešām patika labāk par pārējām un liekas, ka patiktu pat bez Ričarda Armitidža ierunāšanas (ne tik ļoti, protams, kā ar, bet nu stabili 1 zvaigzne vairāk kā pārējām divām).
  Šī bija atšķirīgāka, jo tikpat ļoti visa centrā bija trešais detektīvs, kurš pēc traģēdijas, kurā palika vienīgais izdzīvojušais, sācis redzēt bojā gājušo draugu spokus. Vai tie ir spoki vai viņa psihes izspēlēts triks lai paliek katra paša lasītāja ziņā, autors savu atbildi gan dod un es viņam ticu.
  Šoreiz arī vismaz daļēji atrisinājumu abiem noziegumiem es zināju diezgan agri - bet tāpēc, ka tikko jau divas šī autora grāmatas esmu lasījusi un es zinu viņa domāšanas virzienu. Un man laikam labāk patīk, kad es varu izdomāt un man ir taisnība. Gaumes lieta, gribēt varēt atrisināt vai negribēt galu galā.
  Bet tagad laikam tomēr ieturēšu pauzi šajā sērijā, nevajag pārdozēt.
• 
  Skyesmum

  I read this one a while ago and as this author's books usually are, it was an excellent thought provoking one.
  It was hard hitting in some parts and even though it was a crime book, it was quite emotional.
  Joy Ellis's books always astound me as the writing is so descriptive I can easily imagine myself to be there and end up with goosebumps.
  
  An excellent book and strongly recommended as is the Jackman series.
• 
  HÜLYA

  Kitabın tanıtımını okurken daha çok zevk aldım... Gereksiz tekrarlar ve geri dönüşler vardı. Kitap akmıyordu bir tutukluk söz konusu idi.
• 
  Cathy Ryan

  4.5*
  This is a complicated case involving several mysteries. Detective Carter McLean is the sole survivor of the light aircraft crash that killed his four best friends. When Carter is judged fit to resume full duties,
  
  Marie and Jackman are investigating the disappearance of Suzanne Holland, the wife of one of Carter’s dead friends. Struggling to come to terms with his feelings of guilt, Carter is receiving counselling but not allowing his deepest thoughts to surface. Despite that, he’s not quite deceiving his counsellor. Or his good friend Marie, who both believe he is still suffering from post traumatic stress.
  
  Jackman and Marie, along with the regulars, are developing nicely and Carter McLean is written well and realistically given what happened to him. An interesting plot with psychological and supernatural threads and an ending I wasn’t expecting. There was a little unnecessary introspective repetition regarding Carter by Marie and Laura, the counsellor, which slowed the story slightly, but other than that it was very enjoyable.
• 
  Anaba

  Zwar habe ich noch keinen Kriminalroman von Joy Ellis gelesen, doch der Klappentext hat mich sofort neugierig gemacht.
  
  Der dritte Band dieser Reihe ist im englischen unter "the fourth friend" erschienen, als Teil der Reihe "Jackman & Evens"; die umfasst im Englischen mittlerweile sechs Bücher.
  
  Der Einstieg klappt auch ohne Vorkenntnisse extrem gut. Die unterschiedlichen Charaktere im Team waren mir zu Beginn etwas zu viel, doch erschien mir jeder Charakter interessant und hat mich neugierig gemacht mehr über sie zu erfahren. Daher sind die beiden ersten Teile der Reihe schon auf meiner Wunschliste gelandet.
  
  Das Buch beginnt mit dem verheerenden Flugzeugabsturz. Als Carter McLean seinen Dienst wieder antritt setzt er sich mit den Wünschen seiner verstorbenen Freunde auseinander. Doch nicht nur der ungeklärte Mordfall aus der Vergangenheit beschäftigt die Ermittler. Sie müssen sich ebenfalls mit einem Stalker auseinandersetzten.
  
  Der Fälle selbst waren spannend und interessant gestaltet doch fehlten mir lange die kleinen Hinweise, die zum miträseln einladen. Ein richtiges Verwirrspiel oder Sorge um bestimmte Personen hat mich erst gegen Ende erreicht - dann aber völlig gepackt.
  
  Das Lesevergnügen entstand durch die unterschiedlichen Charaktere. Die Freundschaft der Beamten zueinander, die Art sich gegenseitig zu ergänzen und zu beschützen.
  
  Gerade die mentale Verfassung von Carter hat mich bewegt und der Geschichte eine besondere Spannung verliehen.
  
  Uve Teschner verleiht durch seine Stimme dem Hörbuch noch mehr Spannung und unterstreicht die Charakterzüge der einzelnen Protagonisten gekonnt.
  
  Der nächste Fall des Ermittlerteams Rowan Jackman und Marie Evans lässt nicht allzu lange auf sich warten. "Die Schuld der Zeugen" ist für Januar 2021 angekündigt. Der Klappentext klingt vielversprechend und ich bin neugierig welchen Schwierigkeiten die beiden dann zu meistern haben.
• 
  Deanna

  As the Brits might say, I’m completely stuck into this series now. Will probably move to the next installment soon.
• 
  Nicky Mottram

  Another cracking read! Highly recommend this author
• 
  Tammy

  I cried, hard.
• 
  Milly Smith

  3.5 stars
• 
  Bookish Ally

  Usually, by the third book in a series I’ve started to catch on to the writers cadence of unwinding her mystery. Not so in this series. While the major players remain the same the storyline is completely different book to book. 4.5 stars and a recommendation for this British police procedural.
• 
  Samantha Cohen

  Pacy and engaging but too much supernatural stuff for my liking