Blood Substitute by Margaret Duffy

What the cover says:
DCI James Carrick is playing rugby for police team The Ferrets when an injury sends him off the pitch. His substitute is DS Cliff Morley, an undercover policeman investigating a criminal gang operating in the Bristol area. The next day Morley's horribly mutilated body is found dumped in woodland near Bristol, the initials RK carved on his torso.
Patrick Gillard and Ingrid Langley, late of MI5 and now working as consultants for SOCA, are called in to investigate. At the same time Carrick, who is an old friend of theirs, asks them to make some discreet inquiries on a private matter: he has discovered that his father, whom he thought long dead, is not only alive but a criminal. His name is Robert Kennedy. Can there be a connection between the two cases, and if so, what is it?

Oh where to start with this one? It's not often that I struggle with a book so much that I'm tempted not to even bother finishing it, but this one came very close to beating me. The basic story idea seems a good one, but it is told in such a convoluted meandering way that it ends up making very little sense. The lead pair seem to be almost superhero-like with their huge range of skills and talents that just happen to suit precisely every tricky situation they land themselves in (frequently through being downright stupid). There is not one likeable or even remotely realistic character anywhere, and to be honest, I cannot imagine being so desperate for a book that I would ever consider picking up another one from this series.

3/10