As a young child, Katharina von Bora was left at a catholic convent, later taking vows to become a nun. It is the story of the case that tore his personal and professional relationships apart, and propelled him over the precipice. The central part of the story involves a serial killer who murders a young husband and wife and steals their infant. It's not the violence I dislike as I've read worse it's the arrogant mindset that the end justifies the means and that his views and objectives are the correct ones. It may have had Idris Elba as its moody, brooding lead, but the kind of acclaim that greeted The Wire was not forthcoming.

This isn't a light-hearted crime novel, and there is a lot of ugliness portrayed, not only of the main murderer, or even all of the criminals involved, but also of the police department and Luther himself. Neil Cross, the creator of the series, is a seasoned novelist and it shows - the writing is economical, taut and evocative. Praise of this edition: ' Martin Luther is a readable work that provides a nuanced view of the reformer.The BBC One crime drama is better written than many that have gone before it, so you have to wonder whether it is getting its genius from the pages of a book. Only DCI John Luther and Detective Superintendent Martin Schenk appear in both the TV show and movie and the plot is entirely standalone. Through to characters that didn't absolutely need to be here, but we like the continuity: Ian Reed, the dogged side-kick, who is injured throughout a lot of this story, but Cross begins to foreshadow some of the storyline that Reed presents once the TV serial kicks off.

Alice Morgan – said patricidal psychopath, played with delicious wickedness by Ruth Wilson – is one of TV's most unusual sidekicks. This is an intense thriller which captures in print the tense, atmospheric drama of the two fantastic TV series.Introducing this determined detective and the lengths he will go to to put dangerous criminals behind bars. This is a dark introduction, not for the faint of heart, dealing with a number of quite brutal and bloody child abductions.

Now it's been over a year since I've read it and sometimes, I'll remember something from it and I'm just like, "Someone bash my head in with a shovel, I can't go on living after this book. The majority of pages are undamaged with some creasing or tearing, and pencil underlining of text, but this is minimal. Finally, Cross has realised that even in a hyperreal, comic-book world, policemen can't ring up the number of bodies that Luther does and continue to get away with it.However, Luther isn’t based on a book at all - though it has had a book written subsequently that fits into the Luther universe.

Knowing that Luther wouldn't stop until he caught the perpetrators, I was unable to put the book aside. What is particularly worthwhile about this book is the character of DCI John Luther, a moody, difficult, man with a volatile personality and absolute tunnel vision when it comes to getting the bad guy. I am not sure I can deal with the series getting any scarier than it already has been but you can bet that I missed it and will be watching from behind a cushion. In full disclosure, I haven't watch the TV series "Luther" yet, although it's been on my to-watch list for quite a while. Reed dreams of community, of pub lunches on Sunday, of street parties, of wearing comedy aprons as he cooks sausages at well-attended barbecues.

John Luther is a tortured and talented detective who gets into the heads of his victims and targets.