The Day of the Roaring Book 1 cover art

The Day of the Roaring Book 1

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

The Day of the Roaring Book 1

By: Nina Bhadreshwar
Narrated by: Chantelle Pierre, Alex Williams, Diana Yekenni
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £16.36

Buy Now for £16.36

About this listen

 *A Times Best Book of the Year* *An iPaper Best Crime Thriller of the Year* 'Everything I love in a crime novel – passion, interesting and rooted characters and a great story' Ann Cleeves

Don't miss this award-winning debut crime thriller set in Sheffield introducing DI Diana Walker: A grizzly murder has Diana questioning everything she knows, and secrets come to light that threaten to tear her world apart

Silence protects the victims… And the killer

When the dismembered body of a headmaster is found on the derelict site of a former school in Sheffield, DI Diana Walker finds herself chasing shadows.

Faced with missing teachers, unreported crimes and silent witnesses, Diana is running out of leads. Her colleagues insist this is just another instance of gang violence, but Diana knows there’s something more. Something everyone’s too scared to talk about.

With her reputation on the line, Diana is determined to find the truth. Her search for answers leads to Sheffield’s neglected underbelly, where she finds distrust, horrifying secrets and a whole new understanding of justice.

*Readers love THE DAY OF THE ROARING*

'An absolute gripping and fabulous thriller a true 5 star read' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader Review

'A great read which I highly recommend' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader Review

'What a spectacular read … Totally blew me away … an amazing thriller that kept me gripped' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader Review

'A compelling and addictive story, very enjoyable' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader Review

'A gripping story from start to finish' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader Review

'An amazing book shedding light on a number of complex issues' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader Review

The Day of the Roaring won the Little, Brown UEA Crime Fiction Award in 2022

©2025 Nina Bhadreshwar (P)2025 HarperCollins Publishers Crime Crime Fiction Mystery Police Procedurals Women Sleuths

Critic reviews

This terrific first novel has everything I love in a crime novel – passion, interesting and rooted characters and a great story

(Ann Cleeves)

One of the most startling and compelling debuts I've read, and heralds the arrival of Nina Bhadreshwar as one of the most original and exciting new voices in crime fiction

(David Peace)

A grimly gorgeous novel

(Tom Benn)

Fierce, unflinching and enthralling

(Simon Lelic)

Novels that illuminate contemporary issues, while sticking to a stellar plot, are rare enough to stand out. Nina Bhadreshwar’s debut, set around a disused school in Sheffield, does it triumphantly

A procedural with a social conscience, this page-turner illuminates the tensions as multi-cultural Sheffield, as well as the British violence against the Kikuyu people in 1950s Kenya during the Mau Mau uprising

The Day of the Roaring is a brilliant multi-layered mystery that cajoles us into some very dark places, but leaves us seeing our world with very fresh eyes. Anyone who doesn't believe that crime fiction can deal with hard stuff at the same time as keeping us totally entertained needs to read this

(William Shaw)

Nina Bhadreshwar's debut novel, The Day of the Roaring, impressed me with its vivid settings, intricate narrative, and exceptional details

(Kwei Jones Quartey)

A multi-layered novel which explores far more than your average police procedural

With themes including racism and misogyny, this is an intelligent slow-burn

DI Walker is a worthy addition to the band of fictional female detectives and is set to become a firm favourite for crime fans
All stars
Most relevant
For me the flow, timing and emotion comprising the narration of a story is key. It’s the whole point of audiobooks….. unfortunately, this whole book sounded like it was being read out loud by a teenager in front of class. In this, predictable ‘who dunit’, the murderer turned out to be the woman at the microphone!

Poor narration.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
DNF for me, I'm afraid.

After a promising couple of opening chapters related to the decapitation of a local headteacher, this one went really downhill for me, there's too many characters, lots of random plots and I just don't have the patience these days to force myself to finish something I'm not enjoying. I don't know who the chicken shop people are or why they're in the story, and I don't care.
The narration is extremely slow to the point that I had to speed it up to x1.5 just to try to get some pacing going, but even that didn't redeem it.
I've been trying to listen to this book for a month but can't bring myself to go past chapter 12! So I'll be giving up now with no idea or interest in who the killer is or why.

DNF Unfortunately

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I really enjoyed reading this book. So beautifully written. Nicely paced. I loved how the stories are interwoven.
I would love to see a second book folloing the career of the main character. There are so many avenues this author could explore as follow ups.

Second listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Reads like a first pass script for a bad 1980 regional TV police show. a show that wasn't picked up because it didnt have an original idea to it's name.

Im the target demographic for this book I like police procedurals, I’m northern + I’ve spent a lot of time in africa. Yet, it’s hard to describe how awful this. The writing is creaky - from the crudely sexist boss who just wants the plucky young detective to prove herself to the painfully clunky dialogue.



I bought it after good reviews in the broadsheets - i can only assume the reviewers somehow didn’t actually read it. instant return.

i only listened to enough of it to be able to leave a review and warn other readers away. please go read almost any other police procedural I assure you it’ll be better use of you time

Dreadful

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.