A good story but it comes with a warning.
The story centres around victims of child abuse, and although there is no gratuitous scenes, it is alluded to strongly, and may act as triggers to anybody who has been affected by these crimes
DI Harry Powell is newly promoted, in an unhappy marriage, and is the father to two teenage sons.
He has a wondering eye, when it comes to attractive women, but is to afraid of his wife’s r eaction to anything other than looking.
In short, he’s a wonderful character for a series.
In his first major investigation as DI he, and his team, investigate the murder of a man who has been convicted of child abuse.
The man is found in his flat, hands secured with cable ties, and strangled with another.
From the start of the book the reader is led down the line of knowing who the killers are, but as the book moves on it becomes less obvious and there appears to be a handful of people who are in the frame.
As the last few chapters draw the story to a conclusion these suspects spiral around until the murderer is finally identified.
Throughout the book Lisa Cutts does a brilliant job of looking at the long term psychological damage suffered by people who are abused as children.
What she also does really well is examine the effect it has on Police Officers. The difficulty in investigating the murder of a monster who has abused children. The fact that most people, cops included, would probably think he got what he had coming to him. But they still have to identify and arrest the people responsible, ensuring fairness in justice.
Part of the book also looks at the tragic consequences of making accusations of abuse, another trigger warning.
As much as I’ve made this sound like a tough read it’s actually not. It’s a good Police Procedural, but it’s also thought provoking.
Pages: 365. Publisher: Bloodhound . Series number 1/3 so far Audiobook. 11 hours 2 minutes. Narrator Iain Batchelor.
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