I am happy to see with this instalment my beloved protagonists Thomas Lynley and his partner Barbara Havers back to the forefront and plunged into a suspenseful case complete with red herrings and gritty crime scenes. The book provides an intellectual challenge, its 600 pages or more is a kaleidoscope of complicated themes and sub-themes crisscrossed with a rich narrative that keeps us on the edge of our seat while tracking the numerous players that pop in an out of the storyline.
In this novel we follow the procedures that Scotland Yard Detectives employ on the trail of a serial killer who targets young boys in London and displays their bodies in a gruesome manner. Commissioner Hillier realises he has a serial killer when a fourth victim, a white teen, surfaces with similar wounds to three other non- white victims, he also realises he has to stay ahead of media hype and diffuse any accusations of racial preference by promoting officer Nkate ( a black man) to Detective Sergeant. The commissioner wants full control, puppets on a string style, Nkate handling the general public side and he is pressuring Lynley to work closely with a respected profiler and a in your face reporter. Thomas Lynley is at odds with these orders and the friction between them quickly builds… Where there is friction Barbara Havers’ name always surfaces. She is still under scrutiny since her demotion but once more her style of working against the grain will bring success to the case.
Meanwhile on another thread, on Lynley’s home front a tragedy awaits that will alter his life for ever…..
Although overall the storyline moves at a slow pace I was immediately engaged in this drama that is far darker, more sombre and definitely more tragic than any of the previous endeavours in Lynley’s career. I can’t wait to see what happens next, my library is a little behind in this series
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