It began with the bodies. Indeed it did. The opening of the this new detective story from Emma Kavanagh starts thrilling with the discovery of multiple bodies neatly positioned against Hadrian’s Wall. It’s meant to shock the reader right into the story, but I’ve to admit, that I actually had a hard time getting into it, because after its great opening it slowed down quite a lot.
This story is set twenty years after the events described in the opening chapter. It mainly focuses on the effects it has had on the small community it took place in. Everyone knew the killer, but also the victims. It’s twenty years later and people seem finally ready to leave the past behind and move on. That is, until a new body appears, right against Hadrian’s Wall.
A big part of this story stands or falls with Isla Bell, who did not only discover the first bodies, is the daughter of the police officer who arrested the original killer but also is now the renowned forensic psychologist who’s talking to serial killers and looking at their MRIs. On top of that she’s also married to the brother of one of the victims who himself is the only survivor of the murderer. I very much doubt that given her connections to the case, she would have been allowed to visit him for her study, but either way, that is exactly what happens. The other main character is a young police officer who’s trying to prove her worth, while the older police officers try their best to ignore this.
For some reason, I didn’t connect to the characters. I could feel the uneasiness of the village and its inhabitants, but the main characters, and the people immediately surrounding them somehow slightly annoyed me. The mystery in itself was not enough to fully compensate for this. Still an okay read, but nothing special for me.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
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