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| ★★★★ |
Synopsis: Even the darkest secrets can’t stay buried forever… Five figures gather round a shallow grave. They had all taken turns to dig. An adult sized hole would have taken longer. An innocent life had been taken but the pact had been made. Their secrets would be buried, bound in blood …Years later, a headmistress is found brutally strangled, the first in a spate of gruesome murders which shock the Black Country. But when human remains are discovered at a former children’s home, disturbing secrets are also unearthed. D.I. Kim Stone fast realises she’s on the hunt for a twisted individual whose killing spree spans decades. As the body count rises, Kim needs to stop the murderer before they strike again. But to catch the killer, can Kim confront the demons of her own past before it’s too late?
***
Review: This book represents the first time I have tried a new crime thriller series, and actively disliked the main character (Kim Stone). Right from the beginning, she proved irritating. Her three main qualities are rudeness, being an emotional brick wall, and acting outside the line of duty. It's no secret from the synopsis that there are skeletons to be recovered from the ground early in the story - instead of waiting literally a few additional hours to adhere to protocols, before retrieving years old bodies from a fully secured site, she went ahead and ordered the excavations. Why? The bodies had already been there years, a few more hours made no difference. The site was secure, nobody was getting in and covering it up. This was just the first of many instances where she stepped out of line. Granted, sometimes it works and sometimes it's necessary, but this was just silly.
However, aside from my dislike of the main character, I loved pretty much everything about this book. I thought the writing was great, the case interesting, the characters compelling (for the most part - Stace tended to talk with an approximation of a 'Black Country accent', and since I have no idea what that sounds like, her phonetic speech seemed very odd), and the twist was, while a bit far-fetched, at least unpredictable. I genuinely loved the characters of William Payne and Lucy. I thought the inclusion and representation of a disabled person's life was sensitively handled, something I rarely see in the numerous crime thrillers I've read.
Overall, I enjoyed much more about this book than I didn't, even warming to Kim a *tiny* bit towards the end after learning more about her. I've already bought book 2 and am looking forward to getting into it. I originally gave it a three, but on reflection I'm going to give it a four.
Rating: 4/5
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