Publisher's Weekly Review
Fine attention to forensics and investigative techniques distinguishes this stellar thriller, a sequel to 2014's Everyone Lies, by the pseudonymous Garrett (British crime writer Margaret Murphy and forensic scientist Dave Barclay). Det. Chief Insp. Kate Simms of the U.K. is on a "method exchange team" with the St. Louis police to share expertise, while distancing herself from the ramifications of her professional and personal relationship with forensics expert Professor Nick Fennimore. Coincidentally, Nick is on a U.S. book tour, hoping he can schedule a St. Louis stop. Their paths cross when a serial-killer case Kate is involved with relates to a similar one in Oklahoma that Nick is assisting. A pattern of cross-country murders of young mothers whose children disappear emerges. The hunt for the killer evolves into a search for Red Patterson, a nine-year-old with exceptional survivor skills. The brisk, complex plot delivers insight into the characters of Kate and Nick, who is forever searching for his missing daughter. Agent: Felicity Blunt, Curtis Brown (U.K.). (July) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
U.S. crime-fighting units get much-needed help from the U.K. For five years, Scottish forensic scientist Nick Fennimore has been searching for his young daughter, who disappeared after his wife was murdered. In spite of a promising new clue, he has to leave the case behind, at least geographically, for business in the U.S. He's wangled a speaking engagement in St. Louis in hopes of meeting with and getting help from Chief Inspector Kate Simms, who's temporarily attached to the St. Louis PD in a method-exchange program. Although the murky past they've shared (Everyone Lies, 2014) makes Kate reluctant to see Fennimore, she has little choice when he becomes part of an Oklahoma team with the same goal as the St. Louis task force: find out who's responsible for torturing and eventually killing a series of women and abducting their children. In at least three cases, the women were recovering addicts devoted to their children, whom the perp uses as leverage over their mothers, and the sadistic M.O. is practically identical in each grisly crime. Haunted by the parallels between these cases and his own tragedy, Fennimore finds temporary relief with Abigail Hicks, a tough, young Oklahoma deputy sheriff who will do what it takes to apprehend the killer. Meantime, the young son of the latest victim has escaped from the killer. But the boy, who fears the police as much as the man who murdered his mother, won't seek the help the combined crime solvers would give him if only they could find him. The teams gradually realize that they're up against an even more complex adversary than they thoughtand that time is running out. Shifts in time, place, and point of view make this Simms-Fennimore case harder to follow than its predecessor. But the two authors writing as Garrett evoke not only the suspense of serial killings, but an emotional triangle and a tantalizingly unresolved crime that keep the pages flying. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
A wonderful beginning. Scottish forensic expert Nick Fennimore's daughter disappeared ages ago. Now he's received a photo of a woman the age his girl would be today. Is it her? Fennimore uses his considerable skills to conjure enhancements, in a scene suggesting that these gadgets still have a way of producing whatever one wants to see. He's pulled away by a plea from an Oklahoma lawman to help track a serial killer. He goes gladly, because the woman he loves, UK detective Kate Simms, is working nearby. And then? They attend droning meetings, one after another. They deal for pages with countless long-winded local lawmen, mostly interchangeable except for a cute deputy who falls for the hero. There's not enough of her, yet there's too much, signaling the problem with the novel: nobody's in charge. And the problem is magnified as the forensic details overwhelm the story. There's pleasure here for readers who like to watch computer-savvy cops at work. Others will find the promise of the opening derailed.--Crinklaw, Don Copyright 2010 Booklist
Library Journal Review
DCI Kate Simms is on sabbatical with a method exchange team with the St. Louis PD. Their objective is to review cold cases while swapping investigative protocols and techniques. When she's contacted by forensic expert Nick Fennimore, who is also stateside, she is hesitant to reconnect. The two have a less-than-stellar track record and it has left Simms wary of any further entanglements. When the cold case of a murdered mother and child dovetail neatly into a current crime Fennimore is assisting on, the two are once again thrown together. A pattern emerges of a serial killer targeting mothers with only children, which dredges up the nightmare of Fennimore's tragic and unresolved past. The pressure increases when they realize that one young boy might have escaped the killer, and time is running out. The most gripping story line, which is suffused with pathos and suspense, is centered around Red, the boy on the run. Lamentably, Simms and Fennimore are separated throughout most of the action and it dilutes the intensity found in the first novel (Everyone Lies). Readers should be advised that there are a number of gruesome and explicit torture scenes. VERDICT Recommended for readers who like their British procedurals and forensic thrillers dark and bloody.-Amy Nolan, St. Joseph, MI © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.