Synopsis: The woman’s face was pale and waxy. Her milky, partially open eyes stared into the distance. There were drag marks in the grass; she’d been placed here and posed. Who did this to you and why have they left you like this?
When a woman’s body is found on a lonely patch of scrubland, Detective Lucy Harwin is called to the scene. The victim’s clothes have been wrenched to expose her, and her feet are bare.
Lucy and her team have only just started investigating who could have wanted local mother Melanie Benson dead, when a young woman is discovered strangled in a dark alley. As more bodies appear in the run-down seaside town, the small community is gripped by fear, and the pressure to solve the case becomes unbearable. But with each victim dying in a different way, Lucy struggles to find a link between the murders. Are these random killings, or part of the same plan?
Just as she thinks she’s getting close, Lucy starts to suspect the killer is watching her. Can she find the murderer before they strike again, or will she be next?
Kat’s Rating: 4/5
Kat’s Review: I really enjoyed book one in this series and moved straight onto this one to see how Lucy and the team were getting on. The story begins with the brutal murder of a woman left in a patch of open land and it’s certainly not a pretty start to the story. Helen Phifer is very descriptive with the scenes making it very realistic and a little brutal in parts which makes (in my opinion) it all the more engaging as a story. Straight away you realise that Lucy and the team need to ensure the killer doesn’t do this again. Sadly another victim is found, followed by a family massacre. In terms of murders and danger there was no holding back in this book!
This book felt way more dark than the last installment and was more tense as the need to catch them ramps up with each murder. As always Mattie is back by Lucy’s side while they try to find the connection between the murders along with other colleagues such as Col and Tom, all of who play their own part in creating the world surrounding Lucy. Both the storyline and characters were again drawing me in and I thoroughly enjoyed this book, although I have to confess I did work out who the killer was (annoyingly). I was pleased to be able to move onto book three in this series as I am certainly enjoying it and would definitely recommend it.
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