SYNOPSIS: When a nineteen-year-old boy, Jamie Mills, is found hanging from a tree in a local park, his death is ruled a suicide. Detective Kim Stone’s instincts tell her something isn’t right. Why, when his mother is told, does she not break down in tears? And how could Jamie have climbed the tree with a recent injury?
Kim should be easing back into work gently after a harrowing case left her body and mind broken, but quickly taking charge of her team, Kim is shocked to learn that Jamie’s parents had sent him to a clinic to ‘cure’ him of his sexuality.
The clues to smashing open this disturbing case lie behind the old Victorian walls of the clinic, run by the Gardner family. They claim that patients come of their own accord and are free to leave at any time. But why are those who attended the clinic so afraid to speak of what happens there? And where did the faded restraint marks on Jamie’s wrists come from?
Kim makes a further chilling discovery – the head of the clinic, Celia Gardner, was sent there for conversion therapy when she was sixteen.
Then the body of a young woman is found dead by suffocation, her death also staged to look like a suicide.
Scarred from a previous case that nearly took her life, can Kim unearth the dark secrets within the Gardner family and is she strong enough to stop a terrifying killer silencing the clinic’s previous patients one by one?
Kat’s Rating: 5/5
My Review: I absolutely LOVED this latest book as we see Kim at her most vulnerable. Following the events of book 16, Kim is trying to get back to some form of normality and is clearly struggling. As she attempts to return to work the reader gets to see a very different side to Kim. As she returns to her team, we see her excuse of a replacement behaving like a complete moron and her team are completely demoralised.
When a supposed suicide is brought to the teams attention it is initially dismissed but once Kim gets her teeth into it, thankfully the team can start to investigate. This book delves into some very disturbing topics such as conversion therapy, and although you may believe this is fiction sadly it isn’t. It was extremely interesting to see this brough into a ficitonal story but was dealt with brilliantly.
Overall this latest book shows just how skilled an author Angie Marsons is. Not only are we on book 17 in a series, there is no sign of the series or its characters slowing down. Once again a hugely enoyable book by this author and if you haven’t read any in this series you are in for a treat!
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