She was lying as if asleep on the wooden kitchen floor, beneath the fridge covered with a child’s colourful crayon drawings. But her frozen expression showed she would never wake again…
When Detective Jackie Cooke is called out to the scene, she’s expecting a routine check. The bottle of pills on the kitchen table, next to the note with the single word SORRY written in a shaky hand, make it seem obvious what’s happened. But Jackie is shocked when she recognises her old schoolfriend Claire – and she is convinced Claire would never take her own life.
Determined to dig deeper, Jackie soon discovers evidence that proves her right: a roll of notes has been thrust down the victim’s throat. And when she finds another woman killed in the same way, she realises someone may be targeting lonely single mothers. As Jackie talks to Claire’s distraught children, one of them too young to understand his mummy is never coming home, she vows to find answers.
Both victims were in touch with someone calling himself Nice Guy – could he be the killer? Pursuing every clue, Jackie is sure she’s found a match in dead-eyed Tyler, part of a dark world of men intent on silencing women for daring to reject them. But just as she makes the arrest, another single mother is found dead – a woman who never dated at all.
Forced to re-evaluate every lead she has, with her boss pressuring her to make a case against the obvious suspect, Jackie knows she is running out of time before another innocent woman is murdered. And, as a single mother herself, she cannot help but wonder if she is in the killer’s sights. Can she uncover his true motivation and put an end to his deadly game… or will he find her first?
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I adore this lead character, she's a copper with a really good heart. Despite rising through the ranks in the past, she put her family first and is now the mother of young twin boys and a four month old baby. Sadly, her partner Gus isn't as dedicated to the family as she is and he's scuttled off to live with one of the school run mothers. Jackie depends on her own Mum for a lot of support. She's often guilt ridden by the fact that she misses bath time and bed time for the kids, but she has to earn a living, and she's damn good at what she does.
When Jackie and her partner Dave Tang are called out to a suspected suicide case, it appears straight forward. However Jackie recognises the dead woman and her instinct tells her that this is not suicide, and is certainly suspicious. Further forensic evidence backs this up and it's not long before Jackie and Dave find themselves involved in what is beginning to look like a serial killer case.
Marnie Riches takes her readers to the darkest, most depraved parts of humanity in this story. We encounter the dark web, and the masculine toxicity of incels who hate women. It's terrifying stuff, made worse by the fact that this stuff is really happening. It's clear that there's a murderer out there who is targeting specific types of women, yet the victims all seem so different at first.
Clever, powerful, gritty and down to earth. Marnie Riches is at the top of her game. She produces crime fiction that makes the reader work, dropping clues in clear sight, but rarely apparent, it's really quite genius at times.
I loved this, I love the series, I love Jackie Cooke. I wonder if Riches will ever take a bit of pressure off Jackie? I kind of doubt it, I think she works best when she's threatened and angry.
Highly recommended. I cannot wait for the next book.
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Strangeways prison for those of Cambridge University, she gained a Masters in German & Dutch. She has been a punk, a trainee rock star, a pretend artist and professional fundraiser.
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