Best for:
Those with a strong stomach. Probably those who liked reading Silence of the Lambs.
In a nutshell:
Detective Martin lost his wife and young son on a cruise ship a few years ago. He was told it was murder suicide. He gets a call and learns that a child who had gone missing on the same cruise ship under the same circumstance has reappeared, and was holding his child’s teddy bear.
Worth quoting:
N/A
Why I chose it:
Wanted another mystery to read while on holiday and this one looked interesting. It definitely was.
Review:
Content note: Torture, pedophilia.
So I didn’t realize that this book would be as dark as it was. So just a fair warning. That said, I found this to be an interesting and captivating read. So much so that I ended up going back to the same bookshop and buying another of his books.
I’m trying to figure out how to review this without spoiling things. Obviously the content note for the book gives away something, so you know it will be a dark read. And it is. There were times I definitely was uncomfortable, but it didn’t seem to be written in a salacious way, if that makes sense.
There are so many twists in this book. There was a point where I even thought the book was over and there was a whole other bit that I’d missed. And there are loads of moment where I thought I had it figured out (and other, more clever readers might have), but then was shown to be completely wrong. The writing is great but vivid.
And the topic is an interesting backdrop, as anyone who has even a passing familiarity with ‘true crime’ will likely be aware of folks who have disappeared from cruise ships, and how challenging it is to get a proper investigation done. I doubt there is anything going on quite like what is described in this book, but who knows.