My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Rating 5+ stars. Read 09/01/2017-10/01/2017
A brilliant gripping book that you are unable to put down.
I mainly read psychological thrillers but I also love Police Procedural fiction. This book has been translated but to a very high standard if it wasn’t for the fact it is made clear at the beginning that it is translated and the character names I would have not realised as it reads like any English book.
While it is police procedural the book covers many other issues and had me hooked from the very first page it is very well written and there is so much going on all the time the reader is totally engrossed in the book and is kept there by the different things that are going on.
The main character is Dr Claps who retired from the Police following an injury which left him with a brain injury making thinking and speaking difficult. He is brought into the story by Commissioner Sensi who is investigating a missing child.
The characters are built so cleverly and gradually that you get into their minds without realising it and without a lot of descriptive text. The reader learns a lot about Claps’ condition and his ways of coping with a significant disability. The story starts when Sensi meets with Claps to discuss the missing girl, Ami who disappeared, seeming into thin air, on her way to school. Sensi realises that this is not the first little girl to disappear and links other cases going back several years. Where this book differs is that it includes the ethnic minorities and illegal immigrants it soon becomes clear that prior to Ami the unsub was taking girls that may not be missed or the children of parents who wouldn’t report them missing. This was until Ami. Sensi and Claps realise the abductions are escalating with the killer becoming more bold and begin a race against time before another child is taken.
There are many twists and turns with links from unusual sources and it also includes forensic archaeology and several mental health and cultural issues are introduced and discussed. I am not sure I am sufficiently experienced at reviewing to actually do this book justice but it is one of the best books I have read in a long time and I will be looking for more books by this author.
Thank you to Netgalley who provided me with a free copy of this book in return for an honest review.
