Another mystery novel I had read to me courtesy of of Audible’s extra cheap Christmas Daily Deals. I liked this book – it was good, and it actually made me downgrade a previously read as I get more used to the genre and the possibilities it carries.
Defense solicitor Maggie Taylor who has recently moved to Manchester for her job – defending the scum of the earth -, phones home to discover her stay-at-home husband has left the kids alone without supper after receiving a suspicious text and disappeared.
At the same time, DCI Tom Douglas starts investigating a series of muders/disappearance of women who look remarkably like Maggie, and reminds him of a long cold case he worked on years ago of the murder of identical women, before being reassigned off the case after the birth of his daugther. Cue an interesting and intricate plot that really intrigued me and kept me wanting to keep going, even as I wanted to throttle the main character (Maggie).
To be honest, I think this book could have been much more interesting had I been able to engage with Maggie. And I really don’t know why I didn’t. She was strong and smart and resourceful, and she cared about her kids, but COME ON! When your husband up and disappears under suspicious circumstances, you call the police. When your kids are in danger and your life is being threatened you call the police. You don’t lie and omit things when the police comes to you because your apparently weak husband asked you to. And you don’t take everything you hear at face value. And I guess this is what seemed so incongruous to me in that character – she was a strong, smart, resourceful woman who became an idiot when a man was involved. I guess that was when I lost all respect for her.
Anyway, I really enjoyed the plot, and liked most of the other characters, with the exception of the husband, who was just a weakling. Mark for spoilers: Despite the fact that he was the killer, he was still a pathetic character. I couldn’t quite grasp the idea that a psycopath could be so weak and apathetic.
Anyway, all in all, the book was still pretty interesting. I will probably read more stories involving DCI Thomas if they show up cheap at audible.
However, if the big reveal at the end was supposed to be a surprise, I am fairly certain it failed epically for most readers. At least for me, it was clear who was pulling the strings since about a quarter to the end of the book.