Review by Brian Lowen on show 30th sept.
A rather tame story and not half as good as The Wire in the Blood.
The first half of the book is set in the 60’s and involves a rather tedious police investigation of the disappearance of a thirteen year old girl, Alison Carter, from a small village in the Peak District, called Scardale.
As the investigation plods along it eventually results in the step-father of the girl being arrested for rape when a secret stash of pornographic photos are uncovered showing him with the child. The girl is never found but bloodstains are uncovered in an old mine together with her torn underwear and so rather unusually the man, Philip Hawkin, is also charged with murder even though there is no body.
He is convicted, and this being the 1960’s, he is hanged.
The second half of the book is set in the 1990’s when a journalist convinces George Bennett, who was the investigating officer in the original case, to tell his story and gets his agreement to write the book about the murder case.
A revelation causes George Bennett to suffer a heart attack and puts in jeopardy the publication of the book.
The book is not described as a thriller, as was The wire in the Blood, and it certainly isn’t, but it is a good story nonetheless, but I couldn’t really recommend it. I certainly enjoyed The Grave Tattoo and The Wire in the Blood much more.
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