A dark, divided self / A.J. Cross.

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Title:

A dark, divided self / A.J. Cross.

Author:

Cross, A. J. (Forensic psychologist), author.

ISBN:

9780727850362

Edition:

First world edition.

Physical Description:

234 pages ; 23 cm.

Series:

The Will Traynor forensic mysteries

Will Traynor forensic mysteries.

Abstract:

"When the badly decomposed remains of a young woman are discovered in an isolated wooded area just outside Birmingham, the victim is quickly identified as Amy Peters, a Manchester University student who disappeared three years earlier. She is one of five young women who vanished from the streets of Manchester within a two-year period. Called in to assist the police investigation, criminologist Will Traynor believes they are looking for an intelligent, socially confident individual, someone adept at covering his tracks. But why would the killer transport the victim on an eighty-mile journey from Manchester to Birmingham? If he can find the answer to that question, Traynor believes he has the key to cracking the case. But at every stage of the investigation, the killer seems to be one step ahead of him. If he's going to outsmart him, Will realizes he's going to have to play this twisted individual at his own deadly game."--Provided by publisher.

Personal Subject:

Traynor, Will (Fictitious character)-Fiction.

Subject Term:

Young women -- Crimes against -- Fiction.

College students -- England -- Manchester -- Fiction.

Criminologists -- Fiction.

Murder -- Investigation -- Fiction.

Jeunes femmes -- Crimes contre -- Romans, nouvelles, etc.

Étudiants -- Angleterre -- Manchester -- Romans, nouvelles, etc.

Criminologistes -- Romans, nouvelles, etc.

Meurtre -- Enquêtes -- Romans, nouvelles, etc.

Geographic Term:

Birmingham (England) -- Fiction.

England -- Birmingham. (OCoLC)fst01205911

Genre:

Detective and mystery stories.

Fictional Work

Detective and mystery fiction. (OCoLC)fst01726581

Fiction. (OCoLC)fst01423787

Mystery fiction.

Detective and mystery fiction.

Forensic fiction.

Novels.

Romans.

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Status
Searching... Avon-Washington Township Public Library	Adult Mystery Fiction Book Hardback	120791003009228	M CRO	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

When the decomposed remains of a young woman are discovered just outside Birmingham, criminologist Will Traynor is drawn into a baffling investigation.

"Plenty of unexpected twists sure to set pulses racing, leading to a shock ending guaranteed to blindside even the most experienced thriller reader" - Booklist Starred Review

When the badly decomposed remains of a young woman are discovered in an isolated wooded area just outside Birmingham, the victim is quickly identified as Amy Peters, a Manchester University student who disappeared three years earlier. She is one of five young women who vanished from the streets of Manchester within a two-year period.

Called in to assist the police investigation, criminologist Will Traynor believes they are looking for an intelligent, socially confident individual, someone adept at covering his tracks. But why would the killer transport the victim on an eighty-mile journey from Manchester to Birmingham? If he can find the answer to that question, Traynor believes he has the key to cracking the case.

But at every stage of the investigation, the killer seems to be one step ahead of him. If he's going to outsmart him, Will realizes he's going to have to play this twisted individual at his own deadly game.

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

The discovery of human remains outside the city of Manchester that match the DNA of 21-year-old Amy Peters, a university student who vanished three years earlier, drives British author Cross's disappointing third mystery featuring criminologist Will Traynor (after 2021's Devil in the Detail). The disappearances of Peters and four other female students led their colleagues to organize take-back-the-night marches and the media to dub their abductor the Phantom. With the Manchester police having made no progress, Det. Chief Insp. Bernard Watts taps Traynor, who often assists the Birmingham police, to help his team crack the case, a daunting task complicated when a key piece of evidence--masking tape that may have been used to gag Peters and may have genetic material from the Phantom--goes missing from the police evidence room. Cross offers neither genuine suspense nor innovation, and the superficial exploration of the murderer's psyche could have been concocted by an author without Cross's credentials as a forensic psychologist. Others have done a better job of handling this well-traversed terrain. Agent: Jade Kavanagh, Darley Anderson Literary (U.K.). (Feb.)

Kirkus Review

The discovery of a corpse in a secluded, wooded corner of England blossoms into a hunt for a twisted serial killer. DNA analysis of the meager remains found by a dog walker leads back to a missing person case in Manchester. But why would whoever killed Amy Peters bring her so far south just to dump her, not even buried, on Forestry Commission land in Brampton? That's just one of the questions that plagues DCI Bernard Watts, who's sorrier than ever that he didn't retire when he had the chance. A more pressing question is whether Amy's death is linked to four other abductions of young women from Manchester between 2016 and 2018. On the chance that the cases are linked, Watts announces to his squad that he's arranged for two experts to help with the investigation. Criminologist Dr. Will Traynor is well known to his officers, having helped them in the past. But forensic psychologist Julian Devenish is a new face, someone whose knowledge of Manchester Watts expects to come in handy. Some of Watts' men, like rough-and-tumble Adrian Jones, are skeptical of the academic pair. Others, like Police Constable Chloe Judd, are all in. Chloe thinks that developing a profile of the killer is just as important as learning what she can about the victims. But is the young detective ready to take on a killer whose depravity knows no limits? Cross pulls no punches in a shocking tale of crime and punishment. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Cross' third Will Traynor novel finds the forensic scientist called in to assist DCI Bernard Watts with a particularly thorny case. Partial human remains found in a forest outside of Birmingham turn out to be those of Amy Peters, a student at the University of Manchester who has been missing for three years--a time frame during which four other women have also disappeared from Manchester, nearly 100 miles from Birmingham. Enlisting both Traynor and forensic psychologist Julian Devenish, Watts attempts to determine why the killer apparently chose to dispose of Peters so far from where she was kidnapped. The answer provides the key to a horrifying story that not only leads to the killer, but also to serious questions about public trust in the police. Along the way there are plenty of unexpected twists sure to set pulses racing, leading to a shock ending guaranteed to blindside even the most experienced thriller reader. A fine and very timely police procedural.