Publisher's Weekly Review
Ramsay's intricate 10th police procedural featuring Glasgow-based Det. Insp. Winifred "Freddie" Costello and her colleague, Det. Chief Insp. Colin Anderson, picks up where its predecessor, The Suffering of Strangers, left off, with Costello still convinced that George Haggerty killed his wife and son despite his ironclad alibi. Receiving insufficient support from higher-ups in the police force, Costello summarily resigns, leaving Anderson to wonder whether she may try to investigate Haggerty on her own "without the restriction of the badge." Meanwhile, young officer Donnie McCaffrey gets a late-night text that brings him to the northwest bank of Loch Lomond, at Inveruglass. When he sees someone surreptitiously heading into the woods, he follows. Det. Constable Gordan Wyngate arrives at the Inveruglass car park in response to a call from the Wildlife Protection Unit and soon finds himself in charge of an investigation regarding a badly beaten body found in the woods. Though seldom seen, Costello serves as the maypole around which the various subplots entwine. Readers will eagerly await her next outing. Agent: Jane Gregory, Gregory & Co. (U.K.). (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
A police officer is so sure a man's getting away with murder that she quits to investigate on her own.Even though the traffic police have given him a perfect alibi, DI Costello knows in her bones that George Haggerty murdered his wife, Abigail, and their son, Malcolm. Her partner of 20 years, Colin Anderson, has been dealing with problems of his own ever since he discovered he had a daughter he'd never known and a grandson with Down syndrome, Baby Moses, who's now under his care (The Suffering of Strangers, 2018). Haggerty is taunting Costello, and Anderson worries about how far she'll go now that the case has been passed on to Complaints and Investigations, where nasty DCI Mathieson seems more interested in police wrongdoing than murder. Instead of Haggerty, some of Costello's mates suspect Abigail's sister, high-functioning alcoholic lawyer Valerie Abernethy. After first trying to kill herself, Valerie decides that revenge is a better choice. An accidental meeting with Costello, who's been beaten and lost part of her memory, gives Valerie her chance. Meanwhile, in a wild area north of Loch Lomond now popular as a tourist hiking destination, DCI Alastair Patrick, a cop with a mysterious sideline, finds the body of a savagely beaten man clinging to life. When another police officer goes missing in the same area and his blood is found mingled with that of Costello, she's suspected of his murder. Anderson is working on cold case rapes, and information from a police officer who works not far from the hiking area unites the cases in surprising ways. Desperate to prove Costello innocent, Anderson can do so only by figuring out how Haggerty could have been in two places at the same time.A solid police procedural with more twists and turns than some of Scotland's dangerously narrow roads. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Readers unfamiliar with The Suffering of Strangers (2018), the previous installment in Ramsay's excellent series, may initially find references to events that happened in that book confusing, but if they stick with the story, they'll find that Ramsay has once again produced a chilling, can't-put-it-down read. Policewoman Costello found the bloodied bodies of Abigail Haggerty and her teenage son, Malcolm, both of whom Costello had been trying to rescue from husband and father George, who she was convinced was going to kill them. But to Costello's frustration, Haggerty had an iron-clad alibi for the time his family died. Costello is positive George is the killer, but her superiors think she should drop the case. So sure is she of George's guilt that she goes AWOL to uncover the truth. More deaths follow as Costello continues to dig. Help comes from an unexpected quarter Abigail Haggerty's alcoholic sister, Valerie just in time to save Costello. Another suspenseful read in a consistently gripping series.--Emily Melton Copyright 2018 Booklist