One of our Great Reads You May Have Missed in 2012.
Hayman's first novel, 'The Cutting', introduced us to detective Michael McCabe, recently moved to Portland, Maine, with his young daughter. It was a good read but very much a first novel. Now Hayman hones his skills with book number two, so much better. It is detailed crime detection stuff, and as the investigation unfolds so you slowly learn more of the characters involved, a nice approach which will carry well into future books. And the plot? It's cold, chilly stuff, intriguing and tense especially as an unreliable witness comes forward and we start seeing the case from her sad view point. Despite all its detail this is a fast paced read and a series well worth following.
A frozen corpse. A missing witness. Strange voices that aren't there.
One cold night, Lainie Goff, a glamorous young attorney on the fast track to a partnership at Portland's top firm, is found frozen in the trunk of her BMW on the local fishing pier.
Detectives Mike McCabe and Maggie Savage quickly uncover a long list of suspects: Lainie's boss, who was also her lover; an ex-priest who runs a shelter for runaway teens; an abusive stepfather who raped Lainie as a teen; and a creepy landlord who seems to know more than he should about her private life.
Still, there is no hard evidence until a mentally ill young woman who hears voices gives an island cop an eyewitness account he doesn't take seriously.
But when she too disappears, McCabe and Savage find themselves in a desperate race against time to stop a vicious killer before he rids himself of the only person who knows who he is.