Chilling and unsettling with an intriguing opening chapter we wager will have you hooked. A beautiful but strange red-headed child becomes the centre of a series of nasty crimes stretching back 15 years. It’s a cracker of a book, the 10th featuring the brilliant but highly dysfunctional New York police officer Kathy Mallory, but be warned it’s pretty grisly in places.
Before Lisbeth Salander, there was Kathy Mallory. The little girl appeared in Central Park: red-haired, blue-eyed, smiling, perfect - except for the blood on her shoulder. It fell from the sky, she said, while she was looking for her uncle, who turned into a tree. Poor child, people thought. And then they found the body in the tree. For NYPD detective, Kathy Mallory, there is something about the girl that she understands. Mallory is damaged, they say, but she can tell a kindred spirit. And this one will lead her to a story of extraordinary crimes; murders stretching back fifteen years, blackmail and complicity and a particular cruelty that only someone with Mallory's history could fully recognise. In the next few weeks, Kathy Mallory will deal with them all...in her own way.
'If any writer could make me break my New Year's resolution to avoid serial killer novels, it's the brilliant Carol O'Connell.' Daily Telegraph
'This is crime writing at its best, and Mallory is its fascinating central character.' New Books Magazine
'The crimes are gruesome, the writing as smooth as silk as each chapter of this thriller reveals a piece of an increasingly horrendous jigsaw.' Bella Magazine
Author
About Carol O'connell
Carol O'Connell is one of the finest writers of contemporary thrillers, with her intoxicating mix of rich prose, resonant characters and knife-edge suspense. Her books featuring NYPD detective Kathy Mallory, and the stand-alone novel, Judas Child, have garnered widespread critical acclaim and have appeared on bestseller lists across America. She lives in New York City.