The third book to feature ex-CID detective Reuben Maitland, a gene specialist who discovered how to identify the gene that causes a person to be a psychopath. The earlier books cover that and his sacking from the Genecrime unit. Well now his discovery is being badly misused and he is compelled to do something about it, plus people on the London underground are dying mysteriously. This has a good mix of science and action, an unsettling read if the science is to be believed, and it is certainly very feasible.
There is a killer loose on the London Underground. He kills without leaving any forensic trace, and seemingly without motive. Genecrime, the UK's elite forensic unit, are stretched to the limits trying to find one usable clue. And there is another problem facing Genecrime. Before he was sacked as head of the unit, Reuben Maitland developed a system to predict latent homicidal behaviour from people's DNA. Now rogue elements in the police, believing that prevention is better than cure, are using Reuben's research to hunt down and incite latent psychopaths beyond their breaking point. Reuben must track down whoever is misusing his technology and stop them before more lives are destroyed. But what he cannot know is that his investigation will lead him directly into the path of the Underground killer.
John Macken works as a research scientist in the areas of genetic and forensic science. He lives in the midlands with his family. Dirty Little Lies is his first novel.
