Overview
Detective Chief Inspector Mark Lapslie and Sergeant Emma Bradbury are back in an electrifyingly suspenseful new novel, chasing down one of the most fearsome, brilliantly terrifying characters to ever stalk the pages of a book.After a year of working at home in order to control his synaesthesia (the rare neurological condition that causes his brain to crosswire his senses), DCI Lapslie gets a visit from Emma Bradbury, summoning him back to active duty. A well-known television reporter has been brutally murdered and the top brass think Lapslie is the man to investigate the crime. With no witnesses and no suspects, Lapslie finds himself facing one of the toughest cases of his career. Then, in short order, he has a second murder on his hands: a man is found dead in a train-station bomb explosion. Despite all odds, Lapslie begins to suspect that the two high-profile cases may be connected. Under pressure to produce results and with the media bearing down on him and his synaesthesia going wild, Lapslie approaches his breaking point, but the solution to what’s beginning to look like the crimes of an especially evil—and diabolically creative—serial killer remains elusive. To make matters worse, the killer’s next target may be much closer than Lapslie could possibly guess.
Synopsis
Detective Chief Inspector Mark Lapslie and Sergeant Emma Bradbury are back in an electrifyingly suspenseful new novel, chasing down one of the most fearsome, brilliantly terrifying characters to ever stalk the pages of a book.
After a year of working at home in order to control his synaesthesia (the rare neurological condition that causes his brain to crosswire his senses), DCI Lapslie gets a visit from Emma Bradbury, summoning him back to active duty. A well-known television reporter has been brutally murdered and the top brass think Lapslie is the man to investigate the crime. With no witnesses and no suspects, Lapslie finds himself facing one of the toughest cases of his career. Then, in short order, he has a second murder on his hands: a man is found dead in a train-station bomb explosion. Despite all odds, Lapslie begins to suspect that the two high-profile cases may be connected. Under pressure to produce results and with the media bearing down on him and his synaesthesia going wild, Lapslie approaches his breaking point, but the solution to what’s beginning to look like the crimes of an especially evil—and diabolically creative—serial killer remains elusive. To make matters worse, the killer’s next target may be much closer than Lapslie could possibly guess.
Publishers Weekly
At the start of British author McCrery’s middling mystery thriller, the sequel to Still Waters (2008), Det. Chief Insp. Mark Lapslie has been reduced to working at home. Lapslie suffers from synesthesia, a neurological disorder that causes him to hear tastes. Then he receives a high-profile assignment—investigating the torture murder of TV newscaster Catherine Charnaud. Det. Sgt. Emma Bradbury, Lapslie’s former partner, gives him a pair of headphones to block out noise at the crime scene, the victim’s house in Essex, where Charnaud’s body was found with its left arm completely stripped of flesh. Meanwhile, a disturbed young man, whose mother happens to be a criminal profiler, sets off homemade bombs to kill small animals. Aided by Bradbury, Lapslie perseveres in spite of sensory overload as more murders follow. While the detective’s unusual disability lends interest, clichéd plot developments and an overly pat resolution disappoint. (Feb.)