I’ve been disappointed with Nicci French’s last couple of books but I’m glad to report that I enjoyed this one. This is probably because it’s more of a straightforward whodunnit and less of the mess-with-your-head psychological suspense thriller type thing that her last few books have tried to be. (I know it’s a-he-and-a-she team but I’ll keep calling her “her” as that seems to be the sensible thing to do and the books themselves don’t give away the fact that they are team efforts, no reason why they should I suppose.)

The story here involves psychologist Kit Quinn who gets involved in a murder case by virtue of having been attacked by one of the suspects. I liked the linear progression of the story - not that I don’t like twisted stories, it’s just the expectataion of twistedness becomes tedious after a while. Decent characters and a solid plot were just what I needed and just what I got.

I had it in mind to give up on Nicci French after this book as I seemed to be disappointed book after book that she didn’t get back to the form I thought she had in her first book (and pretty much in her second) but I’ll keep reading now she’s proved she can do something different.