Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27994 in Books
• Published on: 2006-12-07
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 512 pages

Synopsis
A week before Christmas Debbie Stansfield's life falls apart. Her son - her funny, cheeky, kind Richard - has been found hanging from a tree at the Seven Sisters. The police think it's suicide but Debbie won't - can't - accept it. Her son would never kill himself. Not her Richard. No way. Richard's four friends know something about his death. Detective Inspector Lorraine Hunt can feel it. The teenagers are clearly terrified about something - something that scares them more than the police. But they're not about to tell...As the days tick down to Christmas, Lorraine, increasingly overworked and under pressure, can't ignore her suspicions that there's more to Richard's death than meets the eye. And when Richard's friends start going missing, her worst fears are confirmed. Just who is preying on the young people in Houghton-le-Spring? And will Lorraine be able to stop them, before another vulnerable teenager is found dead?

From the Publisher
THE THRILLING NEW NOVEL FROM THE AUTHOR OF BAD MOON RISING

From the Inside Flap
A week before Christmas Debbie Stansfield's life falls apart. Her son - her funny, cheeky, kind Richard - has been found hanging from a tree at the Seven Sisters. The police think it's suicide but Debbie won't - can't - accept it. Her son would never kill himself. Not her Richard. No way.

Richard's four friends know something about his death. Detective Inspector Lorraine Hunt can feel it. The teenagers are clearly terrified about something - something that scares them more than the police. But they're not about to tell…

As the days tick down to Christmas, Lorraine, increasingly overworked and under pressure, can't ignore her suspicions that there's more to Richard's death than meets the eye. And when Richard's friends start going missing, her worst fears are confirmed. Just who is preying on the young people in Houghton-le-Spring? And will Lorraine be able to stop them, before another vulnerable teenager is found dead?

Customer Reviews

Drags a bit
If this is your first Sheila Quigley book, I strongly recommend that you read the previous two novels before this one. This is not her best (possibly the first, 'Run For Home' fits this bill). Unless the reader is aware of the characters, most of whom feature regularly in the previous books, this is a murder mystery which is slowed down by, as before, the 'think' bubbles attached to more and more of the characters as we move to a rather poor ending.

The author makes no effort to hide the culprits nor the likelihood of the next victim so a good part of the book is now taken up more with - in the main - the social life (and stresses) of DI Lorraine Hunt and DS Luke Daniels.

I gather in the next book, Luke's newly found daughter takes centre stage. Whereas I was greatly looking forward to Quigley's third novel after reading 'Bad Moon Rising', I cannot say that my next read will be 'Every Breath You Take' although, to be fair, I will continue with the saga for the time being.

This isn't to say readers of gritty northern life will be disappointed; it's just that her earlier stories were better.

Not exceptional.
Taste differs.

What I liked about this book:
The dialect. I love it when authors make their books more authentic by presenting whichever dialect is relevant.
Duke the dog. He provided a humorous outlet.
The topic. Cults are scary. You just can't talk enough about the subject no matter how it is raised.
The relationship between Edna and Scottie. It was unusual having a pathologist mothered. I don't know why they appealed to me. They weren't even all that important to the story itself. I guess it's just one of those things.

What I did not like about this book:
The plot of Lorraine and Luke. It was incredibly obvious. When dear old mom and her best friend saw Luke and this lovely young lady on his arm (who wasn't Lorraine), I had to shake my head. It just didn't work for me.

A three is a fairly good rating. It means that I thought that the book was fairly average in its presentation. At the same time it appealed to me enough to finish it and to enjoy it. I think I'm rating stricter and stricter with each review. I probably would have given the book a 4-rating a couple of hundred ratings ago.

brilliant
i could not put this book down. absolutely outstanding characters,that grip you from the start.
from start to finish it took me four hours to read.. it left me wanting to read on and on.not only are the characters fantastic the story line keeps you gripped. one of the best reads of the year.