Product Description

Dedicated, intuitive and utterly obsessive, DCI James Langton is ruthless in his pursuit of a gang of illegal immigrants, killers of a young prostitute. When he is horrifically, almost fatally injured by one of them, it falls upon DI Anna Travis to put her own career on hold as she nurses him through his intense frustration and desperation to bring his would-be murderer to justice. Then Anna is assigned to a different case, the brutal killing of a quiet, studious woman whose body was discovered by her daughter returning home from school. A senseless attack with no obvious motive or immediate suspect. Until, chillingly, the case becomes unexpectedly linked with Langton's and Anna finds herself under similar threat from those who almost destroyed his career and his life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #45492 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 512 pages

Review
More skullduggery, more nasty sex, more personal danger, and lots more homicide for DI Anna Travis and her boss and lover, DCI James Langton (Above Suspicion, 2006).Accused of killing teenaged prostitute Carly Ann North, illegal Somali immigrant Idris Krasiniqe implicates two confederates in his street gang as accomplices. When Langton confronts them, one hacks at him with a machete, nearly killing him. Seven weeks later, Anna investigates a hacking of her own: the murder of public librarian Irene Phelps, whose 12-year-old daughter found her mutilated corpse when she came home from school. Arthur George Murphy, a neighboring sex offender two streets away, is quickly identified as her likely killer and confesses, closing the case. Meanwhile, however, inquiries that led Anna and the Brixton murder team to Murphy's sister Gail Sickert now promise to lead much further. The price will be high, beginning with the grisly slaying of Gail and her toddler daughter and leading to a long trail of felonies: smuggling illegals, trafficking in drugs and sexual slavery and, of course, murder most foul. But the rewards will be high as well, for linking Langton's case to Anna's will bring Langton, who's mad for revenge, face to face with Mr. Machete.Every page burns with intensity, but the mind-boggling complexities of the plot, which require endless summaries without ever leading to a single explanation that would make sense of them all, will leave most readers scratching their heads and wondering what they missed. (Kirkus Reviews)

Synopsis
Dedicated, intuitive and utterly obsessive, DCI James Langton is ruthless in his pursuit of a gang of illegal immigrants, killers of a young prostitute. When he is horrifically, almost fatally injured by one of them, it falls upon DI Anna Travis to put her own career on hold as she nurses him through his intense frustration and desperation to bring his would-be murderer to justice. Then Anna is assigned to a different case, the brutal killing of a quiet, studious woman whose body was discovered by her daughter returning home from school. A senseless attack with no obvious motive or immediate suspect. Until, chillingly, the case becomes unexpectedly linked with Langton's and Anna finds herself under similar threat from those who almost destroyed his career and his life.

About the Author
Lynda La Plante was born in Liverpool. Her novels have all been bestsellers internationally and she has won BAFTA, Emmy, British Broadcasting and Royal Television Society Writers Awards. Her biggest television triumph has been PRIME SUSPECT starring Helen Mirren, and she is currently working on her latest series of TRIAL AND RETRIBUTION and THE COMMANDER.

Customer Reviews

really disappointed
Like some of the other reviewers here,I got rapidly fed-up with the authors seemingly bigotted views on illegal immigrants and black people in general. Apart from one or two characters,all the criminals were black.It made for very uncomfortable reading,and I will not be reading another of her books.Before this I was a fan.

clean cut
Good read, and it appears that the author is using the story to air her veiws and those of many regarding the situation in this country with human rights, imigration and asylum seekers

Could do better ...
Started off quite well but did seem to get bogged down in repeating names and events to the point of, dare i say it, boring. I wasn't gripped by the story or the characters,but did finish the book. Not brilliant by any means but i have certainly read far worse!