Review by Booklist Review
In this fourth entry in the dark British series starring police detective Philip Brennan and his wife, psychologist Marina Esposito, Marina takes center stage. The cottage where the couple had been vacationing with Phil's parents and the couple's three-year-old daughter has gone up in flames. Phil is in a coma, his father is dead, and their daughter is missing. Distraught and exhausted, Marina gets a phone call from a stranger claiming to be able to reunite her with her daughter if she follows a series of instructions, part of which involves reading an e-mail detailing the Stuart Sloan case. Stuart was convicted of gunning down his mother and new stepfather on their wedding day. In one of her first cases after college, Marina examined Stuart and had reservations about his guilt. Why bring this up now? Is Sloan connected to her daughter's abduction? If so, is he the kidnapper or is someone else pulling the strings? A gripping and disturbing mystery.--Keefe, Karen Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
At the start of British author Carver's subpar fourth procedural (after 2013's Cage of Bones), an explosion at a holiday cottage in Suffolk kills the father-in-law of newly married Essex police psychologist Marina Esposito and puts her police detective husband, Phil Brennan, into a coma. Meanwhile, someone kidnaps Marina's three-year-old daughter, Josephina. Conventional subplots involve the tormented narrator of the prologue and the buildup to a predictably steamy relationship between Essex Det. Sgt. Mickey Phillips and Det. Constable Anni Hepburn, a friend of Marina's. Marina must contend with a kinky-sex set of villains with an unconvincing motive for the kidnapping. Carver (the pseudonym of the husband-wife writing team of Martyn and Linda Waites) is better at evoking the grungy atmosphere of run-down English resort areas than she is at portraying the police as gatekeepers to the world of victims they try to provide with voices. Some readers may wish for deeper characterizations and less gore. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Carver (the pen name of a British husband-and-wife team) adds another grisly layer to her Marina Esposito series.Marina and Phil have finally married and have a 3-year-old daughter, Josephina. Phil, a police investigator, and Marina, a psychologist the police call in to help with tough cases, have traveled a rocky road together in the past. Now, all their joy has been shattered: Phil is in a coma, his father dead and his mother badly injured, baby Josephina is missing, and Marina is on the run. But Marina wasnt the one who caused the explosion that led to this terrible outcome; someone else is pulling the strings. Not only does this person have her baby, but the attacker is forcing Marina to perform some dirty work that makes her look guilty to the detectives investigating her case. Set on the Suffolk coastline, where Marina and her family were on holiday when the attack took place, Carver's latest follows the authors go-to storyline of a depraved killer on the loose, once again determined to ruin Marinas life while wreaking as much havoc as possible. Also like Carvers previous forays, this one comes tightly packed with gore, depravity, characters who never fully develop and plot twists that fail to move the narrative forward. And thats the problem with this series: Rather than creating tension, the authors style, peppered with incidental dialogue and only tangentially relevant exposition, rarely offers the reader an opportunity to catch his or her breath. While this structure can create a sense of urgency, here it backfires and wears you down.Overly long and lacking in polish. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
