09/02/2013
Collett’s uneven sixth Tom Mariner mystery (after 2009’s Stalked by Shadows) takes the troubled Birmingham detective inspector to Wales, where he’s hoping a two-week walking holiday will help him recover from the death of his former lover in a road-rage incident. Unfortunately, Mariner, a credible and sympathetic lead, ends up a suspect in the murder of a man found hacked to death in a remote mountainous area. On the plus side, Mariner begins a hesitant flirtation with a pretty historian he meets in his wanderings. Their relationship is one of the book’s highlights. Some readers, however, may have trouble keeping track of the well-crafted but too-numerous minor characters, including a terminally ill ex-convict bent on revenge and an ex-girlfriend turned innkeeper. As the body count rises, it’s not clear who did what to whom, and questions remain unanswered. That may be what happens in real life, but it’s less than satisfying on the page. (Nov.)
A gripping plot, a likable yet flawed hero, and plenty of unusual twists make this one an excellent choice for British-procedural fans.
“Collett is a wonderful writer, subtle, clever, strong on atmosphere and character” on Blood of the Innocents
★ 10/01/2013
A walking holiday in Wales should help DI Tom Mariner come to grips with his ex-lover's shocking death. But, unbeknownst to Tom, a highly focused serial killer from Liverpool, Glenn McGinley, has snuck into Wales to complete some unresolved business. Meanwhile, just under Tom's nose, a dead body turns up in the woods, and he becomes involved in the local investigation. The manhunt for Glenn hasn't quite worked its way to where Tom is staying; nonetheless, Tom's work colleagues take notice. But when Tom narrowly escapes death one night and another life is taken, he's shaken. If Tom's trails intersect with Glenn's, perhaps his name is on the killer's bucket list, too. VERDICT Collett's sixth series entry (after Stalked by Shadows) demonstrates her aptitude for juggling multiple story lines and for creating memorable characters. Never flagging in this outing, she sustains a high level of intensity covered by a thin sheen of nostalgia.
2013-10-01
A British detective's much-needed vacation turns into a nightmare. Devastated by the death of his former lover Anna Barham, DI Tom Mariner seeks relief in a walking tour of Wales. He doesn't know that Glenn McGinley has the same plan, though with a different motive. After a killing spree, Glenn wants to complete a mission of revenge. Mariner's more specific purpose is to revisit the hostel where he stayed as a younger man. To his amazement, Elena Hughes, the daughter of the hostel's owner, still lives there and remembers their long-ago romance fondly enough to let Mariner stay at the hostel, along with an inept fellow hiker. A long lull in which nothing much happens ends with the death of a young man working at a nearby organic farm and a murder in which Mariner is a suspect. As if a case of stolen identity, a robbery at Mariner's house back in Birmingham, and a plot point that turns on a couple of parsnips, and nearly adds Mariner to the growing pile of bodies, weren't enough, holdovers from previous cases add to the sudden change from calm to chaos. However, a counterbalance to the blood and betrayal is the hope of romance and a satisfying resolution of Anna's legacy to Mariner, for whom you really want something to go right. Collett (Stalked by Shadows, 2009, etc.) struggles to balance a grieving hero, a mass murderer and a travelogue of Wales in an unevenly paced narrative.
