Hands up, I'm not a fan of the 'serial killer abducting and torturing young women' genre... but, but this is Jane Casey, right? So while the basic plot-line is very familiar, what Casey adds is an acute interest in characterisation, pulled off to supremely creepy effect.

Less stellar is Maeve herself in this outing - after so many books (and I've been with her from the start) it would be nice to see Maeve relaxing her rigid, untouchable stance with her colleagues - but no, she's *still* uptight, touchy, and just generally not much fun to be around. I mean I know her job is stressful, but apart from one or two rather laboured jokes with Josh Derwent, she's pretty morose - in real life, she'd be that awkward one in the corner who doesn't do lunch or team drinks... It's a bit unbelievable, then, that witnesses open up to our Maeve - and for someone so strong on emotional IQ in investigations, she's still unbelievably obtuse when it comes to Derwent...

A few niggles apart, though, this is another fluent, gripping, compulsive read from Casey - I finished it in 24 hours after staying up way too late at night. Not the best in the series (clichéd plotline, yet another alone-and-no-back-up confrontations with a killer) but still head and shoulders above most crime fiction out there.