Back to Scotland for today's police prodceedural! This is the 9th book in this series, and it's just as enjoyable as the first one! Costtello and Anderson have been split up, but fate is funny, and soon their cases converge upon each other's. This book shows how even cold cases can take on new life and have a domino effect into modern ones! This page turner will have you guessing alongside the detectives with every chapter, and the ending will surprise you! Perfect for a truly satisfactory vacation read, don't miss this series!

I couldn't put this down. "The Suffering Of Strangers" is an excellent police procedural which explores the limitations and flaws in the criminal justice and legal systems and within social services. Ramsay is a skilled writer, able to keep all the balls in the air whilst pulling the plotlines together. The best part about this being book 9 in a series is that I now have 8 others to look forward to!

Congratulations to Caro Ramsay for coming up with an ingenious new concept of a crime thriller. A great read, page turner from beginning to end. You must read this one!

This is the 9th in the DCI Anderson and DI Costello series, but it is my first and what a gripping, gritty and fascinating read this was. Having not read anything else by Caro Ramsey I didn’t feel like I was missing something, the characters were strong and likeable and the story well written.

This is a really good thriller. The plot is brilliant and there are some really good characters.This is definitely a gripping read.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

The Suffering of strangers was one of the best books i have read recently. It was complex and well plotted with the many characters so well developed and intertwined. I really loved this story and can not wait to read more from Caro Ramsay. I will definitely be looking for the previous books in this series and I can not wait to see if there is a follow-up to this one.
A woman on a hike in the mountains she feels she is not alone, hears a sound maybe a clap clap. A baby is taken but another is put in its place. A young boy from an upper scale home hiding behind a dumpster in the city. Women in an alleyway seem to vanish. And at the end of the story Clap Clap.
This is a must read for anyone who enjoys a good mystery. Thank you to Caro Ramsay for a wonderful adventure.

Enjoyed everything about this book, the plot, the characters, the setting. Lots left unexplained though so will be waiting with bated breath for the next book in this fabulous series. Loved the social worker/bag lady and really hope she re appears in the next book. Very emotive subject handled brilliantly.

Although this is the 9th book in the series, it’s the first I have read. I found it very easy to follow and didn’t feel I was missing part of the story though.

Set in Glasgow, this starts of as a child swap, but very quickly becomes a complex case including a number of missing women and children. Knowing Glasgow quite well, I enjoyed the descriptions of the settings, especially the secret tunnels and rumoured hidden village under the city.

Costello and Anderson are interesting characters, and I will definitely be going back to read the previous books to find out more about their dynamic.

The Suffering of Strangers is the ninth book in the Anderson and Costello Book Series.

I must start by saying I have not read any of the previous books. It would be helpful to know from the onset that this is part of a series. In addition, it would be nice to have a list of characters as other books provide so that you are not so lost trying to figure out everyone’s roles in the book.

That being said, this book is about Anderson and Costello no longer working together each busy with their own cases.

Colin Anderson is tasked with solving the Gillian Witherspoon case. In 1996 young mother of two heads to the local shop for a pint of milk after watching the ten o’clock news. The area was secure with CCTV and everyone knew everybody so she felt safe going out this late at night. She was found badly bleeding from an assault behind the bins, the problem was she could not remember anything only that she was aware of somebody. The man responsible for the assault has never been caught. The more Anderson digs into this case, the more he realizes that this is not the first woman assaulted by this man, there is a pattern.

Costello on the other hand is investigating the disappearance of a young baby left in a parked car outside a village shop. Roberta has just stopped for a minute to buy a bottle of champagne to celebrate her husband’s new job. Not wanting to disturb her son who finally has stopped crying she sneaks out for a moment thinking this will be quick, I will be back before he even notices me gone.

When she returns to the spot where her car was it is gone along with her son.

What baffles everyone is when the car is found a few blocks away the baby in the car is not Roberta’s baby and this baby has Down syndrome.

The more Costello digs into the two cases the more she realizes these are not random abductions.

Discoveries pull Costello and Anderson in the same direction revealing a connection.

This book is full of twists and turns providing a surprise ending you never saw coming.

Overall the book is well-written with very interesting characters. The only thing again as I mentioned previously it would have been helpful to have a glossary of the characters.

I was provided this book for free in exchange for my honest opinion.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book for anyone who loves a good British Police mystery. 📕👍🏼

I GIVE IT A 5 STAR: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

There had been (apparently) so many previous books here that it was quite hard to come to the party somewhat late as a lot of prior knowledge of the characters was presumed, so not to be read as a standalone. Interesting and dark tale of baby farming.

Firstly this book is the 9th book in a series and I didn't know that when I started it! I was a bit confused at the start of the book as there are a LOT of characters....I really struggled to get them all straight in my head. It didn't get that much easier throughout the story to be honest, I had to keep checking back to see who was who. There was also a lot that clearly had a backstory but having read none of the first 8 I didn't know this. However, I did enjoy reading it, I finished it in a day and was looking forward to the ending. It wasn't a huge whodunnit, a couple of small twists but nothing that made me shocked. I couldn't work out the relationships between all of the main players, it felt disjointed and again I can only guess that it's because I haven't read the series. I probably won't pick up the other books as there have been lots but if this was book two or three then I would....it was intriguing and well written. If you like police procedural and crime books then you would probably enjoy this one.

This is the 9th book in this Scottish police procedural featuring DI Costello and DCI Colin Anderson.

Costello is called to investigate when someone snatches a baby from a parked car. The mother left him for just a moment and when she came out of the store, the car and her baby were both missing. The car was found a couple of blocks away and at first, mom thought the baby was safe. But the baby still in the car is not hers.

Costello finds evidence that this was not a random abduction .... this was a very well planned detail. So who would want to trade babies? And why these particular babies?

Anderson is in the Cold Case Unit, reviewing old cases. The one he comes across is assault of a young mother back in 1996. The man responsible has never been caught. Colin sees a pattern in that this was not the first woman assaulted by this man, nor the last. What he ultimately finds will change his life forever.

When the two cases dovetail, the expectation of danger explodes. Full of twist and turns, the ending was such a surprise! Without having read any of the previous books, I'm not sure what the relationship between the two has been like. It comes across now that they don't really like each other, although they respect each other's work.

The book is well-written with unique characters. Although 9th in the series, this can be read as a stand-alone, but the joy of reading would be much greater if started from the first. I look forward to the further adventures of Costello and Anderson.

Many thanks to the author / Black Thorn / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Have read all the Costello and Anderson series , and in my opinion they just keep getting better. A topnotch police procedure novel, probably my second favourite author after Stuart Macbride

A lot of twists and turns in this story. There's a lot of characters so at times it can be a little confusing. Much of the subject matter is a bit grim at times, but the issues are dealt with in an excellent manner. Very well written and definitely worth a read.

This is the first book that I’ve read by this author and didn’t realise it was part of a series which made it difficult to understand I’m parts of the book as it referenced previous characters and events.
However, it’s a very good crime book and there’s plenty going on to keep the reader engaged.
I’m going to download the first books in this series and will definitely read more from this author in future.

I didn’t realise this was part of a series when I requested it. I think to really understand this book I’d have needed to know the history of the characters and so for that reason I’ve starred it 4.

I enjoyed the book, the story was very good but not knowing the history was a little confusing at times. I’m now going to read the others in the series so it will all make sense!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for an honest and unbiased opinion.

Anderson and Costello #9

This is the first book that I have read in this series. A 6 week old baby has been stolen from outside a village shop. DI Costello has been called in to investigate. The mother had left the baby in the car an when she came back out the shop, the car and the baby were gone! The car is found just a couple of blocks away, but the baby that's inside the car does not belong to the mother. Anderson is in the cold case division. He's reviewing the rape case of a young mother back in the mid 1990's. This is quite a gripping storyline but the action does not really start until the last third of the book. A well written police procedural.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Black Thorn and the author Caro Ramsay for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I could not finish it.

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I didn't realise this was part of a series until I got approved for it on Netgalley, but that is not the point. I just could not get into the story. Felt the main lady Costello was a moppy lady who just needed a slap in the face to snap herself out of this funk and quite frankly I didn't want to read about her parts anymore.

Sorry, my first DNF in 2019. But couldn't force myself to read it any longer. Thank you Netgalley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ok, I'm al ittle bit biased as I've read all the previous books in the series.
Good to see the standard set in previous ones is maintained in this one.
Although advatageous to know the background of the main characters, I suspect that you could read this as standalone.

Keep up the good work

DI Costello faces a disturbing child abduction case; a six-week-old has been stolen and replaced with another baby. The swap took cold and meticulous planning, so Costello treads the seedy, Glaswegian back streets for answers. She’s convinced that more than one young life is at stake.

Promoted into the Cold Case Unit, Colin Anderson reviews the unsolved rape of a young mother, whose attacker is still out there. Each case pulls Anderson and Costello in the same direction and, as their paths keep crossing, they begin to suspect their separate cases are dangerously entwined.

First I would like to point out that this is the 9th book in a series, which I wasn't aware of, but I still read it and was able to follow it. The writing was great and I can't wait to read the other books!

Thank you #NetGalley for the ARC of #Blackthorn
Pub Date: 06 Jun 2019