I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

I have not read the first two in this series, but that didn't really matter, apart from the fact that I suspect I would have been more invested in Paul's relationship with Wendy if I had. Paul is the only police officer in his town and the author shows clearly what being a good community officer involves. There was an awful lot going on here: child cruelty and neglect; shootings; a fire; fraud and embezzlement; kidnap; stalking etc etc. The plot remained coherent, despite all these different threads, although I did lose track of all the regional officers who were drafted in from time to time.

The motivation behind Katie's kidnap seemed a bit of a stretch to me, and that part of the plot was left slightly unresolved: I wanted to hear more about what Child Protection determined.

Overall though I enjoyed the wry tone and it was definitely a page-turner. Recommended.