Well written but very disturbing! Thanks for the ARC. I wouldn't recommend reading this before bedtime

This is the excellent start of a historical crime thriller. It's fast paced, twisty, and the historical background is vivid and well researched.
Colin Bates and Helen Briant are an unusual and intriguing investigating couple.
This promises to be an exciting series, recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

Great read! Very intense detective novel! The characters were very suspenseful and fun at the same time. Would definitely recommend this to anyone that likes detective stories! Very good!

This book hooked me and didn't let me go, it was absolutely gripping. The story is well written and I really liked the characters. There is a good level of mystery and suspense and the twists were good and made it an unpredictable read.

‘A good mystery is something everybody’s glad to uncover. A good secret is left well enough alone.’

London, 1969. The bodies of two women are discovered in a peat bog. Detective Inspector Chris Bates is joined at the scene by police photographer Helen Briant, with whom he has an uneasy relationship. The women are quickly identified as Maddy Lynn, a recently murdered model-turned-prostitute, and Gillian Loder a teenager, who went missing ten years earlier. The women seem to have been murdered in a similar ritualistic way.

Given the gap between these two murders, DI Bates starts looking into other similar unsolved cases. And yes, there are other potential victims. Helen Briant becomes obsessed with the case and fills her studio with photographs of the victims seeking to connect them by reconstructing their lives.

I became a little lost in the middle while Bates and Briant dealt with various angsty personal issues, but I liked the way they drew on each other’s skill sets to explore various possibilities. The investigation takes them through some dark history before they find answers.

This is the first book in an intended series, and I will be interested in reading the next installment.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Sapere Books for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

An entertaining Read. I liked both the characters, Helen Briant and DI Chris Bates, and the way they interreacted. It’s great to read a book where you don’t guess what’s going to happen from one minute to the next. Abraham Kawa has done a good job with the plot, it’s a story that I wanted to keep reading to find out what was going to happen. I enjoyed the book and would certainly be interested in reading more about Helen and Chris in the future. 4/5 Stars.

I really enjoyed this book. It was twisty and turny in a way I never saw coming. At times it felt like I was on an acid trip with the characters…full of confusion and unsure what was real. But, it kept the story interesting and made me unable to put the book down.

This book was sent to me electronically by Netgalley for review. Crime story,..mystery and intrigue…a story that is unbelievable…London 1969…murdered girls…more murdered girls…is the killer still at large? Difficult to read at times…