On a rainy November evening, trainee doctor Sasha Johnson hurries through the evening crowd in London’s historic Russell Square. Out of the darkness, someone jostles her as they brush past. A moment later, Sasha stumbles, then collapses. When Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and his sergeant, Doug Cullen, are called to the scene, they discover that she’s been stabbed.Â
Kincaid immediately calls in his detective wife, Gemma James, who has recently been assigned to a task force on knife crimes which are on the rise. Along with her partner, detective sergeant Melody Talbot, Gemma aids the investigation. But Sasha Johnson doesn’t fit the profile of the task force’s typical knife crime victim. Single, successful, career-driven, she has no history of abusive relationships or any connection to gangs. Sasha had her secrets, though, and some of them lead the detectives uncomfortably close to home.
As the team unravels the victim’s tangled connections, another murder raises the stakes. Kincaid, Gemma, and their colleagues must put even friendships on the line to find the killer stalking the dark streets of Bloomsbury.
Release Date: Feb 7, 2023
Publisher:Â HarperCollins
Imprint:Â William Morrow
Price: $14.99
Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and Sergeant Doug Cullen are called to the scene of a fatal stabbing. They’re shocked to realize the victim is a young woman they had just seen in the pub where they were eating. Duncan’s wife, Gemma James, is frustrated that instead of being out in the field, she’s on a task force tracking knife crime in the Greater London area. She and her partner DS Melody Talbot are both bored with the administrative work and are happy for the chance to help on the case. Things are further complicated when Duncan and Gemma realize that their good friends were friends of the victim and her family. When another stabbing occurs, it will take the whole expanded team to solve this complicated crime.
This book is part of a long-running series, but the author does a great job of summarizing important background information about the main characters. This is helpful to those new to the series, as well as returning readers who need a refresher. The case is interesting, and I like that Duncan, Doug, Gemma, Melody, and Duncan’s new second-in-command, DI Jasmine Sidana, all contribute to solving the case. However, the team seems so fragmented, with each person working with someone else but never all working together and sharing information. Part of this is scheduling issues with team members balancing family and job, but a lot is because of tensions between Melody and Doug, whose friendship is strained because of events in a prior book. Melody’s drama with her ex-boyfriend also slowed the pace of this book and added to the awkwardness between Melody and Doug, negatively affecting the investigation. Without the usual camaraderie between the main characters, I didn’t enjoy this book as much as others in the series.
I like that DI Sidana started showing more personality in this book. She is an intelligent detective but sometimes lacks people skills. However, she shows a lighter side when she and Gemma go undercover at a club to get information on a possible suspect. These scenes are my favorite of the whole book. The case is eventually resolved, but there some things regarding the main characters are left up in the air. I prefer to have things more settled at the end of a book, but I’ve been following this series for a long time and am interested in seeing what’s in store for everyone in future installments.
~ Christine
Amazon | iBooks | B&N | Kobo | Google Play