• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow (June 18, 2019)

Detectives Ruth Lake and Greg Carver, introduced in the electrifying Splinter in the Blood, must stop a serial killer whose victims are the centerpiece of his macabre works of art.

While Britain is obsessed with the newest hit true-crime television show, Fact, or Fable? detectives Ruth Lake and Greg Carver are tormented by a fiendish flesh-and-blood killer on the loose.

Lured to a “crime scene” by a mysterious digital invitation, Ruth Lake is horrified by what she finds: a bizarre and gruesome tableau surrounded by a crowd of gawkers. The deadly work is the latest “art installation” designed by a diabolical criminal dubbed the Ferryman. Not only is this criminal cold-blooded; he’s a narcissistic exhibitionist desperate for an audience. He’s also clever at promoting his deadly handiwork. Exploiting England’s current true-crime craze, he uses social media to titillate and terrorize the public.

Ruth is joined in the investigation by her partner Greg Carver, who is slowly regaining his strength after a run-in with another sadistic criminal. But Greg can’t seem to shake the bewildering effects of the head wound that nearly ended him. Are the strange auras blurring his vision an annoying side effect of his injury, or could they be something more . . . a tool to help him see a person’s true nature?

In this utterly engrossing and thrilling tale of suspense, a pair of seasoned detectives face off against a wickedly smart and inventive psychopath in a tense, bloody game that leads to a shocking end.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

His smile somehow managed to convey both apology and mischief.

She was four foot ten and almost the same in circumference, she walked with a roll.

Drew Scanlon was what Carver, a London incomer, now recognized as a through-and-through Scouse scally. The type that could boast five generations of forebears who were also Scouse scallies, Liverpool born-and-dragged-up going back over a century. To qualify as a true scally, it was necessary to forswear aspiration as poncey and soft. Education was for snobs, steady jobs for knobheads. The trick was to never aspire to anything, do the minimum, and have enough street savvy to stay out of reach of the law.

My Review:

A cunning serial killer, who was likened to the mythological Ferryman, had Liverpool churning, and his clever use of social media had his popularity soaring and his followers swarming each fresh crime scene for his artistic yet gruesome exhibits featuring the mutilated organs of his victims or graphics/videos of their demise. This was a complex and compelling thriller and I couldn’t seem to gain traction on the mystery, as it was slippery, confounding, multi-textured, and complicated by unreliable and deceitful characters with closets full of their own dark secrets.

The writing was intricately detailed with unusual descriptions and shrewd observations that occasionally included unexpected hits of wry humor. The storylines were layer upon layer of baffling clues with the struggling police officers personal issues and agendas swirling and tainting the mix.   The tension mounted and never let up, even upon reaching the last page, which completed this story but left a few loose personal threads to keep us primed to continue with the next installment, which I for one will certainly be watching for.

My Brit Vocabulary List expanded with the additions of: Scouse – Liverpool dialect; stab vest – body armor in the US we would call them Kevlar or bulletproof vest; warrant card – Police ID; and scally – rascal or miscreant, usually jobless, uneducated, and prone to crime.