Saturday 26 August 2023

Perfect Silence by Helen Fields

 


Young women are being abducted and brutally maimed. It is a race against time for DCI Turner and DI Callanach to track down the killer before another woman is abducted.

Perfect Silence is the fourth book by  Helen Fields in the Luc Callanach series. You don't need to have read the previous books in the series to enjoy this thriller, however, the earlier books allow you to see how the characters have developed.

This time around we have a killer who abducts young women who have had questionable pasts. They are kept alive for up to a week before being skinned alive and their bodies dumped. The descriptions of the trauma suffered by the victims are grim reading and the eventual discovery of religious overtones makes the whole thing considerably creepy.

Alongside a serial killer abducting and killing women there is also someone targeting the city's homeless population to contend with. The fact that both crimes feature disfigurement using a sharp blade makes the team wonder if the crimes are connected.

I really enjoyed seeing the way in which the friendship between Callanach and Turner is evolving, particularly after the tension of previous books. Having discovered this series by reading the seventh book, One For Sorrow, first I know where things are heading, but it's great to see the evolution.

Police procedurals/thrillers usually have some form of office politics involved and this novel is no different. We know from previous outings that Turner's boss, Detective Superintendent Overbeck, is formidable. This time around we see a completely different side to her. There is an added complication when DCI Turner suspects the son of a member of the Police Scotland board of being complicit in some of the crimes they are investigating.

As you reach the conclusion you are on the edge of your seat, hoping that Callanach and Turner will make it in time. Even then there is still a couple more twists to keep the adrenaline flowing and the pages turning.

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