Highly addictive thriller about first one, then several murders,and a psychological portrait of two sisters who have had little or no contact for the past 25+ years. Zoë (36) is a police inspector, Sally (35) a cleaner, when a 16-year old girl is found killed in the ancient English town of Bath. Her killer used lipstick to write a message on her body. Molly, Sally's daughter knew her from school. But she and her friends are unhelpful during police investigations. They hide something, even after one of them is arrested as a suspect...
This novel has many layers, e.g. parenting a teenager when divorced and poor, or trusting new partners. As a police procedural this reader rates it 3 or 4/10: when Zoë's doubts about the first murder investigation are ignored by her colleagues, she concludes the team has developed tunnel vision. She goes solo, keeps her findings to herself, powers on and discovers linkages to the world of porn production and distribution.
Meanwhile, her divorced and heavily-indebted sister Sally is promoted from cleaner to housekeeper of the grossly-designed and -decorated mansion of David Goldrab, a porn king, who made his initial fortune in Kosovo. He is the reason for the sisters to meet again...
As a psychological novel this thriller rates 7 or 8/10. The sisters' life histories are very intriguing. But during the investigations, both Zoë and Sally often act on the basis of false assumptions, take poor decisions and make bad choices. What makes this a thriller are the risky break-ins and privacy invasions by the sisters, performed quite independently, and Mo Hayder's awesome powers of descriptions of moods and fears.
This reader is currently engrossed and over halfway into "Tokyo", MH's third book, which is an absolutely stunning novel, confirming MH's energy and ability to fuse facts, dreams and ideas into stories with impact.
This, her eighth novel is a thriller that twists and turns to a chilling, surprise ending.
