I must inform you this interview is being audio-recorded and may be used in evidence if your case is brought to court,’ he says, shuffling his notes on top of a pile of case files as he goes through the spiel. ‘My name is DS Silk. For the benefit of the tape, could you please state your full name and date of birth?’ Now Matty is dying and wants to see her. Will she get the answers she so needs? Will she go see him? A thirteen-year-old girl disappears from a party at Carlsbad’s Turtle Lake. Discovered on the trunk of a nearby cottonwood tree is the word ‘LIAR’ graffitied in blood. In 2013 she won the Full Stop Short Story Prize and her first novel, Blood for Blood, was shortlisted for the 2017 Debut Dagger Award. She whispered something so quietly that if it weren’t for my ability to lip-read I may have missed it.

Matty is currently sitting in prison convicted of multiple murders. Is he truly guilty? Do they have the wrong man? Now 20 years later he reaches out to Sophie. He has a few things he needs to get off his chest. Only Sophie isn’t sure she’s ready to hear it! As the London Lacerator prepares to rain terror on the capital, Ziba scrambles to piece together a profile in the hope of predicting his next move. But the closer she gets to uncovering his identity, the closer he gets to destroying hers.

About this book

I think it’s easy to guess some of the ‘reveals’ here, though perhaps we’re meant to. I suspect part of Sophie’s telling of the story is a reflection that her adult self recognises the naiveté of 12yr old Sophie. Indeed she comments often (in retrospect of course) on her desperation for a father and family and – in her reflective style of narrating the events of two decades earlier – she understands why she behaved as she did. And what about the woman absently stroking her barely-there stomach and looking off into the middle distance? Well, she may not have been yawning just then but if I was right about her she’d know all about sleep deprivation in less than nine months’ time. There’s no way the detectives won’t have noticed and drawn a conclusion, he thinks. First impressions count, he knows that. He’s made his living out of it. The story centres around a serial killer in the early 80's and told through the eyes of 12 year old Sophie.

An absorbing and captivating read, this held me in its thrall from beginning to end. Brilliant!' SJ Watson

Games

A truly darkly creepy serial killer story with a chilling sting in its tale. Reminded me of The Fall. Beautifully written and highly recommended." - Mark Edwards It was different in that it was written from the childs point of view and not the parents, I felt that this made the book more interesting. The timeline was from 1980 to present day. An all-consuming, beautifully drawn thriller about love and the terrible things it can drive us to do. Absolutely compulsive reading." - Gytha Lodge