Someone - a woman or somebody pretending to be a woman, is writing to convicted rapists in prison, befriending them and then brutally killing them when they are released. DI Tom Thorne must discover the link between these killings and a murder/suicide that took place twenty-five years before; a tragedy to which the only witnesses were two small children, now adults and nowhere to be found…How can you escape a past that will do a lot more than just catch up with you? And how can Thorne catch a killer, when he doesn't really care about the victims?

**

From Publishers Weekly

Fans of public television's various BBC Mystery programs would do well to tune into this third in Billingham's series (Scaredy Cat; Sleepyhead) featuring Detective Inspector Tom Thorne and his fellow officers of the London Metropolitan Police Service. After the body of a strangled and sexually violated male is found in a seedy hotel room, Thorne quickly learns that the victim was a convicted rapist. When a second recently released rapist is discovered in the same condition, Thorne believes he has a serial revenge killer on his hands. While some of his fellow policemen feel that the victims deserved their fate, Thorne's commitment to justice remains unfailing. Another murder follows, this time of a pornographer whom the detectives link to the other dead men. Billingham does not delve as deeply into either Thorne's personal issues or those of the other policemen as he did in his last book; the detective's dark brooding on the nature of death is replaced here by a healthier, less obsessive introspection. It's a wise move, making Thorne a more accessible character. He still has problems with women and commitment, and his father is still struggling with Alzheimer's, but Thorne has lightened up enough to get himself a girlfriend (though that doesn't work out quite the way he thought it would, to put it mildly). The structure is much like that of the other books, with the anonymous killer alternating chapters with Thorne and his partners until all of them come together in a shocking climax. This is a mature, intelligent novel by a writer who's as thoughtful as his main character, and the series grows better with each new addition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Starred Review In this third engrossing police procedural from the talented Billingham, Detective Inspector Tom Thorne and his London-based serious crimes unit must track down a serial killer of rapists. Exploring the lasting effects of childhood trauma, as have the other books in the series, this entry similarly keeps flashing back to the triggering sequence of events. So the question isn't so much who the killer is, as it is who that killer grew up to be. When the forensics team can't find "the life sentence hidden in a dustball," Thorne must follow up a mountain of less-than-promising leads while generating a sea of new ones in an investigative cycle that starts afresh with each body found bound, gagged, mutilated, and violated. Already beset by slow-witted bosses, minuscule resources, and a tabloid press rooting for the killer, the detectives are further hobbled by relationship problems that illustrate why dating cops can be such hazardous duty. So even as they plow into the investigation, they fail to ask obvious questions and feel increasingly ambivalent about their jobs. In short, they're recognizably human. These compelling characters--along with Billingham's gift for coupling canny observations with effective plot misdirection--mark this a series for long-term success. Next time, though, he should take care not to neglect Phil Hendricks, the multiply pierced medical examiner who ranks just behind Thorne as the most interesting member of the team. Frank Sennett
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved