Shootings all around the world for no apparent reason are now commonplace. It seems sometimes that there is no logic why one person does these things.
This looked to be the case in this small town of Essex. A gunman let fire and five people were dead. The first was the partner of the gunman's ex wife and the others were sadly people who looked out of their houses this Christmas Eve to see what the noise was about.
Investigations reveal that the gunman was a quiet man. Someone who never created trouble and though he turned the gun on himself there was no suicide note. What was left very neatly on his desk in his tidy apartment was a traffic violation offense record. The person who pulled him over was none other than the man he shot first.
Was this a revenge killing, was it a killing motivated by personal reasons of love turning to hatred, especially since he felt that he was losing his two young children. It fell on Grace Turner to inquire and see what went wrong. Delving deeper into the case which looked like an open and shut one Grace uncovers a can of worms. Corruption in the police force, going back decades. Booking a fellow officer is going to be hell on her own career and she has to find solid proof to back her up. At every turn in the investigation Grace is intimated and blocked but she perseveres. No one wants to give her the time of day because this is a huge offence - especially since she will be blackening the name of the officer who died and who is now considered a hero.
I understand this is part of a series but I have jumped into the middle of it with no great loss.
Apart from the immediate plot which was the gunman, his victims and their stories, the side plot of a teenage girl involved on the outskirts of this story was very relevant to the tale. Characterization was spot on with the teenage girl and her family and her story in no way detracted from the main theme of the gunman.
This book was a recommendation from a book blogger and I am lucky I got to it before it was archived. I am keenly awaiting the next book in the series provided of course I can get to it!
This was sent to me by Netgalley courtesy of Quercus Books.
Glad you could jump into this book and feel like you missed anything.
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