The Body on the Moor

A story based on a horrible true story of two cold blooded, sadistic murderers who tortured and killed young people as they took pleasure in the killing and how the sudden disappearance of seven year old girl triggered the hunt for not just her, but then all the people who had disappeared over the years in this area without a trace. Manchester 1965 an urban setting. Connie is a single mother, careless and indifferent to her daughter Kathy. Kept inside a car while her mother and boyfriend are in a pub for hours on end Kathy opens the door of the car and wanders towards the sound of lambs bleating inside a lorry. This is the beginning of Kathy's adventure and disappearance. Simultaneously Ronald and Tom two single men run a farm on the far moors. Isolated and desolate they harbour a major secret of their own and for this reason eschew any company. The appearance of Kathy on their farm like an apparition becomes the focus of Tom's life and even Ronald though he knows, he should inform the authorities keeps Kathy protected and guarded as she obviously has been physically abused by her mother. Alongside these stories, is the one of Connie now bereft of her daughter, her partner chief suspect in the missing girl and her world disintegrating into pathos and guilt. With the help of cheap whiskey and Valium. Her friend Myra is suddenly totally different, crude and wicked and Myra's boyfriend Ian is even more so. Connie was a naive, simple girl who could not read characters or behavior very well and who accepted everything at face value. The setting of the story alternating between urban Manchester and the isolated moors could not be more of a contrast for this fast paced thriller. Some of the coincidences are too good to be true, but the story holds your interest throughout. Sent by Bookouture for an unbiased review, courtesy of Netgalley. On another note, covid cases are rising but everything is unrestricted right now. Schools have fully opened (children being vaccinated though), universities open, everyone in public service has to report for work, no rosters anymore and restaurants are fully open with measures in place for social distancing masks etc. I do not know how long these will be effective. We just wait and see.