The woman’s face was pale and waxy. Her milky, partially open eyes stared into the distance. There were drag marks in the grass; she’d been placed here and posed. Who did this to you and why have they left you like this?
When a woman’s body is found on a lonely patch of scrubland, Detective Lucy Harwin is called to the scene. The victim’s clothes have been wrenched to expose her, and her feet are bare.
Lucy and her team have only just started investigating who could have wanted local mother Melanie Benson dead, when a young woman is discovered strangled in a dark alley. As more bodies appear in the run-down seaside town, the small community is gripped by fear, and the pressure to solve the case becomes unbearable. But with each victim dying in a different way, Lucy struggles to find a link between the murders. Are these random killings, or part of the same plan?
Just as she thinks she’s getting close, Lucy starts to suspect the killer is watching her. Can she find the murderer before they strike again, or will she be next?
Welcome to my first book review of 2018. I’m absolutely determined to try to fit in more reviews this year, and what better way to start, than with a writer who is always guaranteed to have me gripping the Kindle tightly, heart thumping, as I try to work out whodunnit, and if the dastardly fiend is going to get away with it. Truthfully, with Helen Phifer’s fabulous female detectives on the case, it’s guaranteed that the murderer will be caught, but things don’t always go according to plan …
Dying Breath is the second in the DI Lucy Harwin series. I read and loved the first, Dark House, back when it was named The Lost Children (you can read that review here) but I honestly think that Dying Breath is even better.
We’re thrown into the action immediately, with the brutal murder of a woman. Before long, it becomes very clear that the killer has no intention of stopping at one victim. What I love about Helen Phifer’s books is that we always get to see inside the murderer’s mind. It’s quite chilling to read how twisted his thoughts are, and the weird kind of logic he applies to the crimes he commits. It’s also very unnerving to realise how much he enjoys the chase, the plotting, the setting up of the murder. How he chooses his victims and why, what delight it gives him to stalk them, devise their manner of death, the excitement each body’s discovery brings him. It’s morbidly fascinating to follow his thought processes, even though it does make you feel sick with horror.
Lucy Harwin is a great character, with a strong work ethic and passion for her job that sometimes battles with her home life. She’s a devoted mother, but she’s also separated from her husband, the love of her life, and struggles with that failure. Her on-off relationship with a hospital doctor is currently more off than on. She has a great working relationship with her colleague, Mattie, and there’s clearly a great bond there, although that hasn’t (yet) tipped over into a romantic relationship. Lucy is highly respected at work, and she doesn’t suffer fools gladly, which sometimes causes her to clash with other members of the investigating team. But her determination and dedication have made her many friends, too, and she certainly has her admirers.
The setting of a slightly rundown seaside town is well-drawn, and there is a great sense of authenticity in the police procedural scenes. You really feel as if you’re watching a real police team; it becomes clear that police work isn’t at all glamorous and exciting. There’s an awful lot of hard work and painstaking tasks involved, and quite a lot of frustration at the red tape and box ticking that has to be done. But you also get to see the bond that forms between the colleagues who are working together to solve the case. Real friendships develop, and there’s a good sense of comradeship and looking out for each other.
Throughout the course of the book, I changed my mind several times about the killer’s identity. The author very cleverly leads the reader down several false trails and it was only towards the end that light began to dawn in my mind. When it did, I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough, as Lucy finally confronts the serial killer in a highly dramatic finale.
I won’t say any more about the story, because I’m desperately trying not to give anything away! I’ll just finish by saying that Dying Breath is a cracking crime novel, and I’m looking forward to the next book in the series. 5/5
You can buy Dying Breath here.
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