HIDDEN

TITLE: HIDDEN

AUTHOR: CASEY HILL

Pages: 424

Date: 28/07/2013

Grade: 4+

Details: No. 3 Reilly Steel

Library

The Blurb:

A Fallen Angel. A Devil on the Loose.

When a young girl is discovered dead on an isolated Irish country road, it seems at first glance to be a simple hit and run. Then the cops see the tattoo on her back - a pair of beautifully wrought angel wings that lend the victim a sense of ethereal innocence. Forensic investigator Reilly Steel is soon on the scene and her highly tuned sixth sense tells her there is more to this case than a straightforward murder.

But with almost zero evidence and no way to trace the girl's origin, Reilly and the police are at a loss. Then the angel tattoo is traced to other children - both dead and alive - who are similarly marked, and Reilly starts to suspect they have all been abducted by the same person. But why? And will Reilly get to the bottom of the mystery and uncover what links these children together before tragedy strikes again?

This is the third book featuring Reilly Steel, our Quantico-trained forensic investigator working in Dublin, and, just like its two prequels, it provides us with a fascinating and bone-chilling mystery, a realistic and fascinating investigation and convincing conclusion. But, while the mystery and the work involved in solving form the main story line, there is more to these books. We get exactly enough story about the characters, their personal lives and the interactions between them to get a real feel for them without it ever taking away from the page-turning force of the story. And it is not just through what we are told about them that we get to know the main characters in these books better; Casey Hill shows us what our characters are really like through scenes that are at times wonderful and inspired. Chris’s time with the young, silent boy, for example, gave the reader a better idea of who he actually is and Reilly Steel the opportunity to see him through different eyes.

As far as the mystery in this book is concerned all I can say is that it was fascinating. I don’t want to give anything away but I do want to mention that the revelations at the end of the book took me completely by surprise. I do love it when an author brings me a credible conclusion I didn’t see coming at all. And boy did I get one (or should I say two) of those in this book.

What I really liked in this book is that the story is more layered than you often see in mysteries and thrillers. During my very first class when I started studying law the professor told us that anybody who was under the delusion that law and justice where synonyms was in for a nasty surprise. To see that sentiment echoed in this book made the story that much more realistic for me. Sometimes doing the right thing leads to outcomes that are far from ideal; that doesn’t mean you stop doing the right thing, as this story shows in an inspired and very thrilling way.

While this book, or the mystery it contains, can easily be read and enjoyed in and of itself, I would encourage anybody to read the first two Reilly Steel titles first. The mystery in this book may be a new one, the development of the characters is a story that continues through the subsequent books. Do yourself a favour and read “Taboo” and “Torn” first (and in that order) before picking up “Hidden”. Trust me; you will thank me for it.

As with the two previous titles, the writing team that is Casey Hill (Melissa Hill and her husband Kevin) has given us a thrilling, well-plotted, fast-paced and intriguing mystery in a well written story peopled by fascinating characters. I can only hope that Reilly Steel and her colleagues will continue their investigations for a long time to come.

BROKEN HARBOUR

TITLE: BROKEN HARBOUR

AUTHOR: TANA FRENCH

Pages: 533

Date: 25/10/2012

Grade: 5+

Details: no. 4 Dublin Mystery

Library

The scene is gruesome and heartbreaking. Upstairs two young children, a girl and a boy, are found dead, probably smothered. Downstairs is a bloodbath with in the middle the children’s parents, both with multiple stab wounds. The father has also died but the mother is barely alive and rushed to hospital. The case is given to Detective Mick “Scorcher” Kennedy who is teamed up with rookie Detective Richie Curran. Kennedy has something to prove. Although he has an almost perfect record his last case didn’t work out as planned and this case, if he solves it to everybody’s satisfaction, should restore his reputation. And there is no reason why things shouldn’t work out for him. Kennedy is a man who controls his life and himself completely and up to the smallest details.

Except that this is one case he should probably have passed on to somebody else. The scene of the horrendous crime is in a half finished housing estate called Brian’s Town in the middle of nowhere. Years ago, when Scorcher was a teenager, the area was known as Broken Harbour and he and his family used to spend two weeks there, every summer. Those holidays were the happiest times in Scorcher’s life until the day tragedy struck. A tragedy that still haunts Scorcher’s life every single day.

As the two detectives start their investigation the solution appears to be simple enough. After all, all the evidence points towards a tragic but not uncommon domestic tragedy. But things are never that clear cut, and even when Scorcher thinks he has got the case solved his new partner has enough doubts to keep them digging for more evidence. It isn’t long before what started out as a murder investigation turns into a morality tale in which it becomes ever harder to figure out what the right thing to do might be. And with this case hitting so close to home and his private life getting more complicated Scorcher is losing the control he has worked so hard to achieve and maintain.

This is the fourth Dublin mystery by Tana French and like its predecessors it is a masterpiece. Well plotted, exquisitely written and with characters who are realistic and easy to sympathise with she has once again given the reader a book that is fascinating and almost impossible to put down.

French has taken Ireland and Dublin as it is right now. The story puts the reader in the middle of the current recession, in one of the many ghost-estates that litter the country and provide visible proof of past greed and current desperation. She has taken one perfectly normal and hard-working family and shows how events out of their control destroy the lives they worked so hard to create, taking their dreams down as well, until their lives have turned into something they don’t recognise anymore and evil creeps in.

The author leads the reader through an investigation where the twists and turns all make perfect sense. None of the suggested solutions come out of the blue and every suggested scenario makes as much sense as the previous one. When the solution is at last revealed it comes as a shock and a surprise, but not because it is unimaginable. It is all too believable that the all characters in this book would act the way they do and that is the reason that this is not only an imaginative mystery but also a thoroughly heart-breaking tale of the times we live in.

Part of me wishes that Tana French would write faster because I’m always eagerly anticipating her next book. A bigger part of me is glad she doesn’t though; the quality of these books is so high that I have to be grateful that she takes her time to give me an unforgettable story every single time.