| Detective Inspector Kate Burrows has her toughest case yet. Someone is abusing small children in the town of Grantley, and blame is pointed at the parents for neglecting their children when social worker Robert Bateman pays them a visit. As the violent parents are arrested and the kids put into care, Kate suspects something is not right when a child is found beaten to death on a gypsy caravan site outside London. Her personal life with ex-ganagland boss Patrick Kelly is collapsing around her as the Moscow Mafia muscle in on his businesses in London's Soho quarter. A prostitute is murdered in Kelly's bar; he is suspected. His romantic attachment to Kate is also under threat. But how are these events linked? Kate soon suspects a connection in places high up in the British Government when her boss takes her off the child-murder investigation. An engrossing, compelling and sometimes very disturbing thriller with a very unexpected twist at the end. | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of story - Dry-cynical - How difficult to spot villain? - Challenging Time/era of story: What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 70% Special suspect? - chronically deranged person Murder of certain profession? Misc. Murder Plotlets - - character killed during/after sexing - local police w/ IQ of a houseplant - - "All in the family" murder Kind of investigator Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book Crime Thriller Yes Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes Main Character Gender - Female Profession/status: Age: - 20's-30's Unusual characteristics: Main Adversary Identity: - an organization Age: - long-lived adults Profession/status: Eccentric: Yes Motive of antagonist - power The antagonists are: - gangs Setting Europe Yes European country: - England/UK - France City? Yes City: - London Small town? Yes Small town people: - dumb rednecks, like Gomer Pyle - hostile, like Gomer Pyle on steroids Misc setting - prison - fancy mansion Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - very gorey descriptions deaths/dead bodies Explicit sex in book? Yes What kind of sex: - descript of kissing - touching of anatomy - licking - descript. of breasts - descript. of other female areas - descript. of male nudity - rape (yeech!) Unusual forms of death - asphyxiation - run over - crushed - impaled - perforation--bullets - perforation--swords/knives - blunt clubbing (like seals) - exploded into bits Unusual form of death? Yes Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |
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