Readers will wish that this standalone were the first in a series (though Toyne has written series that readers can fall back on, such as the Sanctus Trilogy). The book starts with a single killing, a seeming locked-room affair, as a woman is discovered murdered in her fortress-like London home that requires fingerprint and facial-recognition access. Her husband is nowhere to be found and is the obvious suspect, but adding perhaps a red herring, perhaps a path to follow, several objects are placed around the body. One of them is a forensic-science manual, How to Process a Murder, which is by the police chief’s estranged daughter, Laughton Rees. Following the grisly opening, the tale continues with chapters presenting perspectives from Laughton, who as a child survived an attack by a serial killer and has never been the same; nervous, kind-hearted Pakistani-Irish cop Tannehill Khan, who soon finds that the crime stats he dreaded presenting to the press are the least of his problems; and a sleazy tabloid journalist who revels in the three Ms: murder, mystery, and money. The wish for a series mainly comes from observing the Tannehill and Laughton characters, who are both burdened with far too much and believe in themselves far too little. The taut and terrifying ending doesn’t hurt either.
