Book Synopsis:
A series of bizarre suicides leads Detective Inspector Silas Quinn to revisit his own troubled past …
June, 1914. A young man is mauled to death by a polar bear at London Zoo. Shortly afterwards, another young man leaps to his death from a notorious Suicide Bridge. Two seemingly unconnected deaths – and yet there are similarities.
Following a third attempted suicide, DI Silas Quinn knows he must uncover the link between the three men if he is to discover what caused them to take their own lives. The one tangible piece of evidence is a card found in each of the victims’ possession, depicting a crudely-drawn red hand. What does it signify? To find the answers, Quinn must revisit his own dark past. But can he keep his sanity in the process?
My Review:
I really enjoyed this fantastic, intriguing historical mystery. I’ve had a few people recommend this author to me but have never managed to pick up one of his books until now.
This book is rich with historical detail about life and society in 1914. The author has clearly done his research and manages to make the reader feel emersed in the time. It was especially interesting to learn more about life and treatment in an assylum for people needing psychiatric care. The methods they used and the casual cruelty of some of the staff sent a shiver down my spine at times. It’s a relief to realise how far we have come in this area.
The mystery of the supposed suicides was fascinating and kept me guessing as to how it would all work out. The two cases seemed so different to each other that I was unable to guess what was going on. The author has written a very cleverly plotted book where the clues and answers are revealed gradually at a rate that keeps the reader’s interest and ensured that I continued turning the pages.
I liked the main character Silas Quinn, though he seemed to have two parts to him. On one side he seemed to be very intelligent and a great detective but on the other he seemed very vulnerable when his mental health problems arose which made me feel very sorry for him. I absolutely hated Stanley the incredibly cruel member of staff at the assylum. His attitude and treatment of the patients made my blood boil and lead to some very hard to read passages. His behaviour is made worse by the attitude of the other staff who are aware of his cruelty but still allow him to work there! I really wanted him to come to a sticky end and get his comeuppance.
Huge thanks to Rachel from Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me onto the blog tour and the publisher for my copy of this book via Netgalley. If you like well plotted, unusual historical thrillers then you’ll love this book.
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