The Child by Fiona Barton

Kate Waters, a reporter, needs a good story. In this online world, this seasoned reporter is relegated to editing other reporters’ stories. The laurels of her previous great story wore off years ago.

Angela Irving wants to know what happened to her newborn daughter. Leaving her in her crib in her hospital room after visiting hours and going off to shower, she returned to find the bassinet empty. That was 1975.

Emma Massingham????? is afraid the police will find out what she did and arrest her.

So, when a newborn baby’s bones are found under an urn on a concrete patio that is being demolished, everyone has an interest. Forensics determines that the bones are around 40 years old but the detritus around the body suggest it was buried 10 years later. Where could it have been for those 10 years?

The Child by Fiona Barton, author of The Widow (like those 2 word titles?) is a good read. It’s got an interesting premise. It’s populated with good, solid characters and it keeps the action flowing. Kate Waters also plays a role in The Widow and she’s a good character to build a series around. She’s the female equivalent of Bruce DeSilva’s Liam Mulligan, a reporter lamenting the fate of the newspaper industry, hard driving and undeterred.

If you want a good mystery that will keep you guessing, The Child is a good place to start.

 

 

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Never Look Back by Clare Donoghue

Never Look Back by Clare Donoghue is a debut novel and it’s a pretty fair start to a series (I’m sure it’s going to be a series). Detective Inspector Mike Lockyer is head of homicide on the South London police force. He’s called early one January morning because a young girl has been found murdered.

His second in command, Jane Bennett, upon Mike’s getting to the scene of the crime, tries to warn him before he looks at the body, but it’s too late. This girl bears a remarkable resemblance to his seventeen year old daughter, Megan.

Unfortunately, the bodies start to pile up.

In a separate incident, another young woman, Sarah Grainger, reports that she is being stalked. Whoever it is has intensified his silent phone calls in the middle of the night.

Lockyer and his team investigate both crimes. Are they related?

In a side story, Lockyer deals with his younger autistic brother, in a group home. He never knew he had a brother until his parent’s passing, five years earlier.

There’s definitely action and suspense in Never Look Back. Lockyer and Bennett are good characters. They work well together and obviously care for each other.

I said at the beginning that Never Look Back was a pretty fair first novel–which I meant in a complimentary way. But if you were to ask me what would make it a great first novel, I wouldn’t be able to answer you. While I wouldn’t mind reading a sequel, I wouldn’t run to put it on my “do not miss” list.

Let me know what you think.

 

 

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