Orla and Conor Quinn are a highly successful, powerful and glamorous couple whose lives are torn apart when their only child, nineteen-year-old university student Tom, is found dead, the victim of a deliberate hit-and run. Then, as Detective Garda Cat Connolly is leaving his parents’ home she is called to the discovery of another body, found on the rocks, not far from where Tom was killed. This victim is Lauren O’Reilly, a friend and fellow student of Tom who had, apparently, committed suicide. Is it just a coincidence that both young people died on the same night or are their deaths in some way linked? As Cat and the team of detectives investigate both deaths they uncover various strands which point to links with the Dark Web, as well as with some cold cases.
I found this an immediately engaging police procedural story and thought that the slow build up to the complexity of the plot was handled well. It seemed that most of the characters had secrets which led the detectives down many blind alleys, leading to multiple twists and turns as the story progressed. However, these were exposed in ways which felt, for the most part, reasonably convincing. Although I did guess the outcome quite early on, there was an interesting twist at the end which did catch me by surprise! I think that the slow-burn of the early stages of the investigation, followed by a quite dramatic acceleration in the later stages, was probably a reasonably accurate reflection of how many crimes are eventually solved. The Dark Web and computer hacking were central to the developing story and the exposure of the insidious nature of these themes made for some disturbing reading – I defy anyone who reads this book not to become paranoid about covering their webcam when they aren’t using it!
I thought that the characters, even the more minor ones, were mostly well developed and credible. I found Cat, a determined and passionate investigator, quite an endearing character and loved the fact that she was also a champion kick-boxer in her spare time! Her relationship with Detective Inspector Dawson O’Rourke, her married boss and mentor, was a complex one because it included a powerful romantic element which led to a certain tension in most of their interactions. The “will they, won’t they” scenarios certainly added an extra dimension to the development of the story, although I must admit that there were moments when I found it hard to reconcile Cat’s confident, rather feisty persona with her apparent dependence on her attachment to her boss!
Another character I found particularly appealing was Anna Lockharte, the university professor who was course tutor to Tom and Lauren but was also suffering from PTSD following her sister’s death during a terrorist attack in Paris. Some of the narrative is presented from her perspective, a device which certainly added interest as well as introducing some links to the complex, ongoing investigation. A rather more disturbing strand to the narrative were the occasional, italicised chapters which offered insights into the psychology and motives of the amoral computer hacker, whose activities are central to the story.
Most of the action takes place in Ireland but the move to London for the dramatic conclusion, as well as strands which included France and America, added an interesting extra dimension to the story-telling.
This is the third book in the Cat Connolly series and, although it would probably have felt more satisfying had I read the previous two, if only to gain more insight into how the close personal, as well as professional, relationship between Cat and Dawson had come about, there were certainly enough clues about the back story to make it easy and enjoyable to read as a stand-alone story. The strength of the character development and the quality of the writing are certainly factors which would encourage me to read the next book in the series.
With thanks to Readers First and Zaffre for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. ( )