Publishers Weekly
06/10/2024
The murder of an employee at a home for troubled youth triggers a search for a missing girl in bestseller Cleeves’s forceful 11th Vera Stanhope mystery (after The Rising Tide). When 14-year-old Rosebank Home resident Chloe Spence vanishes the same night that somebody kills Rosebank employee Josh Woodburn, Det. Insp. Stanhope and her Northumbria Police colleagues suspect a connection. The facility houses particularly troubled teens, so some of Stanhope’s colleagues believe Chloe attacked Josh and fled. However, Chloe’s diary indicates she adored Josh; it also mentions someone “pervy” loitering outside the facility, suggesting to police that Chloe was more likely a frightened witness to Josh’s killing. Vera and her team start digging, hoping to find a clue that will lead them to Chloe. Instead, they discover a second corpse in nearby Northumberland that raises even more questions. Cleeves portrays Rosebank’s kids and its staffers with compassion and respect, even as she spotlights the pitfalls of a for-profit approach to child welfare. Multiple narrators and a core cast of keenly rendered characters lend the tale dimension while furthering the series arc. Cleeves’s fans will be well satisfied. (Aug.)
From the Publisher
Forceful . . . Multiple narrators and a core cast of keenly rendered characters lend the tale dimension while furthering the series arc. Cleeves’s fans will be well satisfied.”—Publishers Weekly
“Like Rendell and James before her, like McDermid and Rankin today, Ann Cleeves is one of our secret chroniclers, charting—under cover of a series of expertly plotted and mesmerizing crime novels—how we live now.”—Mick Herron, author of the Slough House series
Library Journal
06/01/2024
When Josh Woodburn's body is found outside Rosebank, a home for troubled teens, Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope's team is sent to investigate the staff member's death; Josh was supposed to work a shift at Rosebank the night before. The murder investigation quickly expands into a search for 14-year-old Chloe Spence, who disappeared from Rosebank the same night as Jonathan's death. Is Chloe a killer, another victim, or a terrified witness? Frantic to find the missing girl, Vera expands the search northward to the wilds of Northumberland, an area that Chloe is known to love. When the body of a different Rosebank resident is found there, Vera knows that Chloe is in danger. The ongoing search coincides with the legendary stories of the area's standing stones, called the Three Dark Wives, and the annual ceremonial witch hunt in the community. Although the event is meant as a treat for local children and a draw for tourists, Vera knows that when the lights go out in town, she has to be prepared to find a killer—or another body. She just hopes that the next victim won't be Chloe Spence. VERDICT The conclusion to this novel feels abrupt, but fans of Cleeve's complex, character-driven Vera series will be pleased with this latest installment, the sequel to The Rising Tide.—Lesa Holstine
