October 15, 2015
As established in the series opener, Stella Darnell is The Detective's Daughter (2014). Even a year after her police-officer father's death, the cleaning-company owner is still taking her time going through his things. She finds a folder full of photographs of London streets going back to the sixties. Another cold case? Seems likely, especially given the chapters that skip back to 1966, when a girl named Mary Thornton and her little brother, Michael, move into a new house under never-fully-explained circumstances. It's hard to empathize with Mary, because she comes across as a bit of a sociopathunable or unwilling to accept that other people have desires that are as valid as her own. It is clear that these two tales will come together at some point, and Thomson spools out just enough narrative thread to keep the reader confident that a thumping good reveal will be worth the wait. The multiple story lines and introspective protagonist make this a mystery that impatient readers may find frustrating. Fans of slow and steady suspense, on the other hand, will feel they've received their money's worth.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)