Perfect Prey

The killer had taken advantage of the crowd, slashing the victim in the stomach.  It was only when a teenager slipped in his blood that he was noticed.  How is DI Luc Callanach supposed to make any sense of a badly trampled crime scene?

The pathologist, Ailsa Lambert, informs Callanach that the knife used was specially designed to do maximum harm; a ritual killing in her mind.

Not long after this DI Ava Turner is assigned to investigate a brutal murder of a woman in her own home.  DCI Begbie wants a quick closure to this case, too.

On top of all of this, DCI Joseph Edgar has come to Edinburgh because a possible internet attack is imminent.  The following morning a cyber attack has transferred funds from wealthy individuals to charities in need of funding.

Three weeks on and Callanach hasn’t made any progress.  He is asked to check on a missing man.  When he’s at the man’s place of work, he discovers the body of the man in the basement.  Shortly after Begbie arrives to assess the scene, he has a heart attack.  The scene is badly compromised by the paramedics, much to the chagrin of pathologist Lambert.

Later Lambert informs Callanach that the incisions on the latest victim were made with a knife similar to the cuts made on the first.  With his team dispersed, Callanach now relies on DC Salter.

Almost immediately Turner has another case on her hands, this time the strangulation of a young woman.  On top of that, the press has somehow managed to get their hands on photos of the crime scene.

Superintendent Overbeck has taken over for Begbie, but will she bring about a resolution any quicker?  Callanach does some research on all four victims and discovers that each had been given an award of some sort for their caring nature.  Will this link help them find the killer or killers?

Are the killers in competition?  Graffiti, which appeared before the death of the last victim and graffiti that seems to warn of the next victim would seem to make that a reality.  Then Callanach is badly beaten and warned off by cops.  What is going on?

As the individual investigations progress, Callanach and Turner become more at odds with one another.  Callanach is gambling with his career despite Overbeck making threatening innuendos.

Author Helen Fields’ thriller is just that, a thriller that has cops set against each other while working towards the same goal.  She leads the reader deep into the workings of the darknet.  Who can anyone trust?  As a reader, you feel the tension each of the players in this story are experiencing.  This was a thoroughly enjoyable read, and hard to put down.  I’m looking forward to getting my hands on the sequels.