Perfect Silence

DI Luc Callanach and DCI Ava Turner have been called out to a scene where a body of a young woman has been discovered.  She has been brutally assaulted.  It doesn’t take long for the victim to be identified; she had been living at a centre for victims of domestic abuse.

Meantime, back at the station, DC Salter and DS Lively have been called out to attend a scene where a man has been found with the letter ‘Z’ slashed into his face.  He is uncommunicative due to the drug he is high on.

The pathologist, Dr. Jonty Spurr, informs Callanach and Turner that their victim was cut on the stomach and back with a baby shape.  The cuts had been done with surgical precision and the woman had bled out as a result.

Three days later another young woman has gone missing.  Fortunately her baby was found in its pram.  When Turner looks inside the pram, she finds a small doll made out of skin.  Dr. Spurr examines it and matches it to the first victim’s body.  How much time do they have before this second young woman is dead?

Based upon the evidence gathered to this point, Turner is sure that the two cases and the man who was slashed are related.  Then a second slashing occurs.  As in the previous case, this victim was high on drugs when it happened.

When the second young woman’s body is found, it is in the same condition as that of the first.  This leads to the question, who is going to be the next victim?

Not long after this, Turner’s friend, Natasha tells her that one of her students is missing.  Turner begins an informal investigation.  That night a woman is run over by a bus.  Turner worries that it is the missing girl, however it turns out not to be.  On the other hand, Dr. Spurr shows her that the victim has had a zed slashed onto her cheek.

A day later Turner and DC Salter discover a skin doll in the missing girl’s mailbox at university.  Is she going to die in the coming days?  How many more young women will die before Turner’s team can solve the case?

Author Helen Fields’ murder thriller is just that, a gripping, tense story that has the reader on the edge of their seat wanting to know the outcome.  A very good read read and hard to put down.