Part of Inspector Lynley, book 8
First published 1997
Dennis Luxford opens his morning mail at The Source tabloid to find a chilling demand. Someone has kidnapped ten-year-old Charlotte Bowen. The ransom is not money but confession. Luxford must publicly admit he fathered Charlotte or watch her die. The secret threatens to destroy two careers. Luxford's acknowledgment would expose his decade-long deception to his wife and son. It would also ruin Charlotte's mother, Eve Bowen, the ambitious Undersecretary of State for the Home Office who refuses to let him contact police. Luxford turns to forensic scientist Simon St. James for help, but the case troubles St. James. None of the key players behave as expected parents should. When tragedy strikes, Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley enters the investigation. The case stretches from London into the countryside as Lynley races against time. His partner Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers pursues her own leads, hoping to make the breakthrough of her career. She may be closing in on answers, but also on deadly consequences. The investigation reveals how personal ambitions corrupt parental instincts and how public masks conceal private truths.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, thriller
Vibes: dark, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: secrets, unreliable-narrator
Setting: London, Countryside
Period: Contemporary
656 pages · Mass Market Paperback · Bantam
Content warnings: kidnapping