A Review By Keith Smith

Detective Anna Travis is working on a horrific, brutal murder case that has created a media frenzy. The victim, Louise Pennel, a 24-year-old, single, ‘fun-loving’ girl, was last seen in a London night club wearing a sequinned mini-dress and a red rose in her hair. In an eerie mirror image of the famous LA murder case of Elizabeth Short in the 1940s known as the Black Dahlia, her body was found dumped by the River Thames…severed in half and brutalised beyond recognition.

Having seen some of the ‘Wire In The Blood’ television series, and read other ‘procedural’ authors who specialise in gruesome murders, and having read that Lynda La Plante was really rather good, I was looking forward to some light bedtime reading. In truth I was disappointed. Like the other authors, La Plante relies on our (bad) voyeuristic tendencies, and feels that the grimmer the situation and the more detailed her description of body parts and sadistic killings, the more hooked we will be. In truth the whole scenario becomes a little tedious, not to say ridiculous. The plot was wooden, the characters more so, and I was glad to get to the end of it. Not recommended, by me at least!