Secret Shelter

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 19 OCT 2015

Well-drawn characters and sophisticated storytelling distinguish Gittins's second novel focusing on the Welsh Witness Protection Office (after 2013's Gimme Shelter). The opening teaser a report from family court about an unnamed child characterized as a "little monster" sets the tone for the horrific, almost unbearable situations that follow. The prologue introduces Mo, a woman confined to a living hell in a hospital bed. An enigmatic stranger whom Mo met in a Cardiff restaurant slipped a drug into her drink that led her to reveal secrets of a safe house before leaving her completely paralyzed and unable to communicate. In the main narrative, a young mother, Kim, falls prey to an intruder, who sedates Kim and positions her in front of a video camera, which records her baby slowly dying from dehydration in a nearby crib, reflected in Kim's eyes. And that's all before Ros Gilet, a witness protection officer, must deal with a copycat murder. Minette Walters fans will find a lot to like.