Past Life
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
DS Aector McAvoy must face the dark, disturbing secrets of his past if he's to keep his family safe.
The clairvoyant is found with her tongue crudely carved out, a shard of blue crystal buried deep within her mangled ribcage.
The crime scene plunges DS Aector McAvoy back twelve years, to a case from when he was starting out. An investigation that proved a turning point in his life – but one he’s tried desperately to forget.
To catch the killer, he must face his past. Face the terrible thing he did. But doing so also means facing the truth about his beloved wife Roisin, and the dark secrets she’s keeping have the power to destroy them both completely.
David Mark brings Hull to dark, brutal life in this gripping novel in the critically acclaimed DS McAvoy series – a perfect pick for fans of Denise Mina, Val McDermid and Peter Robinson.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
British author Mark's fine ninth police procedural featuring Hull Det. Sgt. Aector McAvoy (after 2019's Cold Bones) opens with psychic Dymphna Lowell providing a reading for a taciturn stranger who shows up unexpectedly at her isolated house. She can tell just by looking at him he doesn't have a promising future. After calling her a charlatan, the man bashes Lowell's head with one of her crystals, strangles her with her necklace, cuts out her tongue, and sticks a crystal shard into her rib cage. The m.o. reminds McAvoy of a case he handled 12 years earlier as a new copper that he thought was closed. Palm reader Eva-Jayne Puck was strangled in her flat by someone who drove something sharp into her torso. The Puck inquiry has a personal dimension for McAvoy, as her niece, who was seen fleeing the scene of the killing, is now his wife. Mark's experiences as a Hull crime reporter pay off in his realistic portrayals of both cops and civilians, and he presents his lead's inner life in a nuanced way that doesn't interfere with the pace and suspense of the dramatic plotline. Ian Rankin fans will be pleased.
