I think I might have found myself an author to try more by. For such an unpleasant subject I found reading this very oddly moving.
Initially we open with what is clearly an unpleasant scenario – a killer explaining the physical and mental high he achieved from strangling his victims with a noose. This was definitely a little close for comfort, but we then switched action and focus which offered a very different experience and this switch in timeline/narrative voice opened up an intriguing read.
The Thief was the moniker given to the man who was eventually charged with killing Angela Mitchell. No body was ever found, and it was thought – because of investigations carried out by Angela – that this man was actually responsible for many more murders.
We follow Angela as she deals with what she calls her obsessions. Convinced there is something odd she, like many at the time, is keen to know what happened to the women who have disappeared. She is suspicious of many, determined to use her notes and thoughts to work out what exactly happened. Unfortunately she soon learns that things are a lot closer to home and we worry about what happened to her. Her nature and depiction (as an autist at a time where misunderstanding was rife) was sensitively done.
Much of our time focuses on Rory Moore, a difficult character but one who I found fascinating. Shunned by many, definitely not comfortable in herself, but she is an expert in solving cold cases. When her father dies Rory is trying to tie up his business when she learns that she will have to take on his final outstanding case – getting parole for The Thief. Wondering what on earth her father was doing leads her to undertake some digging of her own. What she learns then shocks her to the core, and though we suspected her father might have closer links than we were expecting, this took us to a very different place.
Alongside the story and the time frame I was intrigued by the various characters that featured in this story. The benefit of hindsight is a wonderful thing, and perhaps much could have been done differently, but this situation and the resolution was far more emotional in its impact than I expected.
I am very much looking forward to seeing more of Rory in her role.