by Tania Carver (Sphere)
It was a dark and stormy night and nothing was stirring, including on my couch.
The purpose of a thriller/whodunnit is to challenge the reader to guess, er, whodunnit.
Drop tempting little titbits. Throw in red herrings and diversions and sleight of knife and bullet and word to throw you off the trail.
Carver’s story starts with an abused woman who has finally had enough. Gemma takes her 7-year-old daughter and leaves the home in which she has suffered terrifying attacks and humiliation, heading for a woman’s refuge.
But her daughter is found – alone, dirty and too terrified to talk – and there is no sign of Gemma.
Psychologist Marina Esposito manages to get some information from her, but it’s not until later, when Gemma is found mutilated and missing her heart, that the horror of her fate is revealed.
Detective Inspector Phil Brennan, who is married to Marina, but separated because of a threat from a dangerous mad woman on the loose, is in charge of the case. At least for a while. His life is swirling down the drain because all he wants is Marina.
Their relationship does provide a thread through the story, and leaves enough questions for another sequel.
Carver presents her “persons of interest”, but with very little subterfuge and it was no surprise when the killer was revealed.
Sadly, while Heartbreaker supplied an excuse to hunker under the covers during the recent icy weather, it did nothing to chill the blood.