Listen to the Shadows - Softcover

Reah, Danuta

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0061031348 ISBN 13: 9780061031342

Publisher: HarperTorch, 2002

Synopsis

Underneath the shadow of an antique waterwheel in a city park, a young woman's body is found. The case is assigned to Detective Inspector Steve McCarthy, a tenacious cop determined to do whatever it takes to see justice done. His only lead, however, is the woman who found the victim, Suzanne Milner. Battling her own demons, Suzanne is reluctant to get involved and gives McCarthy nothing but maddening evasions to his questions.

Stymied by clues that lead him around blind corners to dead ends, the frustrated DI goes into overdrive when another body bearing an eerie resemblance to the first is found in the same location. To McCarthy's horror, what had seemed like an isolated crime soon reveals itself to be part of a sinister maze of need and desire in which Suzanne's best intentions could lead to her ultimate undoing.

About this title

About the Author:

Danuta Reah lives in Shetfield, England, with her artist husband. She currently works as an education consultant, runs writer's workshops, and is a university lecturer in English language. She also writes textbooks on English language and linguistics.

From Publishers Weekly:

First published last year in the U.K. under the title Silent Playgrounds, British author Reah's unsettling and somewhat creepy psychological thriller explores the extent to which one child's fantasies prove frighteningly real. The story opens with the police search for missing six-year-old Lucy Fielding and her babysitter, Emma, in a neighborhood park in Sheffield, England. Lucy's mother, Jane, and Jane's best friend, Suzanne Milner, are frantic until Lucy is found safe in nearby woods. Emma is not as lucky her dead body is discovered in an abandoned section of the park. Lucy, a stoic child with a vivid imagination, explains that there are monsters in the park, yet no one takes the child seriously except Suzanne, and an investigation ensues. Suzanne, a research academic who works with delinquent teens, had been jogging in the park the morning of the murder and thinks she saw one of the teens she counsels hanging around the crime scene. As she works alongside the police and gives credence to Lucy's drawing and stories, the killer closes in on her. When a second body is found and a seedy student drug ring is uncovered, Suzanne realizes that the delinquent teens she researches are not just guilty of petty crime but may be involved in much more sinister and complex activities. This atmospheric thriller starts off with potentially interesting characters and good pacing, but languishes toward the middle with little fresh action to tide the reader over until the puzzling and unexpected ending. The meticulously detailed suburban English setting and Reah's literary touch will appeal to those who appreciate a more sophisticated and subdued suspense tale, but readership on this side of the Atlantic will be limited.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperTorch
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0061031348
• ISBN 13: 9780061031342
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 352