The Reborn (Rhona MacLeod)

The clown suddenly appeared beside a group of kids at the candy floss van, bringing Kira to an abrupt halt. Then it began. The rapid heartbeat, the burst of perspiration, the gasping breath. The baby lurched inside her, as though sharing her panic.

When the body of a pregnant teenager is found in a Hall of Mirrors with the full-term fetus surgically removed, forensic scientist Rhona MacLeod is called in to assist the police. Suspicion falls on Jeff Coulter, a psychotic inmate at a nearby hospital whose hobby is making Reborns—chillingly realistic baby dolls intended for bereaved parents or those unable to conceive. But how could he have orchestrated the murder from a secure mental facility? The investigation leads to a group of teenage girls who seem to have all got pregnant at the same time, and then a Reborn doll is discovered near the crime scene, and a second girl from the group is found dead. Creepy, compelling, and heart-stoppingly tense, this is Lin Anderson's most powerful novel yet.