David Raker one time journalist, now a private investigator specialising in finding the missing, is recuperating in Cornwall. He has a temporary lodger in a disgraced former Met. Detective - Colm Healy. A gruesome discovery is found washed up on the tide - body parts. Healy is keen to discover more but the local police do not want to include him. Healy and Raker fall out over Healy's insistence on trying to find out more about the dead body parts and Healy returns to London.

An ex-girlfriend of David's - Emily Kane - asks him to investigate the disappearance of her sister Carrie's family. Carrie, her husband and their two daughters, just vanished from their house, leaving the house unlocked, dinner cooking and the television on. Despite still being weak following having been attacked with a knife and left for dead, which is the reason he is recuperating, David agrees to investigate. This will be a very difficult assignment. He is up against desperate and vicious adversaries, who will stop at nothing to protect their sinister secrets.

This is the fourth book featuring David Raker by this author. Part of the problem of using a PI rather than a policeman is how do you access details about missing individuals? The author gets around this by having a police insider and also a hacker on Raker's payroll. Weaver keeps the suspense and action going throughout with plenty of twists to keep you guessing. The ending, although not completely unexpected, still has a powerful affect on your senses. Recommended.

Geoff Jones, England
September 2013