Carver conceals the identity of gritty crime writer Martyn Waites writing with his wife and their series featuring DI Phil Brennan and his psychologist wife Marina Esposito is a long term favourite, combining dark insights into the ugliness of the criminal world and a measured, realistic approach to interpersonal relationships bearing witness to experience. Following the death of a victim of abuse, Marina now separated from Phil is seconded to the case to quiz the victim's young daughter and is reunited with him when it is discovered this is not a lone murder investigation when a connection is made to other sinister disappearances. Unflinching in its description of some of the horrors of modern life, the novel, like its predecessors, is also a thrilling knuckle-gripping ride that will keep the reader holding his breath all along. ~ Maxim Jakubowski
After years of abuse, Gemma Adderley has finally found the courage to leave her violent husband. She has taken one debilitating beating too many, endured one esteem-destroying insult too much. Taking her seven-year-old daughter Carly, she leaves the house, determined to salvage what she can of her life. She phones Safe Harbour, a women's refuge, and they tell her which street corner to wait on and what the car that will pick her up will look like. They tell her the word the driver will use so she knows it's safe to get in. And that's the last they hear from her. Gemma Adderley's daughter Carly is found wandering the city streets on her own the next day. Her mother's mutilated corpse turns up by the canal several weeks later. Her heart has been removed. Detective Inspector Phil Brennan takes on the case, and his wife, psychologist Marina Esposito, is brought in to try and help unlock Carly's memories of what happened that day. The race is on to solve the case before the Heartbreaker strikes again...
'If Tania Carver doesn't creep you out, you should seek professional help.' Val McDermid
'A near-perfect crime novel, which will keep you guessing into the wee small hours, and confirms Tania Carver as a bright new talent when it comes to edge-of-your-seat suspense.' Bella on CHOKED
'Gruesome and fast-paced, with Carver's trademark staccato sentences and plenty of suspense, this is definitely a white-knuckle read.' Guardian on CHOKED
Author
About Tania Carver
Tania Carver lives in the south of England with her husband and two children.
