"A gripping thriller that plunges deep into the heart of a city on the edge. "
Gritty and atmospheric, The Departed follows a determined detective navigating a city shaped by industrial decline, social unrest, and rising crime. Set in 1970s Liverpool, DCI Leigh Borrowdale takes us back to the winter of discontent, a city in turmoil where the police are "bizzy scum". A punishing winter, power cuts, pickets and strikes are the distressing features of real life on Merseyside. After 5 years on the force and the 5 months in CID, she's experienced more dead boys than most. A fact made even more chilling as every time she's reminded of the disappearance of her little brother James. And she's terrified this one is him. With his promising young life ahead of him, about to head to Keele University to study Physics, aged 18 he never returned from a camping trip on the Isle of Man.
Amid smoky pubs and back-alley dealings, the force battles corruption, old-school policing methods, and a criminal underworld that thrives in the shadows of dockside warehouses. When Borrowdale is called out to a mysterious death in a decaying building, where the remains of a young man have been found, she's plunged into a missing person's case to match them all. Faced with a challenging home life, a mother battling depression unable to come to terms with the loss of her son, Borrowdale doesn't have family she can rely on, friends she can count on, colleagues she can trust. Until her new partner DS Des Chung that is, united as outsiders in a male-dominated, misogynistic and racist force.
She breaks the rules. She makes her own rules. And she gets stuff done. Seriously flawed. Vulnerable but strong. She daren't let anyone in. I loved her. Every Tizer-swilling swig. Every flaw. Every questionable decision. I can't bloody wait to see more of the bizzy that is Borrowdale. A first-rate crime thriller that keeps you hooked right to the gripping conclusion.
| Primary Genre | General Fiction |
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'Ask him to return the kiss when I draw my dying breath'
St. Joseph, patron of departing souls - pray for me.'
Liverpool, 1979: new CID recruit Leigh Borrowdale is seconded to a disturbing murder inquiry: a mysterious death in a decaying building, where the remains of a young man have been found.
Tasked with looking into missing persons' cases to track down the identity of the victim, Leigh comes into contact with the disappeared of a city living through its darkest days of the winter of discontent.
As she faces her own family demons and battles the male-dominated world at work, Leigh discovers a connection to two boys feared drowned in the Mersey and links to the murky Liverpool underworld. Through it all her only ally is her colleague, DS Des Chung, who knows what it means to be an outsider in the police force, albeit one who takes a very different approach.
Twisting, deeply atmospheric and never losing sight of the human cost at the centre of every case, THE DEPARTED marks the debut of a major new talent in crime-writing.
The Departed features in the following genres: Debut Books of the Month, Debuts, Crime and Mystery, General Fiction, Historical crime and mysteries, Crime and mystery: hard-boiled crime, noir fiction, Crime and mystery: police procedural, General Fiction, Fiction, Historical crime and mysteries, Crime and mystery: hard-boiled crime, noir fiction, Crime and mystery: police procedural
The Departed is available in Paperback, Hardback
The Departed was written by Sarah Mellor and published by HarperNorth an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
The Departed has 320 pages
£15.29
