Karen spent 30+ years as a Civil Servant, mostly in Revenue which is where she developed my absolute hatred of poor writing skills! Her favourite genre is now crime/thriller/police procedural/legal genre with the occasional foray into chick-lit and general fiction.
The central character is the intriguing Dr Evelyn Talbot who heads up a Mental Health facility for psychopaths in Alaska.
It appears that Talbot was a victim of a psychopath’s attack while a teenager; she is constantly on alert as the psychopath who attacked her is still at large.
Talbot has dedicated her life to studying psychopathic behaviour as she feels this is how she will track down her attacker. The narrative features two stories that are interwoven elegantly into this dark tale. The main theme is about Dr Talbot’s attacker while the secondary story is about her interaction with one of inmates of the facility.
The book flows elegantly and is very well paced, with plenty of twists and turns and a few blind alleys to keep the reader engaged. The book is set in Alaska and her descriptions of the location, atmosphere, people of the area and the culture vividly realised.
This is the second instalment in a series. Though while it can be read as a standalone, it is a continuation and I felt as if I was missing some detail coming to this book without reading the preceding work.
Recommended for readers who enjoy a good psychological thriller which has something different to say, as it will indeed keep you guessing right up to the dénouement.
