Ruth Lennox, beloved mother of three, is found by her daughter in a pool of her own blood. Who would want to murder an ordinary housewife? And why?
Psychotherapist Frieda Klein finds she has an unusually personal connection with DCI Karlsson's latest case. She is no longer working with him in an official capacity, but when her niece befriends Ruth Lennox's son, Ted, she finds herself in the awkward position of confidante to both Karlsson and Ted.
When it emerges that Ruth was leading a secret life, her family closes ranks and Karlsson finds he needs Frieda's help more than ever before.
But Frieda is distracted. Having survived an attack on her life, she is struggling to stay in control and when a patient's chance remark rings an alarm bell, she finds herself chasing down a path that seems to lead to a serial killer who has long escaped detection. Or is it merely a symptom of her own increasingly fragile mind?
Because, as Frieda knows, every step closer to a killer is one more step into a darkness from which there may be no return...
For Frieda Klein the days get longer, the cases
darker...
Psychotherapist Frieda Klein thought she was done with the
police. But once more DCI Karlsson is knocking at her door.
A man's
decomposed body has been found in the flat of Michelle Doyce, a woman
trapped in a world of strange mental disorder. The police don't know who
it is, how he got there or what happened - and Michelle can't tell
them. But Karlsson hopes Frieda can get access to the truths buried
beneath her confusion.
Painstakingly, Frieda uncovers a possible
identity for the corpse: Robert Poole, a jack of all trades and master
conman. But the deeper Frieda and Karlsson dig into Poole's past, the
more of his victims they encounter - and the more motives they find for
murder.
Meanwhile, violent ghosts from Frieda's own past are returning to
threaten her.
Unable to discover quite who is telling the truth and who
is lying, they know they are getting closer to a killer. But whoever
murdered Poole is determined to stay free - and anyone that gets too
close will meet the same fate.
