Published 9th June 2022 by Penguin Michael Joseph.
From the cover of the book:
Just before the crash, Cate and Aiden Gascoigne are recorded on CCTV, laughing and happy. Then their car plunges into a ninety-foot ravine.Within seconds, the vehicle is an inferno - and the Gascoignes are trapped inside.
But when fire crews arrive, they find something impossible:
The vehicle is empty.
Cate and Aiden have vanished.
And only missing persons investigator David Raker can solve the mystery . . .
***********
Two and a half years ago, happily married couple Cate and Aiden Gascoigne were driving along a country lane just off the busy A3 in Surrey, when for reasons unknown their car suddenly left the road, plunged into a deep ravine, and caught fire. Rescuers arrived within minutes, but when they reached the scene of the accident they could find no trace of Cate and Aiden, even though it seemed impossible that anyone could possibly survive the inferno that engulfed their car. The couple have not been seen or heard from since.
Cate's bewildered parents, frustrated by the lack of progress from the police in locating their daughter and her husband, decide to call in successful missing persons investigator David Raker, but at first sight the case seems impossible to solve. How could a couple just disappear in broad daylight?
Raker sets about his painstaking investigation, building up a picture of photographer Cate and web-designer Aiden's lives prior to their disappearance, and looking into the accounts of the two witnesses at the scene. What he finds sends him down a rabbit hole connected to the unsolved deaths of three young women in the north of England, and the sad fate of the detective who tried to get to the bottom of their murders. Raker begins to see a pattern emerging, and what he finds has him very afraid...
Although this is book eleven in the David Raker series, it is my first Raker investigation, and I thoroughly enjoyed it from puzzling start to unsettling ending. There are some references to Raker's previous history, but this can easily be read as a stand-alone thriller.
The story plays out through Raker's eyes as he searches for Cate and Aiden, and from the point of view of various characters connected to the cases of the murdered girls. It takes a while to see how these separate threads relate to each other, which builds in some lovely slow-burn suspense until the moment where the full picture is cleverly revealed. There is an additional side plot involving a character from Raker's past which doesn't directly relate to the story, but is intriguing in terms of past cases, Raker's relationship with the police, and for what Weaver obviously has planned for the next book.
Raker comes across as a complex man, who has learnt from experience that life carries with it hard knocks and difficult decisions, but his overwhelming compassion for the people he is trying to help makes him an engaging character right from the word go. His working practices are methodical and involve a lot of sifting of detailed information, questioning interested parties, and following-up each and every possible lead. Weaver goes to great lengths to take you through the process, piecing together information and making the necessary jumps forward right at Raker's side which I really enjoyed.
This puts in all the groundwork for the gripping direction the story takes when Raker opens an extremely chilling can of worms about what the missing couple have got themselves involved in, putting himself in danger as the sinister truth is uncovered. The tension ramps right up to heart-in-the-mouth country as the story takes you to some very dark places, with delicious misdirection, and the ultimate reveal of the kind of baddies that will haunt your nightmares.
My first Raker is an absolutely cracking page-turner, with disturbing twists and turns I really did not see coming, and a plot that delivers a solid visceral kick. I loved it, and cannot wait to read more!
The Black Bird is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.
Thank you to Michael Joseph for sending me a proof of this book in return for an honest review.
About the author:
He is the host and producer of the chart-topping Missing podcast and is currently developing an original TV series with the team behind Line of Duty.
A former journalist and magazine editor, he lives near Bath with his wife and daughter.
No comments:
Post a Comment