Splinter in the Blood by Ashley Dyer is a propulsive debut novel filled with secrets, nerve-jangling tension, mystery, and cold-blooded murder, where a police officer on the hunt for a macabre serial killer is brutally attacked and only his partner knows the truth about what happened—and who did it ... Readers who revel in accurate, detailed descriptions of police procedures will be absorbed by Splinter in the Blood. The devil truly is in the details.
The case of the Thorn Killer, who uses thorns to elaborately tattoo his female victims, obsesses Liverpool DCI Greg Carver. He’s keeping his own case files at home and is drinking too much, prompting his wife, Emma, to move out ... the Thorn Killer’s latest victim however resembles Emma and was wearing a pair of Emma’s earrings ... Suspense fiction by a knowledgeable duo.
Five women. Five bodies full of increasingly elaborate tattoo art made with a thorn instead of a needle. Liverpool DCI Carver has been leading the Thorn Killer investigation team, until he’s found shot by his partner, the inscrutable DS Ruth Lake. As Lake dips her toe into the often vicious world of amateur theater, Carver fights his own battles at the hospital, trying to remember the events that put him there and whether the Thorn Killer is responsible ... With complicated leads and a killer whose method is barbaric enough to be frightening without shading into the grotesque, this is a debut worthy of sequels.
Det. Sgt. Ruth Lake holds the gun that just shot her partner, Det. Chief Insp. Greg Carver, who’s been pursuing the Thorn Killer. Greg is slumped on the sitting room floor of his Liverpool house and, amazingly, alive. Before calling in the shooting, Ruth wipes all surfaces she touched and stashes in her car the box of evidence on the Thorn Killer, who has been terrorizing the city using poison-drenched thorns to kill his victims ... While Greg recuperates in the hospital, Ruth, a former crime scene investigator, clandestinely pursues the Thorn Killer. But Ruth is harboring a dark secret that she’ll do almost anything to keep hidden. The skillfully constructed plot complements the intriguing characters, including a killer who lurks in the background. Dyer is definitely a crime writer to watch.
