A gruesome discovery made in the waters surrounding the drug-riddled seaside town of Bristol is the jumping-off point for the popular British author's grisly thriller. Good news for readers: This book, arriving in the wake of its turgid predecessor Pig Island (2007), reintroduces burnt-out police detective Jack Caffery, whose sardonic presence lent powerful gravitas to Hayder's excellent first two novels. Caffery is now a DI in the Mahor Crime Investigative Unit based in Bristol, and thus becomes instantly involved when police diver Sergeant Phoebe "Flea" Marley finds an amputated human hand in the aforementioned waters. Forensics suggest its possessor was alive when the appendage was severed. But when its matching hand soon turns up, the worst is feared, then confirmed, in a parallel narrative that identifies the victim as a notorious drug addict and slowly reveals the depths of the hell into which he had stumbled. Hayder ups the ante tellingly, plaiting together the story of the crime. She continues Caffery's quest for the truth about his younger brother, missing since childhood and presumed long dead, and addresses the demons that haunt Flea, still traumatized by the loss of her parents. When the case of the severed hands (perhaps inspired by the 2001 discovery in the Thames of the murdered body of a young African boy, "Adam") is painstakingly connected to the sale of body parts for use in arcane African religious rituals, the novel's grotesqueries and repetitions emerge as essential elements in a perfectly articulated process of minute ratiocination and honestly earned imaginative empathy. A brilliant recovery of form. Hayder is back. Agent: Kim Witherspoon and DavidForrer/InkWell Management
Nine feet under water, police diver Flea Marley closes her gloved fingers around a human hand. The fact that there's no body attached is disturbing enough. Even more disturbing is the discovery, a day later, of the matching hand. Both have been recently amputated, and the indications are that the victim was still alive when they were removed. DI Jack Caffery has been newly seconded to the Major Crime Investigation Unit in Bristol. He and Flea soon establish that the hands belong to a young man who has recently disappeared. Their search leads them into the darkest recesses of Bristol's underworld, where drug addiction is rife, where street-kids sell themselves for a hit, and where one of Africa's most disturbing rituals may be making an unexpected appearance.
1101065647
Ritual
Nine feet under water, police diver Flea Marley closes her gloved fingers around a human hand. The fact that there's no body attached is disturbing enough. Even more disturbing is the discovery, a day later, of the matching hand. Both have been recently amputated, and the indications are that the victim was still alive when they were removed. DI Jack Caffery has been newly seconded to the Major Crime Investigation Unit in Bristol. He and Flea soon establish that the hands belong to a young man who has recently disappeared. Their search leads them into the darkest recesses of Bristol's underworld, where drug addiction is rife, where street-kids sell themselves for a hit, and where one of Africa's most disturbing rituals may be making an unexpected appearance.
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Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940175331623 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Dreamscape Media |
| Publication date: | 12/01/2013 |
| Series: | Jack Caffery Series , #3 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
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