This is an excellent follow-up to Giarratano's debut novel Vodka Doesn’t Freeze. It again features Sergeant Jill Jackson but this time she has been transferred from Maroubra out west to Liverpool. There she is to join a task-force investigating gang-related home invasions. She has a new partner, Gabriel Delahunt, a new boss and a new team. The five home invasions have taken place over the past two months but when the violence escalates to murder, Jill and the team find themselves hunting a psychopath. Jill and Gabriel are forced to question all the victims again, in particular Joss and Isobel, who become crucial to the story. It’s a race against time to uncover the link between the victims and the killer and to prevent him from attacking again. Giarratano keeps the pace moving along rapidly and the suspense builds through the gruesome and vicious crimes. The main character Jill Jackson seems to be well on the way to recovery from her problems (encountered in the first book) and I look forward eagerly to her next one. The suspense is good, the characters believable and I think the book would appeal to anyone who likes their crime a little on the dark side.

Peter Milne is a bookseller and co-editor of the Crime Chronicle

Tags: leah giarratano