Publication Date: 20th April from Randomhouse UK Cornerstone
Source: Netgalley
The first body comes as a shock
The second brings horror
The third signals the beginning of a nightmare
When fifteen-year-old Isla Bell finds three bodies propped against Hadrian’s Wall, her whole world falls apart. In such a close-knit community, everyone knows the victims, and the man who did it.
Twenty years on and Isla has dedicated her life to forensic psychology; studying the brains of serial killers, and even coming face to face with the convicted murderer who turned her world upside down. She is safe after all, with him behind bars.
Then another body appears against the Wall.
And another.
As the nightmare returns and the body count rises, everyone in town is a suspect.
Who is the Killer on the Wall?
It started with the bodies….Well yes, indeed it did and the opening salvo from Emma Kavanagh in The Killer On The Wall made me actually shiver – the scene setting itself would have been enough but then there were BODIES. And I pretty much continued to shiver my way through the rest of the novel as well and not just because of all the death and desolation.
Basically The Killer on the Wall is an utterly riveting psychological thriller with Ms Kavanagh’s trademark divisive yet endlessly compelling characters all living through a nightmare the likes of which is almost unimaginable. If you live in a small community and you know everyone, what do you do when there is a killer on the loose? Even more so when you thought it was all behind you and there had been many years of relative quiet and recuperation.
That is the situation the author throws her group into, all set against a haunting yet beautiful backdrop which comes to life in the telling. Descriptively this is her best yet, so as well as the really quite twisted yet extremely emotive plot developing you’ve got it all happening in a place of beauty, where nothing so ugly should occur.
I love the psychological aspects, I was particularly drawn to Isla who grew up to make a career out of trying to discover why some people can commit these horrific acts having seen the fallout with her own eyes, she is sympathetic and driven. The crime element – whodunnit – is fascinatingly drawn, driven very much by the characters and how they see things. You may or may not see the end coming but to be honest, that may be the pay off but the sheer addictive nature of The Killer on the Wall is found not in the solving of the mystery but in the events leading up to it.
Another huge HUGELY excellent book from an author who is becoming one to watch in Crime writing circles. I’m loving each one more than the last and The Killer On The Wall is perhaps my favourite because it has such a brilliantly atmospheric ambience and a true page turning quality – it is honestly hard to put down once you start.
Wonderful writing, clever and taut storytelling and a definite tendency to make you want to sleep with the lights on.
Highly Recommended.
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Happy Reading!
Ooh I didn’t realise that Emma Kabanagh had another book out this year! Although having been astounded by the quality of the first two I’m not sure how this can be better