This is a follow up to Good Girl, Bad Girl, reviewed earlier on this blog. The narrative picks up explaining how forensic psychologist Cyrus Haven meets Sacha Hopewell, who early in her policing career rescues a child hiding in a house in which a body was found. The man had been tortured to death and this book explains the events that lead to how this girl, Evie Cormac, winds up in that house.
The main events in this novel are kicked off when the body of a retired police detective named Hamish Whitmore is discovered. It is quickly determined that the violent scene of his death has been staged to look like a suicide, when it is clearly a homicide. Enter Cyrus who makes a connection between things this detective had uncovered and Evie.
The reader learns that Evie, now eighteen years old, had been a part of a child sex trafficking ring before being rescued by Sacha. Severely traumatized by the events of her youth, details of her ordeal and her past are eked out bit by bit by Cyrus, who Evie is slowly learning to trust. Part of the reason for the trust is that Cyrus himself comes from a trauma-induced background because his entire family was killed by his older brother when Cyrus was just thirteen.
Cyrus, Sacha, and police chief Lenny learn that Hamish is murdered because of his investigations into a child sex trafficking ring, and Cyrus picks up the investigations where Hamish left off. Cyrus realizes that Evie is in peril from the people that don't want her around anymore because of what she can reveal and people that she can identify. Cyrus finds himself in in extreme danger as well when he discovers the very prominent and powerful people involved in this long-reaching crime.
This author writes a powerful story here although I fear the character of Cyrus's older brother (the one who kills his family) perpetuates the myth that all people suffering from schizophrenia are violent, when the fact is that most people with this condition are not violent. In spite of that small point, Robotham's characters are easy to care for and root for. The plot is thrilling and heartbreaking all at the same time - I'm a fan of this writer's books!
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