Next of Kin is dark, disturbing, and unforgettable
Next of Kin: A Sarah Quinn Police Procedural
by Maureen Carter
Severn House
Mystery & Thrillers
Pub Date: March 1, 2016
Review
Next of Kin is an extremely dark novel, and is best suited for adult readers. It is a gritty, realistic police procedural that may be disturbing for some readers as sexual assault plays a major role.
When the body of a teenage girl is found, it is assumed she is only the latest victim of a serial rapist. The case becomes more complicated when police discover that the dead girl’s friend is also missing. Detective Inspector Quinn is assigned the case, but is undercut at every turn. The victim’s father is angry, but refuses to cooperate with Sarah. The Chief Superintendent has assigned another Detective to assist, one who closes cases, but is known to cut corners. Both the Chief Super and DI Brody want Sarah out of the picture, and this case may be the means of achieving that goal.
Caroline King may not be writing for the papers anymore, having devoted herself to writing books, but she still has journalistic savvy and an eye for news. She wants to do a book on rape, from the perspective of the rapists and the victims, but in a way that hasn’t been done before. To that end, she is wooing Quinn’s former Captain for an in. But her link is closer than she knows.
The investigation is complicated when a convicted sex offender, identified by an anonymous call is found brutally murdered. With more deaths following and few leads in sight, Quinn needs to salvage the case and her career.
Next of Kin is a novel that lingers on the reader’s mind long after the final page. Sexual assault is a brutal crime that damages the victims, the families, and those who are wrongly accused. Next of Kin is a novel of crime and consequences, dark and disturbing, but ultimately unforgettable.
5/5
Next of Kin is available for preorder and will be released March 1, 2016.
I received a copy of Next of Kin from Severn House and netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.
—Crittermom
Description
Ice-cool Detective Inspector Sarah Quinn and fiery reporter Caroline King lock horns once again in this latest intriguing mystery. When the body of a teenage girl is found in a local park, it is assumed she is the latest victim of a serial sex offender who has been plaguing the area. But when it transpires that the dead girl’s best friend is missing, DI Sarah Quinn is drawn into a complex murder investigation where nothing is as it seems. With the investigation heading nowhere - not helped by the hostility of the victim’s distraught father, nor by Sarah’s unsympathetic new Chief Superintendent who seems determined to undermine her – a shocking turn of events leads Sarah to question her own judgement. And that’s before she encounters her old foe, calculating journalist Caroline King …
