In the ghost estate of Brianstown, a coastal development stalled by the Irish financial collapse, Detective Mick "Scorcher" Kennedy investigates a triple homicide. Pat Spain and his two young children are found dead in their home, while his wife Jenny remains in intensive care. Kennedy and his rookie partner, Richie Curran, find a house riddled with strange holes in the walls and hidden baby monitors. The investigation centers on Pat’s obsession with a phantom intruder and the psychological strain of his sudden unemployment and mounting debt.
Readers who value meticulous police procedurals and psychological realism read this for its clinical dissection of a mental breakdown triggered by economic ruin. It attracts those interested in how environmental stressors, like living in a deserted construction site, erode family stability and individual sanity. The reader walks away with a detailed understanding of the fragile boundary between middle-class security and total domestic collapse. The narrative provides a blunt look at how professional pride can blind an investigator to the nuances of a disintegrating mind.
Inward-looking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Empathetic Explorer. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 2012
- Language
- EN
