When Constable Neil Chance comes across a fire in a local park, he does his best to save the two people who are burning. At much risk to himself, he's injured and unable to help the couple who are already dead. Not meaning to, he's earned the respect of some of his colleagues.

However, DI Stephanie Saxton yells at him for interfering with her crime scene. Instead of punishing Chance, Saxon transfers him into her unit claiming that she needs more time to question Chance about his findings on that first terrible night.

The bodies keep piling up ... mostly in tourist spots so they will be found quickly. This killer has been capturing and torturing his victims for years and is waiting for his opportunity to murder a police officer, so Saxon needs to surround herself with the kind of people who are willing to set themselves on fire to get the job done.

Saxon is not a likeable character. She's determined, but she also has a secret agenda. She yells, she criticizes, and her personal life is a mess. Chance comes across as a dedicated officer .. but a little on the naive side. The killer is never fully explained. The kill scenes are almost gratuitous, as are the intimate moments between Chance and Saxon. I think the premise was a good one .. but it lacked a lot of everything.

Many thanks to the author / BooksGoSocial / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Merci d’avoir accepté pour le livre. Bonne lecture, sympa. Mais pas un coup de coeur pour ma part. Une prochaine fois peut-être.

this was a great mystery novel, the premise was scary and I really enjoyed getting to know the characters. I look forward to more from the author.

What a good book! A killer taunting police. Killing couples. It did seem a bit predictable, but I still really liked it. I found it well-written and the storyline was good. It kept my attention very well, and usually British mysteries do not. I do recommend it!

This was beyond gory but amazing! kept me wanting to read more, I cant wait for next edition! The villain is usually someone who at least works out or has forces training but to find this monster was built like a small child and yet capable of such horrors that requires such strength was beyond comprehension and very rare -great book!

The murderer had picked his target and was following Alex down the street, he blended in well amongst the crowd. Alex had no idea he was being followed. After a while, the killer decided that after five hundred steps he would kill his target so he started the countdown, five hundred, four hundred and ninety-nine…

Three, two, one, zero….they are in a park. The killer took his chance and attacked Alex, blood spurting from the wound. He beat him to within an inch of death and when he was satisfied, he got Alex’s phone to text his girlfriend, asking her to join them. When Beattie saw Alex, she jogged to him. He whispered, ‘Run.’ She didn’t and the murderer appeared and started to attack her. He took a photo on both their phones. He then gets her to confess her secret to Alex and Alex to tell Beattie he hated her. He then stripped naked and did ten long steps from the bodies. Going round in a circle he sprayed the ground around the bodies and as much of the ground as possible with accelerant, making sure his clothes were sprayed too. He then sets it alight. He then slips away.

Detective Inspector Stephanie Saxon gets called to the scene, it’s like something no-one has seen before. Constable Chance joined her as he was the first police officer on the scene and tried to save the victims, burning his hands in the process. She wanted him to join her with her inquiries while she looked into the couples past. There was a picture of the couple at Bondi Beach so Saxon and Chance took a trip out there not realising that the killer saw them. The next day they got called to a crime scene, he had struck again.

They found the scene had been sectioned off from the media and onlookers as it was in a public place on Bondi Beach. There were two corpses lying side by side, burnt to a crisp with sand covering them. It looked like their heads had been removed. The detectives could smell petrol in the air, was that used for the fire?

Luckily there was a witness who saw the murderer commit the crime. He used what looked like an axe on the victims while he attacked them. Then he stripped his clothes off and then carried their heads around with him while he walked in a circle. Then there was fire. She couldn’t see how he left but he was really small, a bit like a child.

They were linking the crimes although different districts. How does the killer pick his targets? They have no clues to identify him. Why does he burn his clothes? Did he see them at Bondi Beach?

I really enjoyed reading this book which is set in Australia. The book is quite well written with some very descriptive writing. It’s very dark but that is the way I like my books and it was definitely new to kill people! I would love there to be a second book.

Unique premise and well-drawn characters, with plenty of "left turns" along the way to keep the reader intrigued. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and would recommend it to all readers searching for top-rate writing. Perfect summer read!

*I received this book as an ARC from the author/publisher in return for my honest review.*