Monday, November 6, 2017

I See You, by Clare Mackintosh

Berkley Publishing Group, ISBN 9781101988299, February 2017

Zoe Walker, completely by chance, sees her picture in a newspaper, the London Gazette. It's especially disturbing that her picture is included in what appears to be an advertisement for a dating site, or possibly a sex chat line.

It's not long before she learns hat another woman whose picture was also used in one of these ads, for the same website, FindtheOne.com, had her keys stolen from her bag when she fell asleep while riding public transit. Yet another featured woman is killed.

Her son and daughter, and her partner, insist the picture isn't really her, but she continues to be afraid.

Meanwhile, PC Kelly Swift, still trying to rebuild her career from the time when she lost control and assaulted a prisoner, starts out investigating these crimes from the other direction. She investigated the case of the stolen keys, and is the officer the victim in that case calls when she thinks someone has been in her house. When Zoe also calls her, and convinces her there's a series of crimes here, she wants to keep investigating--but she's a British Transport Police patrol officer, not a detective.

Both women are very determined, and not easily discouraged.

Mackintosh very effectively builds an intricate plot, with the clues all there for the reader, while keeping that evidence easy to overlook.

We also get anonymous sections from the viewpoint of the criminal, which are fascinating and chilling and give nothing away.

As the story progressed, there were several points at which I thought I had identified the bad guy, and I was wrong, and the ending was not at all a cheat.

This is a bit darker than my usual taste, and in the content warning category, it should be mentioned that there are sexual crimes recounted.

Overall, though, definitely recommended.

I received a free electronic galley of this book from the publisher via Netgalley, and am reviewing it voluntarily.

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