For Daddy Bear, Goldilocks chooses a 47-year-old, married banker named Nigel Baxter, who's been very generous in exchange for sexual favors. Goldilocks dispatches Nigel in a luxury hotel in London, making his death look like a suicide.
However, Goldilocks carefully places a custom made teddy bear at the scene of the crime (dressed like a 'daddy')......to make sure the police figure out it was a murder. The reason for the 'fake suicide' scenario isn't clear and unnecessarily complicates the story.
The detective assigned to the case is Dan Riley, a man consumed by the death of his pregnant girlfriend Rachel two years ago. Rachel was killed when a drunk driver called Craig Mathers hit her motorbike, and Dan CONSTANTLY fantasizes about the life he and Rachel could have had together, raising their wonderful child. Moreover, Dan is furious that Mathers is out of prison, and obsessively stalks him. This compulsive behavior is threaded throughout the book, and detracts from the main story (IMO).
Dan also seems to be clairvoyant, since - after observing Nigel Baxter's body - the detective immediately intuits that the killer plans to commit three murders: of 'daddy bear', 'mommy bear', and 'baby bear'.....though there's no evidence of this at the crime scene. It's not clear how Dan makes this brilliant deduction so early in the book, and it's not credible.
As Dan and his team are investigating Baxter's murder - and learning a good deal about the banker's unorthodox sexual proclivities (including 'dogging', which I had to look up) - Goldilocks is grooming her next victim. The killer, who now calls herself Danni-Jo, befriends her neighbor - a lonely, middle-aged divorcee named Kizzy who has a cat, Esmerelda.
I was rooting for Kizzy to wise up, grab the cat, and run for the hills.....but no dice. Again a custom made teddy bear is left at the crime scene, this time dressed like a mommy.
After the second murder Dan is very alarmed about a baby being killed next, and fervently searches for a break in the case. Serendipitously, a clue is found, and it's a shocker.
While all this is going on Dan decides to get on with his life, and registers at an online dating site. After a couple of unsuccessful dates, Dan meets Florence - a beautiful, sexy blonde from North London.....and they hit it off. Dan tells Florence EVERY SINGLE THING about Rachel, which is a bad move in any new relationship, and another plot point that doesn't ring true. Dan's romance complicates his job and adds suspense to the novel.
The story is narrated by Dan and the killer, in alternating sections - so we see deep into the psyche of these two individuals. There's also an array of secondary characters, including Nigel Baxter's betrayed wife, Dan's colleagues, and Goldilocks' childhood psychiatrist.
The police inquiries and Dan's personal life race along to a climax, but the book's ending was a disappointment. I was expecting a dramatic exciting denouement, and the book concludes with a fizzle. At one point I thought the detective might be suffering from schizophrenia or multiple personality disorder, and that Dan and Danni-Jo were the same person. But no. (Too bad.)
That said, I enjoyed most of the story and would probably read more books featuring Dan Riley. I hope though, that the cop gets over his obsession with Rachel's death and develops better detective radar.
Thanks to Netgalley, the author (Anna-Lou Weatherley), and the publisher (Bookouture) for a copy of the book.
Rating: 3 stars
Sounds like an interesting start to a series.
ReplyDeleteYes, a good cast to go on with. :)
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