This is a hard one to rate. The story of a DCI who has a case literally blow up in her face, resulting in a suspension, investigating the underlying crime of a girl taken from her room and murdered on a beach. The girl's mom, Christine, is one of the most insufferable, annoying characters I've read in a long time, and she only serves to bring the story down. The DCI, Erica, starts out as a rather nasty, abrasive person but at least she softens somewhat as the story progresses. There is a surprise twist I did not see coming, but it's a bit incredible and doesn't quite ring true. Plus, there's a bit of cheating by Dunnett to hide the reveal, which I never like. The writing is solid, and the story does get better as it goes along, but overall it was disappointing considering the quality of Dunnett's previous books, especially the Rockpool series. Definitely my least favorite of his works. I think there is a future in this series with Christine gone and Erica having evolved as a character, so hopefully the second one improves on the formula. Didn't hate it but didn't love it, either. 2.5 stars for the writing and story improvement.