This is book two of the Detective Ryan Chase series and sees him and his team having to deal with the deaths of a family of four, found murdered in their own home, with all the doors and windows still locked and the alarm set. Some initially believe it could have been an inside job and that one of the children killed everyone else and then themself, but further investigations and evidence finally lead them to look elsewhere. Why this family were targeted is unknown. If there was a problem with one of the family, why did the killer murder the others as well? Chase is still dealing with the demons his OCD causes, both at home and work and it is only Mallory that seems to have cottoned on to his odd behaviour so far luckily. He is also helping out with his ex-wife Donna, after her partner deserted her as soon as she faced a cancer diagnosis. DS Mallory Lawson has her own issues at home with looking after her younger brother who has Downs Syndrome and has been scared after a fire in their kitchen when she was working. His confidence in his own independence has bombed and he is keeping her awake with his nightmares. This new case is a difficult one, with very little in the way of clues to help them solve it at the start, so lots of long hours and extra manpower required.
Another family is being targeted by this invisible killer. How they are getting into the family’s homes and seemingly knows all of their routines is staggering. It’s as if they have been stalking the family for months and know exactly where the family leaves things like keys to the locked windows an even their mobile phones when they go to bed. Spooky! They know everything about the targeted family’s lives and seemingly all of their secrets too. There is so much going on in the lead detective’s life and in his partners that you wonder at times how they can cope with the pressure. Chase has to face the medical examiner after he ran away from her during their first date, as his OCD went haywire, and he has been trying to avoid her ever since. Now he has to face her and figure out how to talk to her as a normal person and as a man who likes her, but without letting her know what he is struggling with. We don’t get to see his OCD flare up too much in this book thankfully, apart from one night time episode, where his elderly neighbour comes round with a nightcap for the two of them! The finale exposes two very worrying aspects of the case, how the killer knew so much about the house and those in it and how they knew exactly wen to strike. The killer brought two methods I have read about in real cases, into one and used them to get into the homes and kill all the inhabitants. The clock is ticking on whether the police can stop this person, before they kill again. They have an enormous task to undertake if they are to be able to narrow down the number of families and homes to check, when they can find no trace of their main suspect at home or work, after the first killings. Another great read, that has you pacing along with Chase and Lawson, as the net gets smaller, but also takes so long to narrow down enough to be effective, in their hunt for the killer. It leaves you guessing until the last minute, as to whether they will be in time or not. I received an ARC copy of this book from BookSprout and I have freely given my own opinion of the book above.