Book #23 Quieter Than Killing

Quieter Than Killing by Sarah Hilary
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A new DI Marnie Rome novel is always something to savour. This is the fourth in a remarkable series and Sarah Hilary just keeps getting better. Erudite writing with a very complex plot.

A vigilante is at loose on the streets. A child is in danger. Sometimes staying silent is the only way to survive...

DI Marnie Rome and her bagman DS Noah Jake are once again treading the mean streets of London investigating a series of vigilante assaults, that are terrifying in their horrific nature. The attacks seem random. There are victims - and victims of victims, enough to make your head spin. And suddenly it becomes personal for Marnie when her family home is ransacked, the tenants savagely beaten and there are signs that the burglary (is that what it was?) can only have been committed by someone who knows her.

When a child goes missing Marnie is horrified to learn that no one has reported it and it becomes evident that the young boy is the son of a man currently incarcerated at Her Majesty’s pleasure. Does her step-brother Stephen have anything to do with this? Past events are brought into the chilling present, where street gangs are rife. And where does Noah’s brother Sol fit into this? What is Sol so scared of?

There are pages of brutality that are hard to read. The treatment meted out to the kidnapped child is harrowing. And how are all these events linked?

This is dark, compelling and emotionally intense. There are passages that I read over several times for the sheer quality of the writing:

” ‘Detective Inspector Marnie Rome’. He liked the round sound of the words, like pebbles, like those from the beach where his dad carried him down to the sea. He whispered the pebbles to the room, ‘Detective Inspector Marnie Rome’, and stared at the light under the door until the yellow line came back. When it opened——“

Set aside time for these 400+ pages because, once started, you will not want to put it down. And I wonder how soon it will be before we read about a newly promoted Detective Chief Inspector Marnie Rome? It might be just speculation on my part; I will just have to wait and see….

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