Dead End - Leigh Russell, Author

 

Abigail’s head hurt.  She was afraid something was wrong with her eyes.  She couldn’t see anything.  A heavy weight was pressing down on her chest.  She fought against a feeling of nausea, and tried to turn her head but couldn’t.  “Hello,” she croaked.  No answer.  She was alone in the darkness… “Hello,” she called again.  Her throat hurt and there was a strange smell.  By now Abigail had realized she was in hospital, coming around from an operation.  Nurses of all people should have known better than to leave her lying on her back.  There was a risk she might choke to death if she were sick.  She seemed to lie there for hours, drifting in and out of consciousness.  “Hello,” she called again.  “Is anyone there?  Please?”  The light dazzled her “Am I in hospital?” she asked.  Her voice sounded far away.  “Are you a doctor?”  “Hello, Mrs. Kirby.  Mrs. Abigail Kirby.”  The man smiled.  “How are you feeling?”  He held up a syringe.  Clear liquid glistened on the tip of the needle.  The man leaned forward, his head framed by an aura of white light.

 

Those would be some of Abigail Kirby’s last words.  Her body would be found later in the woody part of the park with her tongue missing.  Abigail left a daughter Lucy, a son Ben, a husband Matthew and a world of questions for Detective Inspector Geraldine Steel and Detective Sergeant Ian Peterson to sort through and find the answers.  When another victim is found later with his eyes missing, the two detectives are still baffled and without answers.  What they think might be their one and only clue comes when Lucy disappears in what the family believes to be a runaway but turns out to be a bit more.  But still the clues are bleak.  Will they find Lucy before something really bad happens to her?  Will there be other murders with missing body parts before the killer is found and stopped?  Good questions and the answers won’t reveal themselves until the end.

 

As with Road Closed, Author Leigh Russell kept me guessing.  She gave the clues but I ignored them until the end finding myself not believing the ending as the true killer was finally revealed.  Just as Jeffery Deaver said Leigh Russell has ‘A brilliant talent in the thriller field.’  A very enjoyable book.

 

2011

376 pages

No Exit Press

ISBN# 978-1-84243-356-0