Published 2023 by Harper Collins Publishers
342 pages
ISBN: 978-0-00-851702-1
5/5 stars
I will absolutely read more by this author
Genre: crime
Keywords: cold case, murder, Jake Jackson, second chances, rural England, farm life, isolation, depending on one self, Nature, falling in love, living practically,
Wau, what a first book, from this English author.
As a rule, I think women write better crime novels, but I am going to follow and see what this writer will publish in the future.
Jake Jacksom studied law, became a police detective in the last few years on cold cases, that he can solve, but the abuse of children has hit him hard. He is married to Faye, also a lawyer, for a number of years, have had a number of abortions; they are stuck and have decided to get a divorce.
Quote:
On Jake and Fay: they went to Ibiza for some sun. They drank a lot in the evenings, but stopped before their inhibitions made them say something they might regret. The pool side had a different type of quiet; the unhealthy, stilted-up kind. The quiet of two people thinking busily, but unable to communicate. The silent dead thing between them again. (p6)
P7. Jake thought, one definition of love: taking pleasure in sharing the boring bits of life. And another was one definition of love ending: when the boring stayed boring, when there was no point in talking any more.
Simultaneously with their decision to get a divorce Jake’s eccentric uncle Arthur died and had left to Jake his lonely farm, Little Sky. It is outside civilization, far from everything, no legal electricity, no running water, no telephone service, no internet, no TV. But there is library of 5000 books at least mostly crime novels and gramophone with good music, Arthur was a musician. Jake sees it as an opportunity to start fresh away from it all. He has to live practically: a bath: to swim in the lake; heat: gather wood in the forest, connect to people: walk or hike as there are no roads or public transportation.
This is a small community, they liked King Arthur, as they called him because of his farm. There is Sarah, she runs to local store with everything, only cash payment. There is Livia the vet and her daughter Dianah; dr. Peter the biologist, he was Arthurs’ friend, he is used as the local doctor if need be. A local handyman who can do anything, Mack. There are several farms in the area with their families and workers.
Soon after Jake arrives at the farm there is local tradition of the bone hunt, Livia asks Jake to join her and Dianah, they find the bag of bones which was actually a back of wooden sticks, but it turns out there are human bones inside. They had been placed there after Sarah and hid the bag of wood. So, they call the police, who ask Jake to help to find out who did what, why and when.
Sabina worked on one of the farms but died almost 10 years ago; then there had been questions about what had happened to her: had she committed suicide or had she been murdered?
It is not a popular thing to start the investigation. Jake feels more alive around Livia and falls in love with her. The book plays out with the thoughts of Jake.
In the back ground throughout the book and the investigation we follow how Jake gets accustomed to being alone, depend on himself, how the grand Nature influences his senses.
Jake has several near fatal accidents while investigating, but he feels he cannot give up; he has to get to the truth. He does that; I had not guessed who the bad guy was.
We follow Jake into his relationship with Livia.
I like Jake and would like very much to see a follow-up to this book.
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