Ten years ago, a junior detective accidentally captures \u201cThe\nBeast of Manchester.\u201d In the present day a series of dead prostitutes in\nturning up on the streets of Manchester. Is there a relation between the two in\nthis pacey police thriller?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now a Detective Inspector, Ridpath is recovering from\ntreatment to cancer and has been given the task of working as an officer for\ncoroner\u2019s court. This should be an easier route back into full-time detective\nwork, but things don\u2019t quite go as easily as planned. When an exhumation of the\nbody of one of the Beast\u2019s victims reveals an empty coffin, things are turned\nupside down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This first in a new series of books is set in and around Manchester,\nand we get a good flavour of the area: snarled up traffic on the Oxford Road; the\nemptiness of Media City. Being set in the world of the coroner\u2019s court is\nunusual and creates a point of difference from other police series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The book is real page-turner, with short punchy chapters jumping\nbetween Ridpath, another young detective, DS Clark, and the evil doers. The story\nis fast paced, never standing still for more than a few moments. Ridpath\u2019s\nrecovery from cancer is omnipresent, but it\u2019s his wife who is more worried\nabout it than him. And the police world around the story feels authentic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This isn\u2019t a book for the squeamish, but it rattles along and it reaches a very satisfying conclusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n