When Teresa Stillman, the daughter of an elderly barrister, suddenly disappears her distraught father asks Hawk to search for her. Hawk’s experience tells him that Teresa is dead, so he gently declines the task – and then his own wayward daughter goes missing for 24 hours and he realises the importance of keeping hope alive. He sets off to find Teresa, a journey which takes him through Britain to … Britain to the Outer Hebrides. Gradually he begins to unearth a dangerous world of lies and violent revenge but even he, an ex police officer who has solved 35 murders – isn’t prepared for the final outcome.
In his spare time – which mercifully he doesn’t have a great deal of – he still worries about his four grown up children. They are scattered all over the world but he’s desperate to keep them together as a family, even at such long distances. He fears it’s a battle he will lose, but his new ladyfriend, Dr Laura Peterson, believes otherwise. She’s the voice of reason in Hawk’s life but she’s discovering that Hawk relies as much on instinct as reason.
And overhanging it all is Hawk’s sharp wit and uneven temper which is likely to explode at any moment. Usually it’s justified – sometimes it isn’t.
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I read this book and did a review of it already. I would have to go back and read it again to remember all that I liked about it. I do remember that I did enjoy it and I recommended it. But has been to long ago to remember it right off hand now. But I know that I would read it again.
Definitely keeps you wondering and trying to figure out the end.
Well-written story, and a great read.
Another Watkinson gem…
I always approach the second book in a series with a certain amount of trepidation when I really like the first. However, the second book in the Nathan Hawk series didn’t let me down. Nathan continued to try to rein in his excessive concern about his kids, especially his youngest Ellie, and deal with typically vague and unhelpful suggestions from her siblings interspersed with periodic requests for cash He continues to manage his anger, but has traded in his invisible map for poetry. Like so much of this author’s writing, this may seem like a literary device that shouldn’t work, but it does–brilliantly. And I’m not one those people who toss that word around like dandelion seeds in a stiff breeze.
The plot touches on every parent’s nightmare: the disappearance of an adult child with whom one has just begun to reconnect and a law enforcement community too overworked or disinterested to care that much. Is she alive or dead? There the plot thickens as the say. She’s dead and a phone call tells Hawk exactly where to find her body. Case closed, you think. Just find the guy who made the call and make him pay. Wrong.
Whereas a certain amount of parental closure occurs when the body is found, Hawk discovers that the she was killed by mistake because of a series of unlikely events we all know can nonetheless become likely and ruin our day. If she was murdered by mistake, how did this happen? Who was the intended target? Spurred on by the dead woman’s father, Hawk unravels how the mistake came to pass and locates the “right” woman. In the process of doing so, he encounters some nasty folks on both sides of the law.
The book didn’t end the way I thought it would, but it didn’t end the way Hawk though it would either. That’s the problem with right and wrong: You just don’t know until you know.
The language is originally phrased.
I liked it
Based in the UK as is the author, I’m drawn to British humor and writing; I enjoyed his style. Could not have predicted the plot that unfolded. The main characters are very believable and real, the secondary ones not so much. The widowed retired detective who is now doing some personal PI work for a grieving father, is a wonderful detective with incredible deductive skills; however it’s sometimes difficult to make that leap with him. While good at detecting, He is not insightful as a parent. While well meaning he just doesn’t get it. The descriptions of the UK areas were very vivid. All in all a good read for me.
I have read better mysteries, but will try him again.
GOOD READING
Like main character and his girlfriend and daughter. Plot moves along. I’d read this,author again.
Love the complexity of the story and also the craft of the author… refreshing.
Liked it a lot.
an enjoyable murder mystery. With a very difficult to anticipate twist to the ending.
Great book!
It had no point. Not well written.
Innovative but occasionally steps are taken that are not logical but needed to make the case. The author knew where he was going with his story but his arrival was not always logical. On the whole an enjoyable book.
i had hoped the ending would be different but not much left after the build up to make the book work. Still enjoyed the process and can really identify with the father and children’s issues.
Twists and turns galore!