A stunning, atmospheric police procedural set against the grit of Inverness and the raw beauty of the Scottish Highlands, this is the first book in the DI Monica Kennedy series.
Sixteen-year-old Robert arrives home late. Without a word to his dad, he goes up to his bedroom. Robert is never seen alive again.
A body is soon found on the coast of the Scottish Highlands. Detective Inspector Monica Kennedy stands by the victim in this starkly beautiful and remote landscape. Instinct tells her the case won’t begin and end with this one death.
Meanwhile, Inverness-based social worker Michael Bach is worried about one of his clients whose last correspondence was a single ambiguous text message; Nichol Morgan has been missing for seven days.
As Monica is faced with catching a murderer who has been meticulously watching and waiting, Michael keeps searching for Nichol, desperate to find him before the killer claims another victim.
From the Shadows introduces DI Monica Kennedy, an unforgettable new series lead, perfect for fans of Ann Cleeves’ Vera, Susie Steiner and Peter May.
My Review
Content/Trigger Warnings: Violence including gun, beatings, and torture. Forcibly drugged victims, murderer, lots of that last one.
Scottish Noir Crime books are so addicting, this was no exception!
| It was also a phenomenal start to a new crime series, I really enjoyed DI Kennedy’s first foray into mystery.
She’s a seasoned DI with a new partner and her own rumoured reputation to contend with and that makes the investigation that much more difficult to pursue. Boys have gone missing, they always do, it’s ‘what boys do’ but when one body appears in a gruesome discovery, DI Kennedy is put on the trail to discover who murdered him and if there will be more. While Kennedy is on the case, there’s another who’s also sorting their own investigation, Michael was Nichol’s social worker and when he misses meeting the boy and he goes missing, Michael begins to fear for the teen’s life. Is Nichol the murderer’s next victim? |
I loved that Kennedy was not only the senior detective on the case but that she was a single mom and juggling the task of compartmentalizing as she dealt with the murders of children while unable to be with her own. I also enjoyed the fact that she was really tall, always a breath of fresh air when an author goes against the usually humdrum.
The atmospheric writing put me right in the highlands and I can say that it definitely transported me to Inverness and the outlying land as I went along to figure out the crime.
I did guess correctly about Nichol and I did guess the murderer correctly, but, that didn’t take away my enjoyment.
I do wish I could have gotten into Kennedy’s head more but I think it was a step in the right direction for this new crime series and it was easily addicting to read.
Funnily enough Michael was my favorite character, no doubt he was extremely flawed but I enjoyed watching how emotionally raw he was, and I also loved that Kennedy was not open with her feelings, she was a steel box and a beast [I mean that as a compliment lol]
Halliday has a good grasp on the violence and unease to write about this sort of case, it was creepy and addictive and I could hardly put it down at times. I just wanted to keep knowing what was going to happen next. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
The Rest of the Tour
The Caffeinated Reader 
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