Aftermath by Peter Robinson 2001 ISBN 0-380-97832-6 William Morrow

AFTERMATH is a truly frightening book. When police are called to a domestic disturbance they find a policeman’s worse nightmare. It is a sign of good writing that you remember the chain of events as they unfold. Probationary Police Constable Janet Taylor and PC Dennis Morrissey enter the Payne residence in the early hours of morning. What they find in the basement of the home of Terence and Lucy Payne is death. Terence Payne , beloved teacher is also a mass murderer. When Acting Detective Superintendent Alan Banks takes over the case he must determine who the dead girls are, if his response team acted properly, and how innocent the battered Lucy is. For surely no woman could be unaware of death occurring on a regular basis in her own home, or could she?

Robinson sands down the layers of his work with a gritty reality that leaves you needing a shower. The manipulation of events and peoples lives in this tale is even scarier than the thought of all those dead bodies in the basement. What will become of Terence and Lucy? Will Janet Taylor be able to sleep again? You turn pages hoping to find some small solace and Robinson delivers up bigger horrors. Not for the faint of heart , this book , but it is for all who love a police procedural tempered with a graphic reality I highly recommend the book. Robinson continues to deliver the goods with AFTERMATH. Critically acclaimed and universally loved this is a series that holds its own in Mystery.

Ruth Flannery Jordan