For my stop I have my review, non spoiler. The book is out to buy, LINK HERE for Amazon UK.
Leave No Trace by Jo Callaghan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Time taken to read – as able over 3 days
Pages – 383
Publisher – Siimon & Schuster
Source – Bought
Blurb from Goodreads
DCS Kat Frank and AIDE Lock return in the provocative new thriller from the author of In the Blink of an Eye.
One detective driven by instinct, the other by logic.
It will take both to find a killer who knows the true meaning of fear . . .
When the body of a man is found crucified at the top of Mount Judd, AIDE Lock – the world’s first AI Detective – and DCS Kat Frank are thrust into the spotlight as they are given their first live case.
But with the discovery of another man’s body – also crucified – it appears that their killer is only just getting started. With the police warning local men to be vigilant, the Future Policing Unit is thrust into a hostile media frenzy as they desperately search for connections between the victims. But time is running out for them to join the dots and prevent another death.
My Review
This is book two in the Kat and Lock series, now I sometimes say you can pick up a book mid series and start but with this one, no go to book one. Purely because I do think you need the background, that knowledge and feel for how everything came together, working with the AI, dynamics within the team etc. So, previously we worked on a cold case, now we are getting to work with a live case, murder, graphic, brutal and it doesn’t look like it is going to be a one off. With media watching, pressure building Kat needs to use AI to the fullest effect but it is difficult when people are turning on the thumbs screws (I think that is the expression).
Lock is evolving, book one he/it was brand new but in this book, along with the active investigation we see it gaining more insight. Like itself as we know it is super effective at information collation but this is more insight into itself as a “being”. For me it had echoes of Johnny 5 and maybe Jarvis or as he became later, Vision – like not as advance or “living” as they were but as I say, echoes of that. We have ripples from things that happened in book one so again another reason to read that before this.
The murderer we hear from in alternating chapters so it is interesting (well I always thing so) to hear from their view point, selection and what is going on in their mind as they plan or go for their next chosen victim.
Kat is still dealing with her grief and trying to juggle the job, devotion to the job, being there for her son especially after everything he has endured so it is quite a busy book. Murder, investigation, personal lives, team dynamics, power struggles and the voice of the killer peppered throughout, 4/5.
I am very much looking forward to the next in the series and I would love to see Lock become more with personality development which I feel we did see snippets of in this book.
