Standing in the Shadows by
Michelle Spring
hbk out January 98
Published by Orion
at £16.99
Children who kill provoke in us a particular sort of superstitious fear and horror. It's as if the corruption of innocence this somehow implies is far more resonantly evil than the murders committed by adults. A man who wants to understand why his younger brother stoned his elderly foster mother to death is the starting point for Michelle Spring's third novel featuring the Cambridge-based private eye Laura Principal.
It's not as if there's room for doubt; eleven year old Daryll Flatt confessed unprompted to the killing, and not even the brother who loved him thinks there's been a miscarriage of justice. But as Laura starts to investigate, she begins to wonder whether she's imagining the doubts that start to swirl murkily around in her mind.
And always in the background are those who watch and prey and those who are their victims. In a final tense battle of wits, Laura has to summon up all her courage to force her adversaries out of the shadows and into the light in this absorbing and unnerving delve into the dark side of the human psyche.
Michelle Spring's earlier novels were both good reads in a controlled, civilised way. This time, the gloves are off and she has let rip to produce the kind of thought-provoking yet compelling page-turner that stays in the mind long after the covers are closed. With Standing in the Shadows, Michelle springs into the front rank.
(
Val McDermid
- Gold Dagger winner & creator of Lindsay Gordon, Kate Brannigan & Tony Hill)
