He’s watching. She’s waiting.
Having barely escaped the clutches of a serial killer, Claire Moore has struggled to rebuild her life. After her terrifying encounter with the man the media dubbed The Black-Out Killer, she became an overnight celebrity: a symbol of hope and survival in the face of pure evil. And then the killings stopped.
Now ten years have passed, and Claire remains traumatised by her brush with death. Though she has a loving and supportive family around her, what happened that night continues to haunt her still.
Just when things are starting to improve, there is a power cut; a house fire; another victim found killed in the same way as before.
The Black-Out Killer is back. And he’s coming for Claire…
I listened to this book via Audible, with Avena Wallace’s soft Irish lilt perfect for the part of Claire, and the author himself doing a great job of narrating the killer.
Claire’s life has been forever changed by the events of ten years earlier, which left her a widow, and terribly injured, the extent of which is slowly revealed as the story unfolds. She is slowly starting to push the boundaries of her very restrictive comfort zone when things start to take a darker turn.
Claire’s existence is based around trying to manage her fear, fear that is rooted in her terrible past, but we get to see that past catching up with her. Her claustrophobic existence is made to feel very real, as she struggles to take a shower without her mother waiting outside the bathroom. And I think seeing into the mind of the serial killer, both through the dual narrative of his thoughts, but also the letters he is writing (but not sending to Claire), really notches up the tension as the story heads for its dramatic finale.
All-in-all, a great domestic noir thriller that kept me guessing.
djpaterson 