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Content snapshot
Flag an inaccuracy →What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.
Violence
Some
An investigation of an unidentified body; a cold case runs parallel
Language
Barely any
Mild language
Sexual Content
Barely any
Mild content
Substance Use
Barely any
Mild content
Emotional Intensity
Some
The specific detective challenge of establishing identity from physical evidence alone; the melancholy of a body that no one has reported missing
What this book is about
An unidentified body is found in Lafferton — a man who cannot be matched to any missing persons record. DCS Simon Serrailler investigates the identity question while also pursuing a historical thread about a killer who may still be operating. Susan Hill's seventh Serrailler novel is her most procedurally focused on the question of identity — literally who this person was and why nobody is looking for them — and uses the unidentified body as a way of examining the people who fall through society's record-keeping.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
seventh Simon Serrailler novel
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