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Content snapshot
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Violence
A lot
A child is murdered; the violence is emotionally devastating rather than graphically depicted
Language
Some
Some strong language
Sexual Content
Barely any
Adult sexual relationships in the backstory
Substance Use
Barely any
Moderate drinking
Emotional Intensity
A lot
The specific anguish of a parent whose refusal to be honest contributes to her child's death; a systematic examination of how secrets become weapons
What this book is about
Conservative MP Eve Bowen has a daughter no one knows about — a secret that she has protected at enormous cost to her daughter Charlotte's life. When Charlotte is abducted, Eve refuses to go to the police, and the kidnapper begins killing children. Lynley is eventually brought in, and the investigation becomes a race against a killer who has found a perfect weapon against people with secrets. Elizabeth George's eighth Lynley novel is the most overtly political of the series, and the darkest — a child's death is not averted but earned by the choices adults made long before. George's moral seriousness is at its most unsparing.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
a child's murder is central to the plot
eighth of the Lynley series; series context is helpful
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