‘But then the first dead woman turned up.’
Galway, Ireland, 2009.
Ben Miller is a taxi driver who, in his struggle to make a living, has occasionally engaged in criminal activity to make ends meet. Caught by Garda Superintendent Mairtin Folan with drugs in his taxi, Miller makes a deal. Folan, corrupt to the core and involved in a sex-trafficking ring, wants an informant, someone to help him locate particular women. When someone starts murdering the women, Folan wants Miller to help him find the murderer. Folan tries to cover up the murders, but his plans are threatened when Miller decides to help the women under threat.
But who is killing these women, and why? Can Miller prevent any more deaths? Or is he and the non-corrupt gardaí he is working with also in danger? The actual murders are largely peripheral to this story, which focusses more on the reach and impact of the corrupt gardaí Miller is dealing with. Miller survives plenty of beatings in his quest to protect one of the women, but while his actions are well-intentioned, his planning sometimes lets him down.
There’s plenty of violent action in this relatively short novel and while the story held my attention from the beginning, I was disappointed by what was (to me) an inconclusive ending.
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Sapere Books for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes. I’ve since bought a copy.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Tasmanian Bibliophile @Large 