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THE KILL, the fifth in the series of police procedurals featuring Maeve Kerrigan, is a fast-paced blend of exciting plot and well-drawn characters with very human flaws. Although the book builds on the previous novels in the series, it works even if you haven't been introduced to the characters before: this reader was never left scratching her head trying to figure out what was going on. Jane Casey keeps the plot moving at a crisp pace. She weaves the story strands together very skillfully to bring the book to a logical conclusion.
Chapter one opens on a happy occasion – the wedding of a colleague. Detective Maeve Kerrigan is looking forward to a relaxing, romantic country weekend with her live-in partner and fellow cop Rob. We are also meet her work partner, Detective Inspector Josh Derwent, who manages to be both annoying and attractive. When they get the word another police officer has been shot and killed, the fun stops and the police work begins.
The murder victim was found in his car in a secluded park, in a compromising position. The detectives soon discover that he was unhappily married, with two children and a difficult family dynamic. The son has disabilities resulting from a car crash some years back – the murder victim had been driving. And the teenage daughter has her own anger issues with both parents.
As Kerrigan and Derwent work the case, the first murder is soon overshadowed by a number of attacks on police throughout London. These attacks are seemingly orchestrated by a gangland figure who is in jail – and has a disturbing secret relationship with Kerrigan's boss Godfrey. Kerrigan knows about that relationship, and in an effort to protect her boss, has kept it from both her partner and the department higher-ups.
Keeping secrets is not Kerrigan's only problem – sexism within the police force is rampant. Many of her fellow officers believe she is having an affair with the boss, and has gotten interesting cases to work on as a result of that relationship. And her personal life takes a turn for the worse after Rob's squad is targeted in one of the cop killings.
Although I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I struggled to make sense of Kerrigan's keeping her boss's secret for so long – she seemed to be such a straight arrow and focused on doing the right thing.
Keeping secrets, both professional and personal, was a major theme in THE KILL. We will have to find out in the sixth book in the series what will happen between Kerrigan and her lover; will secrets kept in that relationship erode any sense of trust, and doom their chance for happiness? What will the future look like for her boss? And how will the author deal with the simmering attraction between Kerrigan and her irascible partner Derwent? This reader, for one, will be looking for the next installment (and may pick up some of the earlier books).
§ Phyllis Onstad has been a writer, editor, civil servant, teacher and voracious reader. She currently lives in the California wine country.
Reviewed by Phyllis Onstad, July 2015
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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