Sunday, February 5, 2017

Hanging Hill by Mo Hayder


When a teenage girl goes missing and is found murdered in a small town near Bath, two estranged sisters find their way back to each other.  Sally was the kind of woman who was raised to expect that her looks and position in life would ensure a great life with a man taking care of all her needs.  That expectation was rudely finished when her husband found another woman, leaving Sally ill-prepared to support herself and her teenage daughter, Mollie.  Mollie was a friend of the murdered girl and she and her friends' reactions in another challenge for Sally to deal with on top of her financial worries and having to deal with her social crowd's desertion now that she can't afford to do the things she always took for granted.

Her sister, Zoe, is a police officer and is assigned to the murder investigation.  Zoe was the black sheep in her family, so much so that the parents sent her off to boarding school to keep her away from Sally.  Zoe is fiercely independent and thinks she doesn't need anyone, even her partner, Ben, who wants a more personal relationship.  The investigation draws her into the seedy world of pornography and the young girls who think that it is a part of breaking into the modeling life they desire.  The murdered girl was one of those and Zoe is racing against the clock to find the murderer before it becomes common knowledge what the girl was involved in.

In the process, the two sisters are reunited when their lives intersect.  Sally is working as a maid in one of the suspect's home while Zoe gets to know her niece as she interviews the murdered girl's social circle.  As they gingerly feel each other out, the reader is left to wonder if they can find their way back to each other as sisters and whether the teamwork can catch a murderer before he can strike again.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.

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