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The Number One bestselling crime thriller from the award-winning Stuart MacBride. A bloody, brilliant and brutal story of murder, kidnap and revenge.Detective Constable Ash Henderson has a dark secret…Five years ago his daughter, Rebecca, went missing on the eve of her thirteenth birthday. A year later the first card arrived: homemade, with a Polaroid picture stuck to the front – Rebecca, strapped to a chair, gagged and terrified. Every year another card: each one worse than the last.The tabloids call him ‘The Birthday Boy’. He’s been snatching girls for twelve years, always just before their thirteenth birthday, sending the families his homemade cards showing their daughters being slowly tortured to death.But Ash hasn’t told anyone about Rebecca’s birthday cards – they all think she’s just run away from home – because if anyone finds out, he’ll be taken off the investigation. And he’s sacrificed too much to give up before his daughter’s killer gets what he deserves…
Detective Constable Ash Henderson navigates a harrowing investigation into a serial kidnapper while concealing the fact that his own daughter is one of the perpetrator's victims. Henderson must balance the demands of a high-stakes police investigation with the desperate, clandestine search for his daughter, Rebecca, who vanished years prior. He faces immense pressure from his superiors and the public, all while operating under the constant threat of exposure regarding his personal connection to the case. The narrative unfolds with a focus on the psychological toll of the investigation and the physical brutality of the antagonist's methods.
This novel is widely recognized for its unrelenting intensity and dark, visceral approach to the police procedural genre. Readers and critics often highlight the author's ability to maintain a high level of suspense while managing a complex, multi-layered narrative. The protagonist's moral compromises and the grim nature of the antagonist's crimes are frequently cited as central elements that define the reading experience. The work is generally regarded as a significant entry in the author's bibliography, noted for its bleak tone and tight, focused plotting.
Page Count:
496
Publication Date:
2012-01-05
Publisher:
Harper
ISBN-10:
0007472404
ISBN-13:
9780007472406
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