What You Left Behind

Starred review from February 2, 2015
British author Hayes’s superb second thriller featuring Det. Insp. Lorraine Fisher (after 2014’s Until You’re Mine) finds Lorraine looking forward to spending a week visiting her sister, Jo Curzon, and Jo’s 18-year-old son, Freddie, in the affluent English village of Radcote. But Jo has recently separated from her husband, and Freddie is sullen and distant, spending most of the time in his room on his computer. Two years before, Radcote was shaken by six teenage suicides in two weeks. Jo worries that Freddie’s attitude may be a precursor to him taking his own life, perhaps influenced by the recent suicides of two young men, both of whom lived at the New Hope Homeless Shelter. Suspicious about the “cluster suicides,” Lorraine begins an investigation that leads to Sonia Hawkeswell, a wealthy shelter volunteer whose own son committed suicide. Intense character studies, aided by a perceptive look at teenagers united by feelings of alienation, complement the unpredictable plot. Agent: Oli Munson, A.M. Heath (U.K.).

February 1, 2015
Hayes cooks up a new adventure for the least interesting character in her previous venture (Until You're Mine, 2014), British DI Lorraine Fisher.The last time readers saw DI Fisher and her DI husband, Adam, their marriage was cold, foundering and filled with suspicion, and their daughters were in the throes of teen angst. Hayes never explains how they manage to become a picture-perfect family again, but things are so good that Lorraine heads off on a jolly holiday with younger daughter Stella to see her sister, Jo, and Jo's teenage son, Freddie, who still live in the old family home in Radcote. Once they arrive, they find that Jo and her husband, Malcolm, have split, and there has been a spate of teen suicides in the area. Jo is concerned because Freddie locks himself in his room, cries a lot and cuts himself. What she doesn't know is that Freddie is also receiving upsetting texts instructing him to kill himself. Freddie's friend Lana stands by him, but her family has its own sorrowful past: Her brother, Simon, hung himself. Gil, Lana's uncle, is mentally slow, and he sends a couple of items to Lorraine that make her think the most recent "suicide" may not be that at all. But when she starts investigating, she finds that not only are the police not interested in her theories, but the chief investigator is an old nemesis. Hayes fills the book with people who have secrets, which is fine, but a lot of these characters withhold information for no good reason except that it gives her the opportunity to ratchet up the tension. And that quality will frustrate a lot of readers who will conclude that Radcote is populated by idiots. The author likes to add a twist or two at the end, but the conclusion seems contrived and a bit too neat.

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Starred review from November 15, 2014

In Haye's second thriller (after Until You Are Mine) to be published here, DI Lorraine Fisher and her daughter arrive at the remote village of Radcote to spend some relaxing vacation time with Lorraine's younger sister, Jo, and Freddie, Jo's son. But there is an underlying feeling of unease and tension in the community marked by a spate of teen suicides two years earlier. Just before Lorraine's arrival, a homeless teen had been found dead in a suspected suicide and there is the fear that the trend will start up again. But was the death a suicide? When the lifeless body of another young man is discovered, Lorraine starts to wonder. VERDICT Hayes pulls readers in and keeps them captivated with plenty of red herrings, truly creepy characters, and a wickedly surprising ending that will stump even the most experienced thriller fan. Delightfully disturbing psychological suspense that fans of John Connolly, Lisa Gardner, and Sophie Hannah won't be able to put down.--Marianne Fitzgerald, Severna Park H.S., MD

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2015
DI Lorraine Fisher (Until You're Mine, 2014) encounters shock instead of bucolic bliss when she visits her sister in the sleepy village where they grew up. A recent suicide has sparked fears that the bizarre suicide epidemic that claimed six young lives 18 months earlier is resurfacing. And Lorraine's sister's marriage is collapsing, leaving Lorraine's nephew, Freddie, completely out of sorts. Despite knowing she should stay focused on her family's issues, Lorraine is drawn into the suicide investigation when she's slipped evidence that the latest suicide was likely something more sinister, and she realizes that the local investigating detective is a class-A bungler. Lorraine is bothered by the numerous links between the local homeless shelter, her sister's friend Sonia Hawkesbill, and the suicides, but evidence of foul play remains elusive as another youth's body is found and Freddie's life is threatened. Although this sequel doesn't have the blindsiding twists its predecessor did, psychological-thriller fans will savor the suspenseful pacing and the relatable cast's interwoven motives and facades.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)