A Dark Redemption

Starred review from April 29, 2013
This impressive series kickoff from British author Sherez (The Devil’s Playground) introduces Det. Insp. Jack Carrigan, a Scotland Yard veteran regarded as an oddball for his obsessive devotion to his work. Years earlier, after graduating from college, Carrigan and two friends took a vacation in Uganda that ended in tragedy. The shadows from that traumatic experience weigh more heavily on Carrigan after the savage murder of Grace Okello, a student of East African history, in her London flat. Her body is riddled with bite marks from human teeth that have been filed to a point, and her heart was removed—while she was still alive. The victim was studying African warlords who have used revolutionary politics as a mask for their sadistic desire for power, and it appears her research could have been a threat to one of them. The action builds to a jaw-dropping resolution. Readers will want to see more of this convincingly flawed hero. Agent: Lesley Thorne, Aitken Alexander Associates (U.K.).