Have You Seen Her
by Karen Rose

Release Date: 21st Jan 2010
Publisher: Headline
ISBN: 978 0 7553 4829 9
RRP: £14.99

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A love story with a serial killer thrown in the mix...

The innocuous beginning is just enough to pique the curiosity: a community angry and galled that a murderer has been let loose on a technicality and the equally understandable anger and guilt of the cop responsible for the blunder. That they are watching as the murderer and his family pack up and drive away from Seattle to disappear sets alarm bells ringing and you have that satisfying feeling of anticipation – something is going to happen...

Four years later and the mutilated and ravaged body of a teenage girl is found. Her head has been shaved and what looks like a tattoo is etched onto her bald scalp. Special Agent Thatcher is called upon to investigate, but the man is still suffering the aftershock of having his own little boy, Nicky, abducted from his bed a little over six months previously. In fact, Thatcher’s family life is falling apart. His three boys need a mother to replace the one they lost years ago, but Thatcher is reluctant to move on with his personal life, preferring to rely on his aunt Helen for support. That is, until he is forced into a face to face meeting with his eldest son’s science teacher, Jenna Marshall. That is, until he realises what he’s missing out on.

The blossoming relationship between Special Agent Steven Thatcher and his teenage son’s teacher, Dr Jenna Marshall starts out cliché, with both suffering the after-effects of bereaving a spouse (albeit in different ways), but thankfully raises its game into something with real depth and emotion. Have You Seen Her is, in reality, a love story that happens to revolve around the tragic and brutal killings of teenage girls. To this end, it might not satisfy the most ardent true crime fan, but it will certainly appeal to those who like their crime novels to have a bit more balance, rather than just gore, gore, gore.

With a blend of raunchy love scenes and slow investigatory work; Have You Seen Her does fall a little short on the psychology of the actual killer, with very little reference to him or any real attempt to understand his predilection for savagely murdering young girls. Despite this, there is real tension there and plenty of red herrings to confuse the reader. More light entertainment than serious psychological crime thriller, Have You Seen Her is nonetheless worth taking a look at and towards the latter stages you will find it hard to put down.

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