Patrick Kenzie and wifeAngela Gennaro shared along and eventful history ofcriminal investigations anddetective work beforebecoming lovers and settlingdown as parents. These days,she battles boredom as astay-at-home housewife and he takes onsafe and soulless cases in the hopes oflanding job security and a half-decentpaycheque.

The sixth in the series (but the first for thisreviewer), it’s clear that there’s a lot of history,regret and exhaustion, particularly in Kenzie.He’s jaded and ageing faster than he’d like:tracking down embezzlers, cheaters andinsurance fraud has left him feeling trappedand disgusted. In their glory days 13 yearsearlier, Kenzie and Gennaro were on thecase of missing four-year-old Amanda Mc-Cready, risking everything to track her down.Amanda was found and returned home toher addicted and neglectful mother. 13 yearslater, brilliant student Amanda has a Harvardscholarship waiting but has disappeared again.Her aunt accosts Kenzie and insists that he isobligated to find her and do things right thistime. Re-opening old wounds raises all kindsof questions about the morality of returningchildren to birth parents who are incapableof looking after themselves properly and howthe dry machinations of the law don’t alwaysresult in justice.

Regrets aside, Kenzie and Gennaro havemore to risk now, with car chases, shootingand threats made not just against their safetybut also their young daughter’s. As theydelve deeper, it seems clear that Amandadoesn’t want to be found and has bigger secretsof her own to hide. Written in a gritty,modern gum-shoe style, Lehane clearly has acinematic eye as the story unfolds with a fewred herrings in amongst the bloody murderscenes. Some of the scenarios seem highlyunlikely but, as with a movie, it’s all doneto entertain and keep the reader (or cinemagoer) on the edge of their seat.