Reviews: Daily Mail

In Minette Walters' latest novel, a 30-year-old murder case is put under the microscope by anthropologist Dr Jonathan Hughes. Did the wretched and retarded Howard Stamp murder his grandmother? The jury thought that he did.

Three years later, Howard committed suicide in prison. To begin with, Jonathan's interest in the case is purely intellectual - 'a careless judicial system was indicative of a tired democracy'. But, in the course of his researches, he is forced to concede that exposing a miscarriage of justice demands more than a desire to disinter the truth to boost his professional reputation.

His certainties rattled, he is brought up against the question: to what degree do most of us suffer from disorder in the mind and how do we deal with it?

Slowly and carefully the interior landscapes of damaged men and women are exposed and their defences peeled away, in a novel that encompasses extreme violence and despair as well as love, friendship and compassion. This is a brilliant piece of psychological deconstruction and a gripping story which works on several levels - heart-rending and shocking by turns, clever and demanding.

--Elizabeth Buchan