John Parker is a Graduate-qualified English/Spanish Teacher, owner and director of CHAT ENGLISH, an English Language Centre in Avilés on the north coast of Spain . A voracious reader, he has particularly loved horror fiction for many years.
Keira Lynch is a lawyer who travels to Albania to find a boy, the son of a friend, Kaltrina Dervishi who has died in unfortunate circumstances. She has a meeting with a very suspicious character, Daud Pasha, who claims to have knowledge of the missing boy’s whereabouts. In return for money, he will take Keira to the boy.
However, things don’t turn out as planned and Keira is attacked, badly-beaten and left without her passport. This is a serious problem for her as she is due as a witness in court in Scotland in a few days’ time to give evidence against an Albanian crime lord who once put three bullets in her chest. Keira is about to find herself involved with some very unsavoury characters in particularly unpleasant situations. She encounters such people as local pimp and crook, Fat-Joe Jesus, Pavli Variboba, a policeman, Esad Seseri, a hit man for the local Mafia and many other colourful characters.
This is a tough book to read as its subject matter is, principally, sex trafficking of women and children. The violence is absolutely brutal while many of the characters are frighteningly vile. The book may put you off ever planning a trip to Albania. Despite this, Sinclair has delivered a stunning thriller. Keira Lynch is a likable heroine, strong, brave and with one or two wisecracks up her sleeve (next to the knife that she uses and throws with alarming accuracy). It is a real page-turner, full of action, heartbreak and betrayal. Like I say, a tough read but a satisfying one. Recommended.
To finish, I would add that this is a direct continuation of Sinclair’s previous novel, Blood Whispers. What happened in that book has repercussions in the present novel.
