A very enjoyable and smartly constructed UK police procedural. An unusually high number of people are visiting beauty sports in Derbyshire’s Peak District and committing suicides. They have come prepared and clearly have planned the whole process. An investigation lead by Detective Inspector Ben Cooper finds a possible link between the suicides. This link opens the question about the difference between passive advice and active manipulation. In Nottingham Detective Sergeant Diane Fry is involved in an investigation of that links directly to the suicides. The story unfolds carefully and steadily, and the reveals are cunningly staged. The conclusion is smart and very satisfying.
Stephen Booth has chosen a very delicate topic to follow in this story. Suicide is a very fractious topic, much more than murder, it creates a brutal aftermath for the living. He has stepped over a great deal of difficulties by writing about the cast who commit suicide at the point where they have committed themselves and are concerned with ensuring that their plan is successful. No one is given a great dal of space to review why they have arrived at this point, the emphasis on the end game treats them as deliberate actors. This means that the investigation is not diving into motive, rather it is looking at the practical process that lead up to the action.
It is this focus that allows the crime story to emerge without doing violence to the structure, the victims are unrelated and all have made individual choices for personal reasons. An investigation needs a criminal thread to be credible and it emerges with care and thoughtful detail as the investigation progresses and the threads of the events in the Peak District and Nottingham start to weave together.
Ben Cooper, the son of a policeman and brother to a local farmer captures the enormous pressures changing the area. Farming is becoming a marginal activity, policing is no longer rural, criminal distinctions between urban and rural areas are vanishing. Ben Cooper is engaged in trying to comprehend and adapt successfully to the changes. Diane Fry has a slightly awkward relationship with everyone, none more so that with her sister and Ben Cooper. When her sister and her baby come to stay and her investigation includes Ben Cooper the pressure to manage becomes intense.
Steven Booth creates the space for all three aspects of the story to develop fully, interact with each other naturally and to deliver a very sharp conclusion that never feels plot bound or forced. This is the highest quality crime writing, using the genre requirements to explore human behavior and draw the reader into a satisfying drama. The confident, assured writing captures the reader and they can happily slip into the story and have the wonderful pleasure of reading it.
