The Stranger You Know by Jane Casey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the fourth book in the Maeve Kerrigan series by Jane Casey but the first one that I have read. It being part of a series was no detriment to the story, the threads of previous stories and background were easy to pick up as the characters are strong and the writing excellent.

The story revolves around a spate of murders that have recently occurred throughout London and the fear that the murderer is ready to strike again; added to that is the possibility that these murders have a striking similarity to an unsolved historic murder - one that has personal connections to Detective Inspector Josh Derwent. Maeve doesn't believe he can be involved but other people in the team aren't so easily persuaded. With Josh left off the investigation Maeve is caught in the middle between her orders not to give him any information and her loyalty to him. When the old murder is looked at again in connection to the newer ones it seems that there could be more than one possible culprit as Josh's past comes back to haunt him. Can Maeve unravel the clues and solve the crime before anyone else has to die?

This is a very well written crime novel which leaves you guessing throughout and even if you think you have guessed correctly or worked it out there is still a lingering doubt until the truth is uncovered, such is the clever working of the clues and background story. Maeve is a persistent and intuitive detective, unafraid to follow her instincts and disobey orders if necessary but there is a softer vulnerable side to her revealed by her relationship with her boyfriend and her friends.
All the characters are striking and memorable and I enjoyed getting to know them all in this book and I will definitely be looking up the previous three books to catch up with Maeve's history.

Thanks to netgalley for providing the book to review.

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