Book review: Helen Fields - Perfect Prey

Now DI Callanach returns in book two which lives up to all expectations. As Rebus ages into retirement and ill health, he is surely a perfect successor – one with much more yet to reveal too.

The Frenchman transplanted into Police Scotland after a harrowing departure from his home land, is again handed a complex, challenging case which starts with a festival goer being sliced open in the middle of a huge crowd, the killer disappearing within seconds.

It’s the first in a series of gruesome, motiveless murders around the city, and Callananch and Ava Turner, the colleague closest to him, have little to go on.

As always, Fields adds a parallel investigation to muddy the waters – one which takes them deep into the darknet, the sinister and dangerous underbelly of the internet – , and layers the pressure on from the top brass demanding answers and a conviction as the killing spree starts to alarm the public.

She pulls all the strands together in a plot which has great pace and more than maintains the promise and potential of the debut, Perfect Remains.

Book three is due in January. Can’t wait ...