ABOUT THE BOOK
In North Devon, where two rivers converge and run into the sea, Detective Matthew Venn stands outside the church as his estranged father’s funeral takes place. On the day Matthew left the strict evangelical community he grew up in, he lost his family too.
Now, as he turns and walks away again, he receives a call from one of his team. A body has been found on the beach nearby: a man with a tattoo of an albatross on his neck, stabbed to death.
The case calls Matthew back to the people and places of his past, as deadly secrets hidden at their hearts are revealed, and his new life is forced into a collision course with the world he thought he’d left behind.
MY REVIEW
Murder, secrets, and lies in North Devon, England.
Detective Matthew Venn has a murder in his hometown the day of his father’s funeral which he could not attend… not after denouncing the sect he was raised in years ago and then marrying a man. Now he is the lead detective in the murder case, but is it too close to home to take on?
Nobody cared that his family were religious bigots who’d disowned him because he could no longer believe in their God, or that he’d dropped out of university, because the academic pressure had stressed him almost to madness. He was good at his job and that was all that counted.
The story is a character-driven mystery that draws the reader in slowly with a well thought out plot and witnesses with things to hide. Detective Venn is vulnerable but determined to find the truth no matter what it takes. A good start to a new series.
Thank you to Ms. Cleeves, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to review this book with no expectation of a positive review.
Two Rivers Series
1. The Long Call (2019)
2. The Heron’s Cry (2021)
2.5. The Girls on the Shore (2022)
3. The Raging Storm (2023)
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ann Cleeves is the author behind ITV’s Vera and BBC One’s Shetland. She has written over twenty-five novels, and is the creator of detectives Vera Stanhope and Jimmy Perez – characters loved both on screen and in print. Both series are international bestsellers.
In 2006 Ann was awarded the Duncan Lawrie Dagger (CWA Gold Dagger) for Best Crime Novel, for Raven Black, the first book in her Shetland series. In 2012 she was inducted into the CWA Crime Thriller Awards Hall of Fame. Ann lives in North Tyneside.
