When a female jogger is found dead by the river, it's at first assumed that a serial rapist known to be preying on women in the Peterborough area is behind the attack. It's soon discovered though that the victim was actually a man part way through transitioning to become a woman, so the case is passed over to DI Zigic and DS Ferreira at the Hate Crimes Unit, and the perpetrator assumed to be someone who's been violently attacking trans women in the town. But as they begin their investigations, interviewing family and friends, suspicions begin to fall much closer to home ...
Watch Her Disappear is another excellent police procedural from Eva Dolan, featuring Zigic and Ferreira of the Hate Crimes Unit. The whodunnit aspect of the novel is particularly twisted and complex with a variety of suspects and motives presenting themselves, but it also gives an insight into the troubled lives of those who choose to undergo the trauma of sex reassignment, not only the casual bigotry they might meet in everyday life but particularly the reactions of those closest to them. Despite being married for many years, and having three children, Colin Sawyer had opted to become Corinne, to dress and live as a woman and to start the surgery necessary to complete the transition. While some of his family were willing to accept him in his new persona, for others it wasn't so easy, seeing him as an embarrassment and freak.
Zigic and Ferreira have a difficult task ahead to unravel all the various possible leads, with (at least) three possible lines of enquiry, and CID meanwhile trying to claim the case back as 'theirs', believing that the known but impossible to convict rapist is behind the attack.
Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher - Harvill Secker
Genre - adult, crime
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