Rating: 3 stars
In Sophie Hannah's sequel to Little Face, Det. Sgt. Charlie Zailer and her partner, Det. Constable Simon Waterhouse, are on the trail of a serial rapist who kidnaps successful career women at knifepoint in order to provide a rather unique service: a "live" rape in front of a well-paying audience.
The stress of the case is getting to Charlie and before she breaks under the pressure, she and her sister decide to take a vacation at a chalet-style resort in Scotland. Having full faith in her subordinate, Det. Waterhouse is left to hold down the fort until her return. Everything goes according to plan until sundial maker Naomi Jenkins walks into Spilling Station to report her married lorry-driving lover, Robert Haworth, missing after he fails to show up at their weekly rendezvous at the No-Tell-Motel.
She's convinced something awful has happened. Waterhouse isn't and the case is dropped. So what's a girl to do when her lorry-driving lover goes missing and the cops refuse to budge? Lie, of course. She files a report stating Robert Haworth raped her three years ago. But it's not altogether a lie: Naomi Jenkins was, indeed, viciously raped but she never reported it. As a result, she is left with debilitating panic attacks.
Upon further investigation, Mr. Haworth's wife Juliet informs Det. Waterhouse there is nothing wrong and he's not gone missing. One part of that is true; he's present and accounted for, found barely alive in his home with his head bashed in by a stone door stop. Waterhouse takes Julia is taken into custody, and Robert is rushed to the hospital.
As always, there is more to the story. The serial rapist's list of victims is growing, Simon's love interest -- Charlie -- is having quite a time getting busy with the resort's owner, Graham, and suddenly Julia wants to talk to Naomi. This leaves the cops wondering if they have the wrong person in custody...and me wondering why I ever started reading this novel in the first place.
Told from two points of view, it was more than a little confusing to hold my attention. The police, in third person, move the story and plot at a rapid pace only to be shut down cold when Naomi's point of view interrupts the flow. Naomi isn't really telling her story or furthering the plot; she's obsessed with Robert and talking to Robert in her mind.
Naomi isn't exactly a character a reader could feel sympathy for; the portrayal of her panic attacks didn't ring true and as a supposed rape victim, something just seemed...off. She didn't seem to care about catching the person who raped her (I would. Wouldn't you?) As compensation, the police detectives had the personality and wit to keep the story going. However, the relationship between Charlie and Simon is a little fuzzy but I think that's more about picking up where Little Face left off.
In all, Hurting Distance may have been above average had the author not tried so hard to mislead the reader to enhance the mystery. Who's lying? Who's telling the truth? Who is this elusive serial rapist? By the end, I really didn't much care.
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Publisher: Consortium Book Sales & Dist
Pub. Date: October 2008
ISBN-13: 9781569475218