Flesh and Blood

A too-elaborate plot hampers Mark’s 11th procedural featuring British Det. Sgt. Aector McAvoy (following 2022’s Blind Justice). After a man who could be his twin is violently assaulted , McAvoy receives a call from his colleague, checking that the detective hasn’t been wounded. McAvoy learns the assault occurred outside the home of his boss, Trish Pharaoh, and the victim was her boyfriend, Icelandic cop Thor Ingolfsson. The resemblance makes McAvoy wonder whether he was the intended target, and Pharaoh muddies the waters by slipping away from the crime scene before she can be questioned. A theory emerges that the attack might have been organized by serial killer Reuben Hollow, whom Pharaoh put behind bars. Most of Hollow’s victims were “dealers and people-traffickers; sex pests and wife-beaters,” but two were hard-to-explain one-offs—or so they appeared. As McAvoy digs deeper into the case, long-buried secrets from Pharaoh’s past threaten to violently erupt. An exciting climax can’t salvage the contrived, convenience-riddled plot that comes before it, and some lines (one character’s boots make a noise “like a horse chewing mint”) land with a thud. This entry comes in well below the standards Mark has set for the series. (June)