The Nightmare Place

Det. Insp. Zoe Dolan, the heroine of this absorbing crime novel from British author Mosby (The Murder Code), is haunted by a recurrent nightmare in which a figure threatens her at what she calls the waste ground, the remains of an old factory near the location of her childhood school. Zoe, thinking this must be a repressed memory and knowing it must have some significance, struggles to remember what could have happened. Meanwhile, she and her partner, Det. Insp. Chris Sands, are trying to apprehend “the Creeper,” a monster who has battered and raped five seemingly unrelated young women. The savagery of the beatings is escalating, making the investigation more urgent. In order to find the culprit, Zoe and Chris must determine how the Creeper gains entrance to homes whose doors and windows are always locked. Mosby expertly intertwines the main plot lines with several subplots in this psychologically attuned thriller. Agent: Carolyn Whitaker, London Independent Books (U.K.). (June)